SOUTH BEND BAIT COMPANY HISTORY 

Founded by Frank G. Worden sometime around the turn of the 19th century, he started the Worden Bait Company in South Bend, Indiana. Frank Worden is not to be confused with R. B. Worden of Yakima, Washington, who started Worden’s Floating Spinner Company, later to be named Yakima Bait Company, makers of the ever-famous Rooster Tail spinner. Anyway, Frank Worden started out in his home manufacturing wooden bass lures. In or around 1905, he changed the name to Wooden Bucktail Manufacturing Company and had moved from his home to the second floor of the Shindler Brothers Hardware Store. In 1906, Worden partnered with Jacob Kuntz, owner of South Bend Dowel Company and moved to 402 South Michigan Street. South Bend Dowel became the supplier for all of Worden’s wood needs. In 1908, Kuntz took over the bait company and in 1909 renamed the company the South Bend Bait Company. Between 1909 and 1915, the company’s sales never reaching what would be called successful. The company changed hands two more times, finally with Ivar Hennings and a partner in charge. In 1916, Hennings acquired the patent to a bait made by James Olds of Benton Harbor, Michigan. This bait, which became the Bass Oreno, would become a bass-catching phenomena and elevate the company to great heights. Within no time, the company had hired 50 employees and in 1917 published their first tackle catalog. From 1917 to 1940 the company saw great expansion. From wooden bass lures and bucktails, the company added rod manufacturing and they sold reels, manufactured for them by Shakespeare. They were a true all-tackle company rivaling Pflueger and Heddon, and in some cases having higher sales than both. What became known as the South Bend Bait Company in its namesake city in Indiana has roots in the home of F.G. Wooden, when in 1895, he started making Buck Tail Worden lures. Surviving for over 100 years, the anti-backlash feature on the casting reel was and is a major selling point. It would sense the line going slack during the cast and would apply brakes to the revolving spool. And an educated thumb has remained a vital partner. The number of reels South Bend has offered exceeds 300, making it impossible for any collector yet to gather one of each model. This creates a lifelong hunt that is most enjoyable. When you add the variety of their boxes and literature enclosures there are even more collectable items. Some of the scarcer reels are South Bend’s left-handed models. These reels are definitely a piece of American history.