Bill Dau shown with the Water's Edge plug display.
In October of 2009 the Kossuth County Conservation Board was the recipient of a unique fishing display thanks to the generosity of Bill Dau, a local fisherman and lure collector from Algona. Bill donated over 250 fishing plugs he had obtained over the years. The majority of the lures were hand-made curved wooden plugs crafted during the 1930’s and 40’s by local Kossuth County anglers. Many include unique designs such as having duck feathers and frog skins being incorporated into the plug.
Bill, an avid fly fisherman in his eighties, is a walking history book of angling in Kossuth County during what he terms the “Wonder Years” from 1930-1950. Bill donated a tremendous amount of his time preparing and arranging the plugs on the display boards as well as providing the information and photos for the storyboards. The storyboards highlight the history of early anglers and lure makers of this period including Loyd Wellendorf, Ralph Morgan and Roy Smith. Bill was fortunate enough to fish with these individuals as a young man and shares many old photos and fishing tales in the display. Bill also shared information from fishing tales from back in the 1940’s, which is on display in a three ring binder adjacent to the lure display.
The display also highlights Lynn Pulver, a lure maker from Swea City. Lynn was famous for the “Pulverizer” lure he patented and produced in the early 1950s. The lures were molded out of plastic in Chicago, and then assembled and painted out of his garage in Swea City. They were merchandised by the 1000’s during the hay days of plugs before plastics and jigs became popular. Lynn was also an avid walleye fisherman, and especially noted for night wader fishing.
This one of a kind display is located at the Water’s Edge Nature Center, three miles north of Algona. Stop out and see a slice of history of what fishing was like during the “ Wonder Years”.
