By Sid Perkins
Just about everywhere you go in the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Hayward, Wis., you’ll find lures. On the walls and in display cases, vast arrays of fishing lures dominate the exhibits. Many of the baits mimic a fish’s natural prey, such as insects, small fish, and frogs. One lure appears to be a creature straight from the Star Wars cantina. Another looks like a Ping-Pong
ball–size Pacman with froglike eyes and Andy Rooney’s eyebrows. Another resembles a hockey puck with an airbrushed paint job that would look at home on a 1970s muscle car. Yet another lure has the size, shape, and maybe even the hydrodynamic characteristics of a shoehorn.