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Another Castaic Swim Bait Question?
In the early 90's I owned the Kirby Vacuum franchise in Lancaster. I went on an evening demonstration out in the sticks, somewhere between the Lancaster and Quail Lake, out out along eastbound hwy 138. I ended up selling the couple a Kirby and ultimately the conversation turned to fishing. Part of the agreement of the sale was that I was to get one of the trout pattern wooden swim baits the guy (and a friend of his) had just started making in his garage, or workshop. He was selling them for $50 each and couldn't keep up with the orders.
After repeated attempts to get the bait, and him always being behind on orders, he ended up giving me a different bait. It was a Baby Bass model that he said he had been experimenting with early on and this was one of the prototypes. As I recall there was a little damage to one of the front silicon fins, but I accepted, having resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't ever get one of the trout models I so coveted. I fished Pyramid Lake religiously for stripers at the time, so trout was the one I thought I'd do best with.
I do remember him telling me that his new business was called Castaic Lures, but I don't recall his name. In In-Fisherman magazine in May/June 1995 I saw the very same Trout pattern swim bait featured that the fellow was making, and it even mentioned the Baby Bass model in the article.
My question is, what might be the value of this early prototype Castaic Lure? After going thru half a dozen tackle boxes I found it and am attaching pics of it. The silicon fins are crude and appear to have been cut, or trimmed by hand. I played around with it once and relegated it to the tackle box every since.
I also am attaching some pics of a couple of other vintage lures I have in my collection for your amusement and admiration. Not sure why they got flipped upside down when I uploaded them.
