Lures/Baits/Artificials
Collectors

Lures.
A work in
progress which all will appreciate I'm sure!
Many thanks to Mike, Derrik, Rob, Henrik, Hans, Steen, Uffe and many others in the
future
Record ABU Lures by the Decade
40's,
50's,
60's,
70's,
80's

1960's
Following the success in the American
market in the 1950s, Abu continued to grow its business in the 1960s by
promoting its tackle in other countries.
By the 1960s, the economy in countries
like the UK was starting to recover from the shortages which followed the Second
World War. Demand for quality tackle, at reasonable prices, was met by Abu.
Throughout its product range Abu could supply tackle to suit any pocket. Lures
like the Svängsta spinner and the Droppen were specifically designed to be made
and sold cheaply and yet they were incredibly effective baits.
In many ways the 1960s were a golden age
for Abu. Many new lure designs were produced, some only sold in Europe for a
handful of years but then taken to America and developed further and sold for
many more years.
Personal
photographs coming soon......
Prisma Perk


The deep sea jigs known as Prisma Perks were first issued in 1960 in 5 sizes,
namely 12g, 18g, 28g, 40g and 100g. The available colours were S, K, S/K and
S/G.
By the end of the decade they were available also in 200g size. The 100g and
200g were only ever produced in Silver.
By 1972, the 12g sized was discontinued. 1973 saw the demise of the 18g version.
We know the story with off shore, far east lure production in 1981. BY 1983 I
can't find any lures at all in the ABU catalog.
With lures re-appearing in 1984 Catalog, the proud Prisma perk is almost no more
and has been reduced to just 100g and 200g sizes in Silver only.
By 1988 , the Prisma is not to be seen again.
Colibri


Shiner/Luster


ABU Fly


Rauto Spoon

Droppen

Isac Perk

Byting

Rakan / Shrimp
The jury is still out on this lure in
terms of actual date of sale and all colours sizes.
The lure first appeared in 1966 Tight
Lines catalog and yet had disappeared by 1970. There was no apparent big
promotion with words and graphics like NEW! etc as other items were
introduced. One suspects it may have been made by Burke Industries in USA (they
made the innovative soft bodied Cello/Cello Dip lures)
I have also seen a black Rakan/Shrimp
(image below kindly provided by Derrik, ABUfreak in Germany) without
any documentation in catalogs.
The story will unfold further I'm sure.
Unfortunately even going to my friend
Len Borgstom, the highest authority, is unable to throw any more light on the
matter.


More recently Steen has supplied image of a previously undocumented and
certainly uncatalogued yellow Rakan photographed along side a regular red Rakan.

Pep

The Pep lure is a
delightfully curved bait introduced in 1966 but lasting only 5 years or so.
It was available in 18g
size and 65 mm long only and in the three popular colours of S, G and K
I believe one of mine
is a rare pink Champagne colour due to a possible contamination of annodizing
process. Never seen another like it, please advise if I am wrong.
Despite looking like an
excellent bait, due to superb choice of curvature of spoon, it was not
successful I supect because there were not enough weight variations created.
My calculations,
based on newer and very successful similar lures made more recently in
Asia like the wonderful Pegron, indicate for this length the weight should have
only been 10/12 g ie press from metal aproximately half the thickness.
There is no reason to
think short lighter 4/8 g 45mm versions would not have been great stream fishers
fro trout also.

The Svangsta Spinner (Svängsta-spinnaren)


This is the second lure made by Abu to carry
this name. This version was released in 1962 and was intended to be an effective
lure at a low price. In the UK it was initially listed in Tight Lines in sizes
1/8 oz, 1/4 oz and 3/7 oz. In the colours G, S, K and Z. Later, around 1964 the
1/16 oz lure was introduced. The last year of sales in Europe was 1966 when it
was replaced by the Droppen.

However the lure was catalogued by Garcia from
1962 initially in the 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz sizes but with different colours
specific to the American market, these included Red and White, Red and Silver
and I have seen Blue and Silver examples.
The Abu
Optic Fly Range

These flies commenced in 1967 with a streamer
fly called the Abu Optic. The Optic range were identified by their "bulbous
beguiling eyes". The Streamers were single hooked, in sizes 8 and 10, and were
designed to target Trout and Grilse in Europe.

