vermilionlures

Frank K. Knill made his line of Vermilion lures and accessories out of the garage of his home in Vermilion, Ohio and later in Cleveland from the early 1920's thru the 1940s.

Very little is known about his operation. His house was on the corner of West River Road and South Street. He hired children as part time workers. Four are known, three brothers and a young girl. He assembled and painted lures in his garage. The metal pieces were stamped by local metal shops.

Paper and boxes have been marked "Frank K. Knill Mfg." Vermilion Ohio, "F Knill", Vermilion, Ohio, "Mfg by Frank Knill" Cleveland OH, and "The Vermilion Bait Co."

In 1943, Knill was granted patent 2,313,647 for an improved swivel/weight. The patent was assigned to Charles Patterson, Cleveland, Ohio.

Knill was bought out by Patterson, Cleveland Ohio is the late 40s. The Vermilion Pan Fish Spinner and Shiner were advertised by Patterson

in Fish Fun & Game in 1949.

Some Oral history has been provided by Vermilion residents:

John Trinter remembered fishing with Frank as a boy. He often fished off a pier with Mr. Knill. He remembers Knill testing lures out the back of a row boat.

George Wakefield, Vermilion historian, watched Frank troll along the Vermilion River and Lake Erie in the 20s and 30s.

George offered this story: "Dad went fishing on a 45 ft yacht, the TOBERMORY, to Bass Island about 35 miles NW of Vermilion in Lake Erie. He didn't get a single bass. When he came back to the harbor, he met Frank with his little row boat. Frank held up a long string of the best black bass you will ever see on Lake Erie!"

Vermilion Meadow Mouse

There are two main configurations of the Meadow Mouse, the early fat body and later thin body. The earlier version is tougher to find.

The fat body mouse came in three riggings:

1. Line tie on top and in front, with diamond

shaped lip.

2. Line tie in front, with diamond shaped lip.

3. Line tie on top, no lip.

Three finishes are known: mouse, red head white body, black head, black and white marble body.

The red eyes are faceted and advertised as luminous.

The box can be found with both the fat and thin body mouse.

The thin body mouse came in one configuration: line tie in front, diamond shaped lip. The known paint finishes are red head, white body with glitter, black head, black & white marble body, red head white body.

The metal lips are the same shape and size as the earlier lure. The same red facetted, luminous eyes are used.

Vermilion Wobbler

The Vermilion Wobbler is a painted corregated brass spoon with a bucktail tied to a double hook. The bucktail is made of feathers, hair. The patent for this lure, 1,609,090, shows three holes in the spoon. No Wobblers have been found in the patent configuration.

Colors found to date: black/red/white, red/orange/white, black/orange/whtie, orange/green/red.

Knill Spin?

The name is quoted from the tag attached to a lure from the Pflueger Archives. Pflueger purchased competitors lures, tag them and stored them. It is similar to the Vermilion Wobbler, but smaller in size and has tighter corregations. Since none have been found on the original cards, this may be an early version of the Wobbler and misnamed by Pflueger. The bucktails have been found with single and double hooks using hair, wool and woven fabric strips. Colors found: black/red/white, red/green/white, red/green/silver. The Knill Spin is harder to find than the Wobbler.

Vermilion Sparker/Fluffy Killers

Early sparklers were made with a lead body wrapped around a single point hook and a bucktail of various materials including hair and wool. (The wool is patented, 2,038,940 ca. 1935.) A three box swivel attaches a spinner to the body that rides above the lead body when fished. One early sparkler is shown with a spinner instead of a buck tail.

Later Sparklers have a treble hook in place of the single hook and use a barrel swivel at the front.

Colors found: blue/red with sparkles, red/white, red/white w/sparkles, green/white w/sparkles. The later version is common in Ohio.

A version exists with a leader and fly in place of the treble hook, called an Avon Fly Spinner.

A curious version of the sparkler with a prop on the front has been found - shown below.

The lead body is a patented two piece lead weight secured with a cotter pin to allow changing the weight of the lure. The spinners are rigged similar to a Shannon Twin spinner.

Pat. 1,549,121 ca. 1924.

Patent Lure 1,603,118, Filed November 12, 1923.

Knill patented a lure with twin spinners that "is the provision of a bait which is so made that it is caused to lunge or move with a zig-zag path through the water rather than follow the path defined by the travel of the boat."