Anyone that has followed some of my forum posts over the last few years has more than likely seen my interest in older lures. While I am a novice collector at best it’s been fun collecting older lures not because of their value but because of the intended action behind each lure. Since I have started making my own home made lures I set out to look for lures from the past to present to get a better understanding of what makes them tick and see how each lure might have influenced the next.

Going back to as early as the 1950’s a company in France started producing a lure called the French Vivif Living Minnow. This lure was arguably one of the first “swim baits” produced. This 5 1/2″  2 1/2 oz lure caught on throughout Europe and accounted for many records. Within a short time a man named Cecil Hog who was running a mail order company at the time (Waldorf Record Company) got wind of the bait and decided to import it.  He used a distributor out of Harrison,New Jersey called Harrison Industries (now Harrison-Hope Industries) and started the very popular tackle company Panther Martin. Within the first year Mr. Hog sold a million dollars in French Vivifs! Something almost unheard of at the time.

early 5 1/2" French Vivif

The original baits were casted from a hard tire like rubber, had an internal weighting system,fixed duel point hook(frog hook), and a heart shaped tail that wagged like crazy. What is interesting is the lures were actually hand painted by French prison inmates until switching over to PVC foam in the 70’s.

second generation PVC foam French Vivif

With the growing popularity of people using spinning outfits the smaller lighter 2 1/4″ and 3″ versions were developed. The lures sold well over the years but by around 1982 the French stopped production for reasons unknown. Fast forward to the late 90’s and Cecil Hog’s son Cecil Jr. started taking notice of baits that were entering the market that were very much inspired by the Vivif.  Cecil decided he wanted to reintroduce the Vivif back into the market, but with a few modern day tweaks. Instead of the older PVC he opted for the use of a softer plastic,as well as a single top hook, and a foil insert to give the bait flash. The “Living Minnow” was remade and exported out of China and was back on the shelves!

Modern Day French Vivif Living Minnow