New Member

[Marrakai]

Hi all.
I've just joined these forums recently, and thought I'd toss in a debut post showing my last remaining Eric Moller lures.
I moved to Gordonvale during the early '70s and a bunch of us high-school kids would pool our pocket-money whenever someone was heading south, so that they could buy us a swag of Moller lures along the way. When I eventually went to uni in Townsville, the frequent trips home meant I could drop in on the way through and grab a few more lures each time myself. The Mulgrave and Russell Rivers were full of jacks in those days, and unfortunately most of the lures ended up in the guts of some deep snag or other. We dived for them when we could, something I wouldn't do in the tidal-fresh reaches of those rivers today!



Anyway, the earlier thread showed what might be a Moller lure with thin stainless eyelets, something I never saw in the 1970s, so can't pass comment on that. All the ones we bought from the man himself had heavy galvanised wire eyelets, and all were fitted with 3x-strong Eagle Claw trebles.

Once settled in Townsville I bought lures from George Dempster occasionally, still have a handful of them left too.

Aw, what the heck, off topic but here they are anyway:



Of course, we made a shed-full of our own lures along the way, many modelled on the black-n-yellow Heddon Tiger pattern as copied by Eric Moller. I still have quite a few of them surviving as well, but that is another story.
Cheers

[Baz]

Welcome to the site mate.Some nice lures you have there, I think Craig will be drooling when he see's them.You'll have to post some pics of your home made lures,I'd like to have a gander at them.
Cheers'
Baz

[Mully]

Welcome to the site mate some very nice lures there, great to have you on board

[Falky]

welcome marrakai
and some lovely lures mate

[Marrakai]

Thanks for your kind words, guys.

BTW: Have any of you visited the Fishing Museum at the 'new' Bransfords Tackle Shop at Clifton Beach north of Cairns?
They have a great display of old tackle, rods,reels etc, and a display-board of old lures including a couple of Mollers.
The museum doubles as a kind of 'hall of fame' of north Queensland fishing from the fifties through to the late seventies I guess, featuring all the old hands who were around in those days. I did a bit of high-school holiday work at Bransfords on the old Marlin Jetty in 1974, working for Jack Erskine, and met some of those guys. As a mad-keen youngster, they were my 'heroes' at the time I guess... A visit to the 'new' shop this last Christmas past is responsible for my sudden attack of fishing nostalgia, culminating in my joining these forums. Anyway, that was a long-winded lead-up to my post of the following photo: Eric Moller at work! The display is tucked away in a corner of the fore-mentioned Fishing Museum, and shows Eric in later life looking exactly as I remember him. Enjoy!

[Marrakai]

Further to my last, here's the best rendition I can make of the top photo:



The green tag to the right of the photo reads as follows:

MASTER LURE MAKER ERIC MOLLER
OF CARDWELL. HE HAND CARVED EVERY
LURE WITH A PEN KNIFE AND WAS
FAMOUS FOR HIS BRIGHT, COLOURFUL
DESIGNS.


The green tag to the right of the lower photo reads:

Work in progress by master lure maker
Eric Moller of Cardwell. He used a
small pen knife to whittle away the
shape....white beech being his
favourite timber. He would obtain
seasoned timber from old window
frames etc.


As an aside, George Dempster always made a point of telling everyone who would listen that he used white beech exclusively!

[simon bruce]

Great stuff.

Thanks for posting it, very interesting.

[Mully]

top i nfo you might have to re post it in the Eric section for reference

[Marrakai]

OK Mully, sorry for the obvious newbie dumb question, but where is the "Eric section"?
I thought I was already in the "ERIC MOLLER LURES" forum.....

[Mully]

im a you are in the Eric section