The inflatable store display, intended to hang from a string, has a slow leak.

“I bought it several years ago,” Van Nest said. “It was hanging in a store somewhere. I’m sure not a lot of them survived.”

Van Nest, of Ottumwa, has been collecting the colorful lures since 1992. Like many collectors, he remembers them from a parent or grandparent’s tackle box. In his case, his grandfather.

“I used them,” he said. “They work good; they’re great. I still use the ones not in great condition.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Garrett Savery, of Fort Dodge, looks over a Lazy Ike lure he was about to purchase Saturday at the Lazy Ike Show and Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River's Edge Discovery Center.

The colorful lures, which were originally manufactured by Kautzky’s Sporting Goods in Fort Dodge, started out as handmade in 1938.

The local connection is one of the things that appeals to Garrett Savery, of Fort Dodge.

“Being a Fort Dodger, you gravitate towards it,” he said. “I’d go to Kautzky’s and look; I didn’t know that much about it then.”

Savery said he was at the show to learn — and do a little shopping, too.

There’s a lot to learn — just the history of the boxes can fill a book. Then there’s the construction of the lures. For example, the older wooden ones have a metal plate to support the connection to the line.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Randy Orme, of Red Oak, at left, chats with fellow Lazy Ike collector Dave Van Nest, of Ottumwa, at the Lazy Ike Show and Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River's Edge Discovery Center. The inflatable store display on the table is from Van Nest's collection.

Another aspect of the lures is the size.

“I’m buying two sizes of the same lure,” Savery said.

Randy Orme, of Red Oak, started collecting 20 years ago.

“I grew up fishing as a kid. I still have a passion to fish,” Orme said. “I’d look in my dad’s tackle box and see all the Lazy Ike lures.”

Orme said when he started it was cheaper and easier to find the lures. He said it’s much harder to find ones now he doesn’t already have.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Among the many Lazy Ike items on display at the Lazy Ike Show and Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River's Edge Discovery Center Saturday was this bobber.

“The things I’d like to have are in somebody else’s collection,” he said. “Sadly, they’re not for sale, not today anyway.”

He, too, uses the lures.

“They catch fish,” he said.

Mike Ruby, of Rutland, enjoys the thrill of the hunt and finding the perfect specimen for his collection.

“It’s an adrenaline dump,” Ruby said. “It’s a really cool feeling.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Mike Ruby, of Rutland, at left, along with Dan Kramer, of Fort Dodge, and Dave Van Nest, of Ottumwa, look over some of Ruby’s collection Saturday at the Lazy Ike Show and Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center.

Ruby is quite dedicated to the hobby. He’s working on finalizing a design for a Lazy Ike tattoo.

Dan Kramer, of Fort Dodge, came to the show to look around and visit with friends.

“I’ve got a few,” he said.

The lures are a fond memory for him.

“I remember touring the factory as a Scout. I remember the store, I remember them spray-painting the lures yellow,” Kramer said. “When you’re 8 or 9, it’s pretty captivating.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Bruce and Lesley Engler, of Minneapolis, show off a Lazy Ike display at the Lazy Ike Show and Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River's Edge Discovery Center Saturday.

For the collectors, it still is.

“They say there’s one in every tackle box,” Ruby added.