Alcoe Lure Company
Fern Park, Florida – The Magic Minnow
Alcoe History
Al Coe’s baits are another highly sought after bait by many Florida lures collectors. Al Cole started making baits in 1939 in Fern Park.
These baits were made of cedar and had a cloth/rubber tail and dorsal fin. Hardware for the baits I have seen was a small rimmed cup and has a lip similar to Paw Paws two screw or Heddon’s lip only slightly longer. The forward belly has the cup for the screw eye and hook and the back hook has no cup at all just the screw eye. Eyes were Yellow with a black center.
Alcoe Magic Minnow Lure
Picture courtesy of Roth Kemper
Alcoe Lure Box
Picture courtesy of Roth Kemper
Colors seen include Black Scale, Gray Scale, Yellow Scale, Blue Scale, Yellow Scale with Black Stripes, and Gray Scale with Red Stripes.
The boxes were a two piece cardboard box that was blue with the text “MAGIC MINNOW Alcoe Lure Company Fern Park, Florida” and “Designed To Fool Fish, Not The Fisherman”.
Baits that were made by Al Coe include the Magic Mullet, Alcoe Shiner, Alcoe Bass Oreno, Alcoe Darter, Alcoe Pike and an Alcoe Olive shell lure.
Alcoe Lure – Magic Minnow
Much of the information on this page was obtained by utilizing the information provided by Doug Brace, Bill Stuart, and Russell Riddle in “Florida Lure Makers and Their Lures” (Currently out of print). The information we have provided is only a portion of the story. If interested in purchasing this book, please reach out to other collectors in our forum to inquire about availability.