This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
You catch-and-release purists can put the paper down or click your mouse off the story now; this is about setting the hook - or hooks as the case may be - to keep fish.
A variety of books land on my desk throughout the year. Some catch my attention and some I don't bother to crack open.
Spring-Loaded Fish Hooks, Traps and Lures: Identification and Value Guide (Collector Books, $29.95) by William Blauser and Timothy Mierzwa is one that I had to open, with its glimpse into the amazing and gruesome, and apparently desperate, world of fishing between 1846 an 1971.
Some hooks look more like devices of torture than a form of recreation. It's safe to say that few, if any, fish that took the bait on these contraptions survived long enough for the angler to even consider catch and release. Fishing then, of course, was more about putting something on the kitchen table than escaping the buzz of a hectic life.
Essentially, the hooks and traps are designed to guarantee a catch. In the case of Eddleman's Never Fail Fish Hook & Animal Trap, patented in 1913, a spear-like device is released into the top of the fish's head when pressure is applied on the hook.
The Gabriel Big Fish Grab Hook, circa 1906, involves a baited hook set within in a circle of four arms, which clamp down on the body of any fish, or animal, which tugs on the bait. This, as the ads state, was particularly useful for those "soft mouthed" species like big carp, buffalo fish and catfish.
The second half of the book features spinner blades, weedless lures and spoons with spring-loaded hooks, which pop out when a fish hits them. There is not a section in the book on the number of fingers lost while fishing with these inventions.
Those meat anglers out there should know that wildlife officials say spring-loaded hooks and traps are illegal in Utah under several different regulations.
The hooks and traps highlighted in the book, available at http://www.collectorbooks .com, range in estimated value from $10 to $10,000.
The first and most highly valued is the Engelbrecht & Skiff Fish Hook, patented July 28, 1846. Maybe it's time to clean out that tackle box and see if some of those ancient lures resting there might be worth something.