Andy Reekers is the grandfather I never knew. He died before I was old enough to remember him.
Many of you probably know him for the Andy Reekers fishing lure he invented and manufactured. In many ways that is pretty much what I know him for as well.
I created this web site because I like creating web sites and because I thought it would be a fun way to learn about a man who is a mystery to me as well as to share what I learn about him with the world.
I know Andy Reekers was a tinsmith who was talented at building things out of metal. I remember when I was a child we had a hammered copper box which my grandfather had made.
I also know he was an avid fisherman who used his skills to make some of the best fishing lures in the country. His vintage lures are collectors items that are cherished by people who collect fishing tackle.
My father, his son-in-law, portrayed my grandfather as a perfectionist who spent many hours testing his lures before he patented and sold them. Considering the many people who still cherish his lures, he must have been pretty good at what he did.
If you know anything about Andy Reekers or his lures please pass it along. I am eager to learn what you know and share it with the world.
Thanks.
Gary Olson
I got some Andy Reeker # 5 lures from a neighbor who got them from his father who had recently passed away. I wasn’t aware that they were vintage lures and thought nothing of using one the other day when I heard that silver and copper were a good combination to use when the salmon are feeding on krill. The salmon we have been catching lately have been feeding exclusively on krill. The lure got bit repeatedly and ended up catching the largest fish of the day. The fish weighed in at 18.5# gilled and gutted. It wasn’t until later that I looked closely at the spoon and saw “Andy Reeker” stamped on it. An Internet search lead me here. The fish I caught were in Avila “Port San Luis,” CA. I have pictures of the fish if you would like to see them.
Joe Carrillo
I’d like to see the fish. I am going through 3 generations of fishing gear handed down to me from my great grandfather and grandfather. i came across an Andy Reeker needlefish lure in one of the tackle bags.
It’s always fun to hear about these inherited Andy Reekers. Thanks for sharing!
Joe,
The vintage Andy Reekers lures aren’t collectable unless they are in the original packaging. Even then they aren’t real valuable. What seems to make the vintage Andy Reekers lures valuable, as opposed to the newer ones under the Grizzly label, is that they really catch fish.
I’d love to see a picture of your fish. I’ll post it on the Tackle Talk section of this web site along with your post.
Thanks.
Gary
My dad worked for the BIA and once we lived at Klamath Agency from 1947-1950. We fished Klamath Lake a lot in early spring and caught many large rainbow. Later when the algea bloomed the fish were not edible. We fished the Williamson with Polly Rosborough. He taught me to tie flies and trap muskrats out of Agency marsh (no longer exists). My first large trout was on a new design by Polly and on my first cast to a rising trout and it weighed just over 6#. One day while fishing about 50 yards offshore South of Modoc Point and trolling an Andy Reeker I hooked a huge fish. We had a five horse motor and the strike literally stopped the boat. My brother cut the engine and I played the fish for a long period of time. It never came to the surface until finally it made a run under the boat and broke off. My brother saw the tail for a moment and said it was by far the widest tail he had ever seen. We have no idea of it’s size. My brother, Gene Scarber caught a 36 in. spawned out raibow in Crooked Creek where the creek comes next to the highway North of the Agency. It weighed over 11 pounds and was estimated by OF&G to possibly have been 18 pounds prior to spawning. It won the July competition for trout and steelhead from Alaska to San Francisco for that month…probably 1949. Have some pictures if you would like a copy. Bob Scarber (Just turned 80).
Bob, thanks so much for sharing your story of the huge fish you caught with an Andy Reekers!
Hello. I was doing a quick search on Andy Reekers and found this website. If its still active, let me know. I have copies of letter correspondence from Andy dating back to the 1930s and a catalog page. I’d be happy to send you copies. It will help you unstand your grandpa. Russ
I ran a charter service on Lake Michigan back in the 70’s. I averaged around 600 hours a season out on the water and can never recall anytime that I did not have a least one Andy Reeker trolling behind the boat. A quality made lure that was a tremendous producer. I would always run a tiny fluorescent red Reeker right on the surface about 100 feet behind the boat. Can’t begin to tell you how many Steelhead I caught on that bait. Now that I am retired and return to Lake Michigan as much as I can to fish, would do just about anything to find some Reekers again. Truly one of the finest designed and made baits anywhere.
