Gen-Shaw Bait

One of my favorite lures to collect is part of a group of baits that fit into a category called Illinois River Lure Baits. These baits were manufactured roughly around the same time in the mid-1900s, all originating in Illinois, and of similar styles. The one I am covering today is probably the most unique of the group, offering a very distinct joint pattern in the body of the lure that easily gives its identity away to collectors. That bait is the Gen-Shaw bait double-jointed minnow.

The Gen-Shaw “Wiggle-Lure” bait

Gen-Shaw Baits was started in Kankakee, Ill. in 1946 by V. C. Genschaw and P. La Roche. They had invented a new lure they originally called the Wiggle-Lure. It was advertised in 1948 as “GEN-SHAW—The nearest thing to a live minnow on the market today. You’ll get your share of fish and more with the Gen-Shaw baits, because Gen-Shaw has the color and action to attract fish. Its smooth, life-like action gives Gen-Shaw the appearance of a real live bait.”

The first Gen-Shaw Wiggle-Lure was a wooden, three-piece, two-joint lure with brass nail eyes. The joints on the lures were angular joints unlike anything else on the market. It also had a humped forehead (with a high ridge), an eye screw for a line tie screwed directly into the bait, and a squared diving lip, marked “GEN-SHAW.” It had two treble hooks and measured about 4 1/2 inches long. These date roughly from 1946-1948.

The second version, dating roughly from 1948-1950, was also wooden but had a large, built-up tack eye measuring 5/16 inches in diameter. The forehead shape was now smooth and level with the rest of the body. It, too, had the GEN-SHAW marked squared diving lip.

Version three was made of a molded tenite plastic, and also had a built-up tack eye, though slightly smaller than the second version, measuring 1/4 inch in diameter. More notably, however, was that the line tie was now part of a new, shaped diving lip which was flat with a rounded edge and had a groove down the center. This lip was unmarked unlike the earlier versions.

Around 1950, the fourth variety was introduced. This was also in tenite/plastic but had a slightly smaller eye, measuring 3/16 inches in diameter. The diving lip also changed to a more “scooped” lip without the groove. The Gen-Shaw bait now came in two sizes, 3 1/2 and a 3 1/4 inches. The largest eye is only present on the 3 1/2-inch lure.

While the lure was introduced and officially named the “Wiggle-Lure,” it was quickly referred to as just Gen-Shaw or Gen-Shaw Minnow and is still referred to as that today by collectors.

Gen-Shaw baits made a couple of other lures during their history, including the L&G Wiggler and L&G Bait (both with nods to their inventors/owners), but neither gained the fame of the original Gen-Shaw.

Not a lot is known about the history of the company, but it appears to have ended or been sold somewhere around 1956.

Colors and packaging

The earliest box for Gen-Shaw baits was a two-piece, gray cardboard box that had a paper label showing the bait. According to the paper in this box, the lure was originally made in only one size and “…in all the popular color combinations.”

The second version is a white, two-piece cardboard box with a lake and hills as the background. This box was first used around 1948, and the lure now came in a standard assortment of nine colors. The next two versions are essentially the same box but in two different shades of yellow. The very last version is a plastic film top box that was briefly available.

Gen-Shaw lures come in a variety of colors. I could not find a standard color list for the early wooden baits. However, below are the known standard colors for the tenite baits.

100 – Black & Silver

110 – Black & Orange

120 – Red head/silver body

160 – Red head/white body

170 – All Silver

180 – Frog

200 – White & Gold Scale

220 – Black stripe & Silver Scale

240 – Perch

250 – “Spark-O” lure (Silver Glitter on body)

260 – Yellow Perch

Collectors’ value

Gen-Shaw Wiggle-Lures in excellent condition without the box/packaging would be worth anywhere from $25 to $40, depending on the color. This could be double that for the early wooden versions. With the matching box in excellent condition, the price would jump up to anywhere from $50 to $100. Again, early wooden versions could easily double that. These lures are great to collect and make very colorful and nice displays.