I was talking to a fishing buddy recently about jig fishing. He mentioned he still has some old packages of Leo Jigs.

I can remember these being available a long time ago, although I never used them. With all the talk about old school Okie's, Sammy Special etc recently, I was curious if anyone knows which company was the first to commercially produce steelhead jigs?
Was it Leo's, Beau Mac?

Also, when did jig fishing really become popular? I kind of got out of steelhead fishing in the mid 80's and can't remember seeing folks fishing jigs much back then.

Leo lived out by Salkum in the early 70's just up the hill from my wifes parents. I met him and fished with him several times and bought some of his jigs. He used to carry a bunch of extras with him when he came to the river and usually sold out when the word got out. Although jig fishing was very popular back in the mid-west for spiny rays, he was the first one I ever knew of who used them for steelhead/salmon on the Cowlitz. I can remember a couple years later when Paul Beaupre(prbably mispelled) came out with a jig of his own. The original Leo's were made with a very fine wire hook and you had to really finesse a fish to keep it from straightening out and you losing the fish. When the Beau-Mac jige came out they grew inpopularity in part to the fact they had a stronger hook that did not straighten out as easily. To answer your question, in this area I would say that Leo's were first on a very limited prodution basis(when he sold out on the river,Leo would go home,tie some more and return with a fresh supply)but Beau-Mac on a larger scale.As a side note, the early fishermen who bought Leo's jigs all had a special color that they swore by and only bought that "one". Leo would oblige them even if it meant giving them his last one that morning and then procede to put on something far different and immediatly hook a fish.

I know somebody who has some of the old Bradbury jigs. Be a pretty neat thing to have. I wonder if Mr Vedder has any old heirlooms jigs?

What is a sammy special anyway

i can remember walking into blue creek when i started fishing it, always getting a chuckle walking past all the oddballs "perch fishing" for steelhead.

i too remember the leo jig being the 1st. leo was a great guy. he always had several to sell from his truck. my whole family took many cowlitz steelhead on them. leo used the heaviest jig hook he could find but they were still just very light. finesse was the rule to landing steelhead on them. i still have some too. i did so well that i just quit drift fishing. many who walked past us bobber guys are on this board. yes we got ribbed but we took alot of steelhead. then came the beumacs, and nitemares. not sure about the bradbury jigs. but i took many steelhead on the bradburys too. i still think the original white yarn leo jig outfished every other leo combo.

I did a good bit of research on the history of jig fishing for steelhead when I wrote my first book on the subject. Everyone seems to agree that Leo was the first in the Northwest, but at roughly the same time Gill Rice began using jigs in the Great Lakes region for steelhead.
Paul, who was a friend of mine, was not the first to fish/manufacture jigs, but he was an innovator who came up with several great lure including the Pearl Head Shrimp, the Cheater, the beaded jig, and the Mylar winged Flash and Spin.
Paul lived for BIG steelhead. His lifetime goal was to break 30 pounds, which he never did, but he did land more than his share of big steelhead.

Thanks for the info.

Dave Vedder,
I'm not familiar with the BeauMac's Pearl Head Shrimp. Do you have any pictures of them? I think these old lures are pretty cool to see.

Dave D,
Here is a picture I found on the web of a Sammy Special.

Sorry. All i have is a slide and I do not have a slide scanner. There is a big photo of one on page 11 of my last book. If anyone has the book and a scanner they can get us a photo. It was a very cool looking lure, and clearly the predecessor to his Beau Mac jigs.

Dave,
Thanks for the info. I hadn't remembered that being in your latest book.
Since I don't have a scanner but have your book. I just took a quick picture of it.
Here it is.

Sammy Specials and Steelie Bob's......Check the prices.......these are old and all I ever used in the 60's, and most of the 70's......




Wow..........finally got it to post.............yea......

Well as long as we are on this subject we might as well go all the way back.
All the way back to the "Birth of the Cherry Bobber"

Don

Pacific Northwest Fishing Golden Years

classic stuff