From the Archives - Sept. 1, 2022

Made by Roy Self, who was a Spokane county sheriff, these unique fishing lures have shiny bits which are glued to the painted portion of the lures. The shiny pieces are from the old style vacuum thermos bottle liners. His lures came in the classic colors: red, blue and green, and the much harder to find gold. Under-valued, these lures are hard to find outside the greater Spokane area.

During the 1940s and 1950s, Self manufactured hundreds of lures, selling them in many little hardware shops in Washington and Idaho. Gambles Store (which became Plumlee’s Western Auto in 1955) sold the lures to local anglers.

He owned a place on Lake Pend Oreille and spent many hours fishing there. In 1950, Self claimed his lures caught more fish than any other lures used on the lake. He asked for a census to be taken. The count revealed his claim to be true as anglers reported more Kamloops and Dolly Vardens caught on his lures than all other types combined.

For the past 20 years, I have been on the lookout for a Roy Self in its original package. While working at Sater’s Auction Barn (where every week tackle boxes were on the auction block), prior to the beginning of the sale, I would dig through the mass of tangled lures. Always finding Roy Self lures, that elusive “original package” seemed to elude me. Several of the regular auction patrons joined me on the search and would report back to me how many Roy Self lures were in the building that day; none of which were in a package.

After John Sater passed away, Jeff found that “Roy Self in the original package” while sorting through John’s treasures! Did John know he had it tucked safely in his private collection? Did he get a kick out of watching me search through all those tackle boxes? I’ll never know. To my excitement, Jeff donated the lure to the museum. Thank you, John Sater. This is a “great catch” for your museum.

Your Boundary County Historical Society and Museum, 7229 Main, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, sponsors this column.

Visit the museum Thursday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and you can visit the website at www.boundarycountymuseum.org or the museum’s Facebook page for historical photos and stories, and to see upcoming events. The museum can be reached via email at doyouremember@meadowcrk.com or by telephone at 208-267-7720. Thank you for your continued support.