PORTER BAIT COMPANY HISTORY

Richard Porter was one of Florida's earliest lure makers. His first lures were pier baits, also known as "clothes pin" lures, and he began making and selling them sometime around 1920. The heavily weighted lures were used to catch many fish in the Daytona area and just up the road at the Flagler Beach pier. Porter made the baits at his home and at his father's garage. He sold them through local stores, as well as to fishermen on the local piers..

Porter was secretary-treasurer of Dixie Bait Company in the 1930's before opening Porter Bait Company in the 1940's. The company continued into the 1990's, with various family members taking over operations after Richard Porter died. Porter made dozens of different lure models in many beautiful colors. The Porter catalog of baits is large enough that an entire web site could easily be devoted to it. We will show an example of most of the Porter baits in some of the colors offered. In the mid 1950's Porter Bait Company moved to an upstairs store front on Daytona's Main Street. It is the building just beyond the Fernwood Hotel in this postcard view. Richard Owen Porter, Sr. of Daytona Beach, Florida applied for a patent for an artificial fish bait in 1953. A patent was granted in 1955. His lure was manufactured as the Porter Sea Hawk and the Porter Bait Company kept the lure in production into the 1990's. Some of Porter's early lure models had a target painted on the belly. The company stopped this practice, so you can tell an older lure from a newer one of the same model if it has a target. Most, but not all, Porter baits had a model number as well as a name.

Model numbers were not designated in any particular order that I am aware of. Porter Bait Company also used a yellow colored two-piece cardboard box. They later used a variety of plastic boxes for their lures.