Bob Kleisner’s Sport Shop was a fixture in West Palm Beach Florida for many years. They were unique, in that they ordered lures as “specials” to add that “special touch” for their customers. Just a snap shot of the counter shows this store was loaded with tackle and supplies.
(Photos above courtesy of Doug Brace)
This leads me to a discovery I made when I found a Creek Chub box marked 700 HP Special. The HP rang a bell, but I just couldn’t place it right away. While scanning some of my old Shur-Strike catalog information one night, I finally put two and two together. In the mid thirties, Creek Chub used the term “Heddon P finish” for the color they called Shiner Scale in their Shur-Strike line catalog. “P” is the color designation that Heddon used for Shiner Scale, so the color Creek Chub was using is a match. They just couldn’t use the Heddon name on boxes, so this special color was designated HP.
(Shur Strike catalog entry)
( 700 Pikie in box)
I have found several Creek Chub lures painted in this color including the 700 Pikie, 900 Pikie, Snook Plunker, and the 2600 Pikie. The most interesting lure I have seen is this color is the 2000 Darter which was in the marked box. This lure resides in the collection of Chris Labuz, and I have tried to pry it away from him, but he is holding on tight!
Now the Kleisner connection. On the box that that came with the lure, is a Kleisner Sport Shop stamp. Chris’s lure came from the collection of Wayne Cox, and Wayne explained this lure and a 700 lure he had, came from Kleisner’s, as did a lot of other special Creek Chub lures he had in his collection before they were sold on Langs.
(Special darter lure above, and Kleisner box stamp below courtesy of Chris Labuz)
It is always fun to solve a Lure mystery, and this is one that was especially gratifying, since it ties together Creek Chub, Shur Strike, and Florida Tackle Shops, three of my favorite areas of collecting!
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