Ice fishing decoy manufactured by the Helin Tackle Company
name: label: maker
content: Helin Tackle Company
label: maker
content: Helin Tackle Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Wooden shaped fish with metal tail fin attached to the body with metal rods. There is a circular spool shaped piece of wood with metal ends suspended in the center of the body. The body is stapled together with two long, heavy staples. This is a prototype for development of an ice fishing lure made by the Heflin Tackle Company. Fish decoys are used in ice fishing in which a fisherman cuts a hole into the ice of a frozen lake, lowers the decoy into the hole on a string to attract the fish and then spears the fish when it comes to the surface of the water. While spearing fish is illegal in most states, some of the northern most states, such as Minnesota and Wisconsin allow this form of fishing to continue. Fish decoys are usually hand carved from a strong wood, such as white pine but which is still soft enough to carve. The fins are usually made from aluminum and an exact amount of molten lead, specific to each fish, is added for ballast to allow the decoy to sink but still maintain a horizontal float pattern. According to the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, carved fish are one of the earliest forms of American folk art which traces the practice back to 1,000 A.D. when hunters in the Bering Sea first used small bone or ivory decoys for ice fishing.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Sports
label: name of sport
content: Fishing
label: level of sport
content: recreational
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0294.18
label: accession number
content: 2000.0294
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0294.18
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ice fishing decoy
label: Object Name
content: decoy, ic
label: Object Name
content: decoy, ice fishing
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 cm x 4 cm x 15.2 cm; 13/16 in x 1 9/16 in x 6 in