Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2013 - 36

photos-Bob Steiner

This largemouth bass was caught using a Niti-1 lure.

The Niti-1 lure’s fluttering and wobbling attracts any fish that will eat a minnow.

The story of the Niti-1 lure is a uniquely American tale. St. Michael is a blink-and-you’re-past-it village, a place where neighbors seem like family, in the western Pennsylvania coal region. It’s a town of modest, comfortablelooking homes and small, tidy yards. Mixed in is an unassuming building with a sign for “Pcola’s Lures.” Driving by, you may miss it, but for those in the know about Pennsylvania-made lures, it’s a Mecca. Martin continues the lure-making business her father started in a shop that is partly devoted to the machinery her dad built for making the Niti-1 and partly to the store. Andrew P. Pcola passed away a little over 10 years ago, but his legacy of making anglers more successful is living on. “Not too many people can say their father invented a fishing lure,” said Martin. One of a large family of siblings, Andrew Pcola served in World War II and returned home to Cambria County to work in the coal mines. He got out of the mines and turned his hand and skills to many things including barbering and television and electronics repair. His ability of making and using small machinery and his lifetime love of fishing blended naturally when he began experimenting with creating fishing lures. “I still have a box of his prototypes in the store,” said Martin, which she sometimes shows to customers. “He kept taking a piece of tin, bending and shaping it to make it do what he

wanted it to do in the water.” He would experiment with design and test the lures, which wasn’t hard to do because a stream runs across from their house. As for the invention of the Niti-1, he told Ann Marie’s mother that with this one he was “getting down to the nitty-gritty,” and that’s how the lure got its name. “I’ve been amazed with the lure myself, what he did,” said Martin. The Niti-1, which Pcola’s Lures has held the trademark on since 1980, is not jointed but is a thin metal spoon that is flat on the front end and curved in the rear. Deceptively simple in appearance, like many great classics, the Niti-1’s only working parts are a treble hook and a split ring to tie the fishing line to. Yet, there are 17 steps to producing the lure until it is packaged and in the angler’s hand. “The Niti-1’s fluttering and wobbling attracts any fish that will eat a minnow. There’s only one caution. Don’t use a snap swivel. When people say the lure isn’t working for them, that’s the first thing I tell them,” said Martin. “Tie it right to the line.” The Niti-1 original had a small fin on the underside at the rear, but Andrew P. Pcola, always ingenious, had moved the design away from that shortly before he died. “He said he wanted to free up the tail,” said Martin. Today’s Niti-1s are finless. He also developed the Niti-1 P-Chip (tapered) and Niti-1 P-Nut (untapered) spoons, which don’t have a fin.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • January/February 2013

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - January/February 2013

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