La Crosse Fish Decoys is the first and only book covering this subject matter. It should interest fish decoy collectors, hobbyists, fishermen, and anyone interested in a hobby that has a solid financial return. The heyday for spearfishing in La Crosse, Wisconsin, was 1890 until 1938, when spearfishing was banned in that region. Thus given the age of the decoys used, little is known concerning their makers. Indeed, all of the known La Crosse fish decoy makers are deceased. This book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief history of the La Crosse region from its earliest days until the present time with emphasis, when appropriate, to the sport of spearfishing. Chapter 2 discusses the development of the technique of spearfishing from its Asian origins and contrasts the American Indian approach to spearing to the white mens modification of it. In Chapter 3,The Mississippi River is discussed and its effects on spearing in the La Crosse Reach. The heart of the book is Chapter 4, when seventy-one known La Crosse decoy makers biographies are presented along the discussion of their decoys, not to mention, photographic examples of their work. Chapter 5 gives a photographic review of fish decoys which imitate actual fish species. Chapter 6 provides photographic example of La Crosse spears used by fishermen, and documents both known and unknown speak makers. Finally, Chapter 7 reviews La Crosse cheater decoys, jig sticks, lures, and decoy-holding boxes to round out the book.

FIELD & STREAM, America’s largest outdoor sports magazine, celebrates the outdoor experience with great stories, compelling photography, and sound advice while honoring the traditions hunters and fishermen have passed down for generations.

Robert A. Slade, after collecting old fishing tackle since 1958 and contributing articles on old fishing lures for a collector magazine for several years started researching and writing books in the 1990's. He published the HISTORY & COLLECTIBLE FISHING TACKLE OF WISCONSIN in 1999 which sold 4,500 copies. Bob realized that even though there have been many books published on the subject of old fishing lures that few books covered any detailed history on the old lure makers. His latest book writing project was nine years in the making and covers over 100 years of lure making history starting in 1875 and covers over 2,500 lures makers throughout all of North America. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OLD FISHING LURES MADE IN NORTH AMERICA is the first publication with extensive history and patent information on old lure makers and the first to include extensive coverage on Canadian lure makers. The author traveled to 11 states and 3 Candian Providences visting collectors homes, newspaper archives, museums and other sources and has taken over 10,000 pictures in preparing the historical stories for these books. The set of books arranges for the individual and company lures makers to appear in alphabetical order. People purchasing these books can buy any one single book, a whole set, or even a book a month if they desire as the books will be printed and shipped on demand. Each book has over 400 pages of text, pictures and collector values with each book containing a table of contents and index as well as a master index for the complete set of books.