You can occasionally still find them on Ebay, and they’re not all that expensive.
My husband recently purchased some dodgers and they are in the original packaging. They are grizzlys. Are any of them collectable or just great to use?
Proud to have a few of these spoons I have one with a Pat. date of Oct16-23 and than a Silver Special. Nice to know a little about them.
John Cassidy
San Diego
Rod and Reel radio
Thanks for posting, John. Nice to know you’re proud of your Andy Reekers. Sounds like you have a radio program to be proud of as well.
Have used the Andy Reeker for Steelheads in Michigan lakes with great success. Long trolled with light line. When hooked the fish jumps clear of the water as we only ran the lure just below the surface. Quite a spectacular show.
Thanks for the comment. Interestingly, Andy developed and manufactured his lure during the years he lived in Oregon, but prior to coming to Oregon he lived in Michigan.
I have a couple of Andy Reekers that I aquired somewhere through the years, and dug them up recently to try them out trolling for Salmon in Monterey Bay. I used some low abrasive metal polish on them and got them shining almost like new. I think I’m just going to use them, although I wonder if I should frame them instead, and hang them on the wall? They are truly beautiful. Makes me want to start a collection! I wonder if your grandfather had any idea that he would gather such a following for his spoons? Must have been a cool guy to want to perfect his ideas. Thanks for this web page.
Thanks so much for posting and especially your comment about the beauty of the spoons. Grandpa Reekers would indeed be amazed at the comments people are posting so many decades after he invented them.
Came across a small bag of old and weathered salmon trolling gear at a second hand store today, mostly flashers and dodgers but there was a single, all silver Andy Reekers #5 in the lot.
Hoping it will clean up well. Any advice on methods or materials to restore the finish?
Finish appears solid, just old and weathered. Thinking about trolling it on an upcoming trip to lake Tahoe if i can get it to shine up again!
Thanks for sharing your find! Lots of info on the web about how to clean and polish old fishing tackle. Take your pick.
Toothpaste cleansing is effective and mild for these type of lures.
I have been using Andy reekers since my grandfather introduced me to them in the early 50’s…..I recently retired to the olympic peninsula and started my retirement fishing passion with a new, in the package…#5 chrome spoon…..produced a nice 18# king. I use them now the same way I used them at age 7…..I’m 73……my favorite lure bar none…..a couple different patterns go with me on every trip.
Thanks so much for sharing your lifelong memories of using Grandpa Reekers’ lures. Enjoy your retirement fishing and otherwise!
I have my dad’s trolling log notes from 1951 and 1952 for Lake Tahoe. Uses “Silver Reeker.” Presumably the ‘Andy Reeker’? Appears to have been spring top-lining for Lake Trout, Browns and Silvers. And with great success it appears! Thanks.
Thanks so much for sharing your dad’s log notes!
