Family operation carries on tradition of quality fishing lures

By Jim Morris

Staff Writer

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Denis Short liked the fishing lure so much, he bought the company.

"I fished the lure for 30 years and I never fished with a better lure," Short said. "We're lifelong friends of Scott and Brenda Johnston and it was their grandfather who started the company. They produced the lures from 1987 to 2003.

"Since I wasn't able to get the lures anymore, I asked Scott what he was going to do. He told me he thought about selling the company, but all the equipment was just sitting in his basement. I told him: 'Get a price together. I think we want it,' " Short said.

So about a year later, they took the equipment out of the basement in Lakeview and moved it to a family-owned building in Ansonia. It's now home to Hofmann's Lures Inc., manufacturer of Frizz's 'Original' Fly Spoon.

Short and his cousin, Steve Spitzer, own the business. Most of their family members are involved with making the lures.

Fly spoons are exactly what the name implies: they are tiny spoons with tails to be used with a fly rod. They offer six lures that differ only by weight. The lightest spoons are for fly fishing, while the heaviest are used for walleyes, bass, pike and muskies on spinning and casting rods. In between are weights designed for pan fishing and bass fishing.

Jack Hofmann, a Dayton toolmaker, turned out the first official Frizz's Fly Spoon (named for his brother, Frizz) in 1952. He and his wife, Rose, moved to Lakeview so he could be close to Indian Lake, where he tested his lures. Even when he was unable to manufacture the lures in later years because of poor health, she continued until family members took over the business.

His lures became well known around Indian Lake and the Miami Valley and gained a national reputation as the lures were given as gifts and then ordered by mail. Mostly, they were sold out of his house, along with fly rods he made, other fishing products and jewelry.

"Jack would make a lure, take it across the street to the lake, test it, catch a fish or whatever, then take it back to his basement and tweak it a bit if it needed it," Short said.

"We're making exactly the same lures with the same dies on the same presses and tying the same tails the same way he did. We tried some other ways, but came to the conclusion we couldn't improve on what he did."

Once the lures are stamped out, they are sent to a firm in Minnesota to be plated — some in 24-karat gold — then returned to Ansonia to be assembled.

One of the deadliest aspects of the lure is a trademark trailing hook hidden in the tail. So if a fish just nips the tail, it's hooked. And when the angler sets the hook, the large hook often comes into play.

For Short, who lives in Arcanum and runs the second shift for Industry Products in Piqua, his favorite is the Mitey-Mite, the 1/16-ounce version.

"I've fished it in rivers and ponds and lakes and caught everything from 2-inch bluegills to 6-pound bass," he said. "I've always said it's the finest lure I've ever fished ... and that's why I bought the company."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2409 jmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.