Recent eBay sale could lure anglers back to their old tackle boxes.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg / The Register-Guard

Lures I have lost would fill many a tackle box.

A few swam away, still clenched between the jaws of fish that proved stronger than my line.

Some wedged themselves between rocks or were snared by snags. Some seemed to have been inexplicably grabbed by the "Under Toad" or some other unseen monster (with apologies to John Irving and Garp). Others were simply misplaced.

Until recently, I never gave these lost trinkets of the outdoor writers' trade a second thought.

Then I read about the lure that sold for $31,857.50 on eBay.

Suddenly, I began mentally flipping through the contents of tackle boxes I have owned, much as I can still visualize the comic books and baseball cards of my youth - books and cards that would have been worth a lot of money if only Mom had not tossed them out.

The possibility of making up for dot-com investment losses with a few old fishing lures came to my attention via an article in the Chicago Sun-Times. Outdoor writer Dale Bowman reported that a Wisconsin collector paid that princely sum for a single lure offered on the Internet auction site by a Canadian company specializing in antiques and collectibles.

The lure in question was a Heddon 150, a model that sports five treble hooks (and is not to be confused with the Heddon 250, with only two treble hooks).

Heddon 150s are "not that rare," according to Dan Basore, a Chicago-area antique lure expert Bowman interviewed about the sale.

"What made this one special was its scarce color - bronze and orange - in a scarce model, the three belly weights and its excellent condition," Bowman wrote.

Still, $31,857.50 seemed excessive - even to the sellers, who agreed to talk to Bowman provided he not reveal their names.

"We knew it was a little different from run-of-the-mill lures, but nowhere near that," one of the sellers said.

"We figured a couple hundred bucks, eh?"

Indeed, who would expect bidding between collectors who each refused to "cut bait."

"It was two hardheaded collectors going head to head," Basore said.

The bidder with the harder head (or bigger wallet) was described by Basore as "a selective high-end collector. ... He generally buys one or two items a month. In addition to this lure, he bought a 1912 Heddon catalog for $12,100 and three days ago a Chapman lure for $7,300."

James Heddon was a Michigan beekeeper credited with carving the first wooden bass plug. His first patent for a "surface casting bait" was issued in 1902.

No doubt the price fetched by one of his lures 100 years later will inspire anglers to approach the annual chore of cleaning out the old tackle box with fresh zeal.

Fish feeling no pain

Anglers will be glad to know that fish hooked with lures made by Heddon, or any other company, do not suffer, in spite of the claims of one animal rights group.

The largest study into piscine neurology has concluded that fish cannot feel pain.

James Rose, a University of Wyoming professor of zoology and physiology, headed the study.

Researchers concluded that fish do not possess the specific regions of the cerebral cortex needed for pain awareness.

That flopping around on the hook is simply a response to a threatening stimulus, Rose said, and should not be confused with the feeling of pain.

"Pain is predicated on awareness," he said.

"A person who is anaesthetized in an operating room will still respond physically to an external stimulus, but he or she will not feel pain."

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has spent big money campaigning against fishing - even of the catch-and-release variety - on grounds that it's cruel and barbaric.

Outdoor writer Mike Stahlberg can be reached at 338-2332 or mstahlberg@ guardnet.com.