Beginning in the early 1960s my dad, Dick Harrigan, and his best friend, Al Burdick tried Andy Reeker casting spoons on Crowley Lake in California, north of Bishop off of highway 395. They were a smash hit, Dad and Al, got more fish than there three other buddies put together. There was something about Andy Reeker casting spoons that really made the fish bite, rather attack the lure. Seemed the rainbow trout, averaging 16 to 18 inches in those days, would literally attack the Andy Reeker lures, versus just biting onto Red Devils, Super Dupers, Al’s Goldfish or spinners. Later, when my brother, Jim and I, and Al’s four boys were of the age that we didn’t need supervision to fish, my Dad and Al, took us along for a two or three day trip to Crowley Lake. Some years, other friends would join us, making for a dozen or so fishermen/boys casting lures from Crowley’s north shore. Those of us using Andy Reekers always caught more fish than those using other lures. By the late 1960s we also trolled for bigger rainbows in the depths of Crowley Lake, using Andy Reeker trolling spoons and needlefish. Although we caught fish on the needlefish, we caught most on the Andy Reeker trolling lures. These were nice size rainbows, most were in the 20″ to 22″, with the occasional 23 and 24 inch fish. It was a sad day when Andy Reekers were no longer available. 20 years ago after I found eBay, I started buying Andy Reeker casting spoons whenever one was posted for sale or auction, unfortunately, the casting spoons are far rarer than the trolling spoons. Through the years I’ve purchase a couple of dozen or so Andys through eBay. Then last year, I found a box of Andy Reeker 3/16 oz. casting spoons listed on eBay. They were in brand new, unused condition, in their original packaging in an Andy Reeker counter display box. Each lure was in a clear plastic tube with a silver metal top, just like the ones we use to buy in the early 60s from Johnny’s Sporting Goods store in the Los Angeles area. They were on an eBay auction listing with a starting price of $65 dollars, I was the only one who bid and won the auction, I think shipping was $10, to the total price was $75 dollars. I consider that a great buy, especially considering how hard it is to find Andy Reeker casting spoons on eBay or anywhere else. In 1986 I moved from the L.A. area to Boise, Idaho, where I live now. I use to run up the canyon, northeast of town (Boise), to Arrowrock reservoir and cast Andy Reekers from shore and catch some dandy 14″ to 16″ rainbows. Those fall rainbows really smashed into the Andy Reekers as I retrieved them back to shore. It was great fun! One day in 1988, I walked into Moon’s Sporting Goods and Dinner in downtown Boise, and found a dozen and a half Andy Reeker trolling spoons in various sizes and color configurations. All silver, all brass, some 1/2 silver and 1/2 brass and also the redish-pink Andy with a white fish painted in the center, and so I snatched them up! The owner waited on me and said he thinks he has more and when he has time, he’ll restle them up from storage and put my name on them. I’d stop in from time to time, but he had never remembered to look for the Andy Reekers. Now 30 years later, we work together at Cabela’s in Boise, and he still believes he has some Andy Reekers, about two dozen he says, but now they are in a garage packed to the gills with sporting goods merchandise, gunsmithing shop tools, lathes, grinders, drill presses, gun parts and you name it, he says its in there! He tells me, after he retires, he will begin selling everything off and when he finds the Andy Reekers he will give me a call. Ha, I won’t hold my breath! I have about three dozen Andy Reeker casting spoons and about two dozen trolling spoons. The needlfish disappeared, not idea where they went!
Hope you all found this interesting! Dick Harrigan, Jr.
Thanks so much for your decades-long Andy Reekers story. We’re glad you have enjoyed his spoons for so long. Do let us know when your friend finally unearths his cache!
Andy Breuner, my uncles also top lined at Tahoe dating back to the late 1930’s up until about 1960 and their log shows entry after entry of fish caught on Andy Reekers. What a great lure. Do you know which side of the lake they fished?
Ive known of, and fished the various Andy Reekers trolling spoons for Salmon, out of the SF Bay Area, I actually spent most of my career in the Charter fishing industry, we caught a lot of salmon on those lures, but until recently I wasn’t familiar with the casting spoons. Among the numerous tackle boxes I bought at garage, estate sales, on Bay, etc I found 3 casting spoons, all the same length, but stamped out different gauge metal……..a nickel finish, Andy Reekers Spooner, stamped 1/4, a brass one stamped 1/2, and another Brass one, no weight stamped, only has Andy Reekers Spooner………I had briefly thought of fishing them, but as they sound rather scarce, I think I will just display them
WTB No. 4 Andy Reekers in all finishes. Not interested in Spooners. Call 503-784-4877.
Hello Gary,
I have one Andy Reekers lure a size #4. Do you have a chart that gives length and weight of these lures? The one that I have is corroded, I will clean it up. I do not know anything about these lures others than what I have read on this site and the man that gave it to me said that these are vary good lures.
What is the difference between the casting lure and trolling lure? Look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you
Tim
Alas, we have no information on the lures other than what is already on this site. Maybe a shop that sells vintage fishing lures could help you. Thanks for writing and good luck!