Joe Stagnitti just posted this on Joe's Board; since the posts on Joe's disappear very quickly I am copy this over to my blog so it chronicle this awesome lure! Joe writes:
Wow....sometimes, the lure gods smile on you.....
I bought this bait from Bill Kennedy, he got it from a large online auction lot with lots of nice old baits. We both thought at the time that although this bait was very well made, that it was just a cool piece of folk art.....imagine what I thought immediately after reading the blog!!! Just couldn't believe when I scrolled down to Rhead's illustration of the bait, and couldn't dig this bait out of the folk art case fast enough!!!
Congrats, Joe! You've got an awesome, awesome old bait there and the only known Rhead Waga-Waga. What a rare New York lure!
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:
Jerry Martin posts that Rhead may have made other wooden minnows. I don't consider his frog to be "truly" wooden, as according to his own instructions on how to make the lure in Fisherman's Lures and Game Fish Food much of the body was made of cork, but he did advertise several wooden minnows which we sadly do not have any pictures of yet. Also, Jerry noted that the Waga-Waga was once advertised with a metal tail--now that would be a heck of find!
-- Dr. Todd
