Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020 - 22

photo-Alex Zidock Jr.

European Influence
Still Works for
Thomas Fishing Lures

by Alex Zidock Jr.

22

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2020	

photo-Peter Ridd Archives

On the Eagle Watch Bus Tour, the Delaware Highlands
Conservancy guide explains bald eagles congregate at the
confluence of the Lackawaxen and Delaware rivers because
of the clean water abundant with fish, surrounding expansive
forests and comfortable living space. For somewhat the same
reasons, a concerned mother moves her son from the big city to
rural Wayne County to foster his lure-making business.
"The story starts with the birth of Richard Shubert in 1920,"
said Peter Ridd, owner of Thomas Fishing Lures, Hawley,
Wayne County. "He was born in the United States, but his
mother was married to a Czech immigrant, and they moved
back to Czechoslovakia. When Shubert was 14, he was sent to
a technology school in Austria and trained as an apprentice
tool and die maker. When he was about 18 years old, World
War II was about to start, so he and his mother moved back
to the United States. Shubert once told me when he arrived in
New York, he could not speak English. And, when his mother
asked him what he wanted to do, he said he was going to
make fishing lures. So, she sent him to live with a relative in
Montana, where for 8 years, he was tutored in English. Shubert

handmade fishing lures and dies by pounding
metal with a hammer and perfected the designs
in Rocky Mountain trout waters. His lures
caught on," said Ridd.
"When Shubert moved back to New York
City, the family opened a shop on the Lower
East Side, based on the sales successes he
achieved in Montana," said Ridd.
Of the first lures Richard Shubert developed
was the Thomas Buoyant patented in 1946
as "a Fish Bait Spinner." The buoyant is still
the most popular of the Thomas lures and
manufactured in four different sizes and 22
different color patterns.
There was some family wealth, and Richard's
mother purchased a lakefront property on
Lake Wallenpaupack in the early 1950s. "Once
she saw the beauty of the area and all it had to
offer, the nearby Delaware and Lackawaxen
rivers and the 5,700-acre Lake Wallenpaupack,
I think she decided it was a better place to have
a lure company than in Manhattan," said Ridd.
"Richard was getting much too involved in the
social life in New York City, and she wanted to
get him more concentrated on the business."
"While I would say that 1946 is the
unofficial beginning of the company, they
incorporated in New York in 1952 before
moving the company into this building in
Hawley in 1960," said Ridd.
Shubert had a goal to retire at age 65. "He had
a mantra that he was going to retire at age 65 no
matter what. So, in 1985, he let the company go.
My dad, a banker in the area and one of the few
people who got along with the eccentric Shubert,
approached him about purchasing the company.
My dad took a leap of faith and bought the company, knowing
I had some prior manufacturing experience. My then-current
employer wanted to move me to another location. My dad
knew I did not want to move. He said, 'I am a banker, you run

Richard Shubert with some of his original European-style lures he
perfected more than 60 years ago.
www.fishandboat.com
http://www.fishandboat.com
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2020

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