In 1968 the Abu Optic Tubefly was introduced
with a size 14 treble hook.
In 1969 by the Abu Optic Chillimps was introduced, it was a shrimp fly for
Atlantic Salmon and it came in 6 different hook sizes.
In 1970 the Optic Salmo was introduced, it was a single hooked Salmon fly that
also came in 6 different hook sizes.
Finally in 1972 the Optic Keel fly came along in size 6 only.
With the exception of the shrimp coloured Chillimps the Optic flies came in 4
colour schemes which were cheekily named Playboy, Pin-up, Streamtease and
Callgirl !
Cello
/Cello Dip
My friend Kalle
Bornefelt from Sweden is a recognized expert in these lures and we hope our
collaboration below helps extend your knowledge and appreciation of this unusual
lure.
The
images he
has supplied indicated his depth of appreciation of the marque.

Len Borgstrom has confirmed to me
this is a very
interesting lure originally outsourced by ABU in USA to Burke Industries.
A fascinating lure
was an evolving design in
two forms ie a cupped-front surface-running popper in one size only and its
bigger brother, a deep running aluminium bibbed version of
completely different elongated shape.
We will
learn much and I look forward to uploading more information when it comes
to light and is collated.


ABU CELLO was first introduced in Napp & Nytt in 1967 and later the diving CELLO
DIPP version came in 1969.
Cello and
Cello
Dip
were sold by
ABU
until the late seventies.
The
Cello
is made in a soft plastic with a rubber feeling.
Both
Cello
and
Cello
Dipp
are floating, even after
sustaining
plenty bitemarks of pike.
The
Cello
and
Cello
Dipp
originate from lures made by the American company BURKE.
Both
Cello
and
Cello
Dipp
were
created
in four colours: BGL, D, S and RH.
Slight variations have been noted in body design, hook hangers and actual
hooks used.
The story will be updated as new information unfolds.
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SKAL Blanket
The last of the lures to be introduced in the
60's was the Skal Blanket which looked rather like a half a metallic tennis
ball.
It was preceded by a number of ice-fishing jig
lures mentioned earlier but also shown here in more detail with a variety of
Pimpel or ice-fishing equipment like rod/reel combos , ice-augers and lures.
More details on this cold country style of fish
here (and unusual to
me in Australia)
The Skal Blanket is a truly beautiful jigging lure designed
initially for ice-fishing and consequently advertized alongside ABU Pimple
Ice-fishing equipment, it was later marketed as a sea fishing jigging lure used
for Flatfish like flounder.
I will show the thumbnail images /linked to
larger sizes, of six years of Tight Lines catalog pages for the interested
reader to enjoy first hand the images and text.
Basically the lure was introduced in 1968 and
was off production by 1974.
It was a 60mm half sphere of annodized aluminium
produced in 4 stunning colours of Silver, Gold and Kopper as well as P/K (Parlemor,
Mother of Pearl)
The barbed hook was trailed 100mm behind/below
on .40mm trace.
My mates in Sweden say that although it was
beautiful lure to look at, the fish did not think so, so was consequently
removed from production.

1968
1969

1970

1971
1972

1973

Main difference with this page is that the
buying public are advised that the Skal Blanket is no longer available.
Bit strange I think?
1974
Many thanks to Mike Elsworth (the Welsh ABU
Sleuth) for suppling these images.
Mine to follow soon.


I only have 2 examples of this lure , a mint in
sealed card unit silver example and a gold used example , no card.
If anyone has a Copper or Mother of Pearl
example I would dearly love to purchase them.
I am attempting here to create
(with the help of others), the greatest collection of images and information
about Record ABU lures ever collected together and freely available for all to
learn from. Obviously image copyright for alternative publishing purposes always
remains with the owners.
Please feel your input, help ,
criticism is very welcome and I look forward to expanding with network of Record
ABU lure collectors and appreciators.
Contact me
here to
assist.
If you have any other lures, that are un-needed or
doubles in your collection and are available for
swapping
or a reasonable fee, I would be
very pleased to hear from you.