Instead, she came to the Lazy Ike Get Together Saturday at the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center to see if some of the lures her late husband Larry left were indeed the coveted and collectible lures.

“I’d like to see if some of his lures were Lazy Ike,” Clark said. “I have some at home that might be.”

Collector Gene Dollen, of Persia, was helping her out. He had a huge tackle box with several hundred lures. He was happy to show Clark what to look for to see if she indeed had Lazy Ike lures.

“I’ve been collecting for 20-plus years,” Dollen said. “I really enjoy it. Educating the would-be collector is one of the things I really enjoy.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Mike Buckley, of Fort Dodge, looks over some Lazy Ike lures for sale Saturday morning during the Lazy Ike Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center. Buckley prefers the older solid cardboard boxes to the newer ones with a plastic see-through lid.

That tackle box?

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Dollen said. “I probably have 1,500 to 2,000 at home.”

As a collector, he has a few rarities.

Among those is a Lazy Ike belt buckle.

“There are only five of those known to exist,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
A bowling ball-sized bobber, originally made to be a store promotion, sits on a table Saturday morning at the The Lazy Ike Get Together in the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center.

The Lazy Ike lures also have a long history with Fort Dodge. The colorful lures were originally manufactured by Kautzky’s Sporting Goods in Fort Dodge. They were originally handmade when production started in 1938.

“The history is interesting too,” Clark said.

Mike Buckley, of Fort Dodge, was looking through the selection of “for sale” lures. He was hoping to add a few to his collection. He prefers the ones in the older solid cardboard boxes. Later in their production history, they came in boxes with see-through plastic lids.

He’s found the boxes in some unusual places.

“I was fishing once down by the river when two kids lost six of them,” Buckley said. “They left the boxes. I tried to buy them; they didn’t know what they had.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Some of the Lazy Ike lures at the The Lazy Ike Get Together at the Matt Cosgrove River’s Edge Discovery Center Saturday morning were displayed on paper plates. No, they're not edible.

They do catch fish.

“Northerns love them,” Buckley said. “Not so much in the river.”

Dollen said the same.

“They catch fish,” he said.

“I have my own pond,” he said. “We have a contest using only Lazy Ike; we all caught fish.”

For collector Dan Kramer, of Fort Dodge, the show brought back some pleasant memories.

“I bought my first fishing pole and reel at Kautzky’s when I was a kid,” Kramer said.

Of course. He caught fish with it.