Helin lures are still produced under the Yakima Bait brand and are still catching fish almost 100 years later. Yakima purchased all the original molds from Helin and moved the manufacturing operation from Michigan and Canada to Granger, Washington. Helin was family owned until Mawhen the Helin Tackle Company was purchased by the Yakima Bait Company from the state of Washington. Unfortunately it was torched by an arsonist on Maand burned to the ground. It contained early Helin fishing artifacts as well as museum quality displays of butterflies and photography equiptment.
The Helin mansion was quite the attraction. In addition to the Flatfish, Charles Helin also invented the Fishcake and Swimmerspoon which were very successful lures in their own rights but never approached the level of success of the Flatfish. Below is a chart compiled to attempt to to date the amount of Flatfish sold to the year (if you can help add to this please let me know). The sheer number of flatfish in tackle boxes may account for the limited collector interest in these lures, although there has been more movement in recent years to collect these great lures and preserve the history. As of 1971 well over 40 million flatfish have been sold worldwide. This was a common theme in Flatfish ads until the early 1970's. One of the easiest ways to date Helin material is by the amount of Flatfish recorded as being sold. This is a common theme in the Helin company as Charles was quite the salesman and had many advertising items from pin-up calendars to airplanes. As you can see the factory is adorned with advertisements and plenty of promotional material. Later a second factory was opened in Canada. Below is a picture of the factory from the 1962 Helin catalog. In 1937 the first Helin factory was opened in Detroit. These first lures, some 3,900 Flatfish were crafted in his home.ĬLICK HERE TO SEE OUR HELIN TACKLE COMPANY LURES FOR SALE The first Flatfish were handmade and hand painted, assembled by Charles, relatives, friends and neighbors all under the close eye of Charles Helin. He applied for the patent in 1934 and it was granted in 1936.
The Flatfish, not to be confused with a Lazy Ike, started with two offset hooks on a patented attachment that was a first of its kind. The most famous of the companies lures is the Flatfish. The Helin Tackle Company was founded by Charles Helin in 1933.
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