Joe's Old Lures - Antique Florida Lures - Blue Spring Bait Manufacturing Company

Blue Spring Bait Manufacturing Company
Marianna, Florida

Blue Springs is a series of large natural springs located on the Northeast side of Marianna in the Florida Panhandle. It is part of an extensive system of caves and tunnels carved through the limestone. The springs form the headwaters of Merritt's Mill Pond, a narrow, seven mile long pool whose waters are gin clear.

For many years the town of Marianna has operated a public swimming area at the springs. These pictures show the sign for the public park in 1953 and the main spring as it exists today.

Just a few miles down the road back toward town, "Junior" Croft ran a small boat landing and bait shop on the pond. Croft was both an avid fisherman and a skilled woodworker.

By 1949 Croft and a friend, John Barefield, had begun making their own lures. They formed a company which they called the Blue Spring Bait Manufacturing Company. Only a small number of lures was ever produced by the Blue Spring Bait Company and precious few are known to remain. The life of the company was short lived with Croft selling his interest in 1953.

Humpty-Dumpty

The first lure produced by the Blue Spring Bait Manufacturing Company was the Humpty-Dumpty. It was a three piece jointed lure with an aluminum diving plate. Croft and Barefield applied for a patent for the lure in 1949 and it was granted in 1952.

Slant Head Type Lure

This small lure has no known name. Not many were made and only a few are known to exist. It is shown in a box which is smaller than the boxes used for the larger Humpty-Dumpty lures