The Catch-all Story
| The first Catch-all lure
was hand carved by a man named Clarence "Bud" Granrath, a
plasterer residing in Milwaukee. He traveled to Hiles, Wisconsin to
fish with his friend Ted Roberts on Pine Lake. They based most of
their fishing success on Bud's hand-carved Catch-all
lures, and decided to market them. Bud
found some connections to back the company as well as open a sales
office in
Milwaukee. Ted located an old school house in Hiles,
WI to be used for the factory. This
schoolhouse eventually employed as many as 20 people. The
old
schoolhouse has now become the church in
downtown Hiles.
The catch-alls were successful at first, with many thousands being produced and sold throughout the world. The company even started to experiment with other lure styles to put into production. However, the business only lasted for a couple years. Poor quality control and the introduction of more popular, more durable, plastic plugs simply left too much for the little company to compete with...and it eventually folded. |
Catch-all Facts:
One thing you will notice if you collect Catch-all lures is that nothing is "for sure". The paint colors, hooks, eyes, bucktails, and even sizes all changed a little throughout it's production to some degree. So if you are attempting to obtain every single variety, you will have your work cut out for you!
- They were made from 1955 to 1956...with possibly some production carrying into 1957.
- There are seven different known colors, one color was uncataloged.
- There are four different sizes. Although the shape and length of the lures was often irregular.
- Even though they were only produced for two to three years, there were tens of thousands of them made.
- There was only one known lure style that made it to production by this company.
- Housewives were employed to put together the bucktails at home
- Bud and Ted reportedly caught so many big bass with this lure, that they were barred from local fishing tournaments
- The words "Catch-all" were actually stamped on the belly of a few earlier Catch-all's
- Hand painting the baits took too long and contributed to the downfall of the company
- Kids used to break in to the schoolhouse factory and took baits by the handful from the barrels they were dumped into
Thanks to these people for sharing info with me!
- On January 18, 2002 I visited with Al Geisel and his son Cole. Al is Ted Robert's Nephew and he shed some light on Catch-all history. His mother used to apply the bucktails to Catch-all baits in the house. He also mentioned that Ernie Wilson was the employee that hand painted these baits. Al also confirmed the rumor that Bud and Ted were banned from using this bait in tournaments because of their past success with the bait. Thank-you for stopping by and visiting Al and Cole!
- On January 18, 2003 Bob Lehmkuhl verified that he has a bait with "Catch-all" written underneath it. Thanks for all your help the last couple years Bob!
- On January 18, 2003 Mike Greylak informed me that he used to run a gun shop where Bud would stop by and talk at length. Apparently Bud was an avid Skeet shooter most of his life. Thanks for taking the time to talk Mike!
- May 22, 2003 I tried fishing an old Catch-all in the classic yellow and green color pattern. I caught 6 largemouth bass in one day! Hmmm...I'm gonna have to give this another shot! :-)
- May 23, 2003 I bought an oar made by Bud and hand signed by him.
