Wash Dry Dye Tie...Buy

It was probably 1965 when I got my first tackle box. An orange plastic dandy when opened, exposed two divided cantilever trays for holding what would become my prized fishing lures. The sporting goods department at the Montgomery Wards store probably got most of my early business as I gradually stocked it with necessities - hooks, a few bobbers, sinkers, leaders, a stringer and fish scaler. And if I came into a cash windfall, I added items like the obligatory and universally used Daredevle, Jitterbug, and of course, Mepps spinners.

This little nostalgic memory rolled through my head recently when my wife and I were passing through Antigo, Wisconsin on our way to visit a friend to do some fishing.

Antigo is a little town of about 8,200 people on U.S. Highway 45, one of the iconic routes heading up nort’. The name is derived from the Ojibwe phrase "niibin-inaandagoog-ziibiing", meaning "summer balsam firs by the river" although you’d be hard pressed to find any fir trees these days. In the middle of an agricultural landscape, the community is distinctly “small town” with a relatively simple lifestyle and charm. Nine days before our arrival, the big news in the Antigo Daily Journal was the opening of a new A&W restaurant. But the claim to fame that mattered most to me was to be found at Sheldons’, Inc., home of Mepps fishing lures.

The story of Mepps has been well told many times in great detail, so here are just a few highlights. Mepps is an acronym for Manufacturier D’Engins De Precision Pour Peches Sportives, translated, Precision Equipment for Sport Fishing.

A French engineer, Andre Muelnart, invented the Mepps spinner in 1938. Frank Velek, a WWII veteran home from Europe in 1949 brought some spinners with him and gave a few to Antigo tackle store owner, Todd Sheldon. A poor day fishing two years later motivates Sheldon to give the spinners a try, and voilà, he catches trout. Sheldon, now convinced he may be on to something, starts selling the spinners at his shop but using Velek’s female contact in France to obtain inventory proved to be inadequate (yes, they traded nylon stockings in exchange for a supply of spinners). Sheldon then travels to France and establishes a trade relationship with Muelnart and Mepps. By 1956, Sheldon sells his tackle store and forms Sheldons’, Inc. focusing solely on Mepps spinners. In the early ‘60s Sheldon catches a limit of trout on the venerable spinner but encounters a boy who had out-fished him, carrying a limit of bigger trout. It seems the boy had dressed his Mepps with a tuft of squirrel hair, and so began the legend. In 1973, Sheldon acquired Mulenart’s Mepps manufacturing company in Contes, France.

Apart from the importance of having Mepps spinners in my childhood tackle box I also recalled the youthful fascination of getting rich from squirrel tails when a friend suggested collecting them to send to Antigo for the staggering price of 17 cents per tail! You see, Mepps builds many of their spinners using the hair from squirrel tails and (deer) bucktails.

Unfortunately, for a couple of townies who needed access and transportation to the squirrel woods, money to buy .22 ammo at a penny a shot, and the materials to process and mail tails, our entrepreneurial enterprise never got off the ground.

Still, after all these years, there’s something deeply Wisconsin about the whole idea. In other words, “You know you’re from Wisconsin if…you ever considered collecting squirrel and buck tails for the people at Mepps.”

When we pulled up to the building we immediately smiled when we saw the directional sign pointing to the Squirrel Tail Dept. We walked through the front door into a small waiting area, and a woman’s muffled voice from behind a tellers window asked if we needed assistance. We explained we were passing through Antigo and curious so we stopped, wondering if there was anything to see.

“Would you like to take the tour?” the woman asked.

“Absolutely,” I responded and soon we were being greeted at the internal door by Kim, a longtime Mepps employee who, at least for a short while, got a break from her job of assembling and packaging spinners to be our personal guide, group size of two.

I was impressed that a regular employee would be our guide. No corporate PR person or intern with memorized talking points. Just a real worker-bee who knew the company inside and out. I asked if this was “short-straw” duty and she dismissed the notion explaining this was part of the job and was happy to give us the nickel tour which she did with a smile and great sense of humor.

Kim quickly led us through the building winding around organized shelves of parts, pieces and inventory in between work space for assembly and packaging. Our first stop was “The Squirrel Tail Department.”

Sitting at a workstation, Cindy, methodically and expertly snipped hair and feathers as she tied and glued the iconic tuft to be used on a spinner.

“How long have you been doing this?” I asked.

Never looking away from her task and with a soft smile she replied, “A long time.”

It turns out that Cindy has worked for Mepps for nearly 40 years, and this is no anomaly. Many of the women working there have decades of experience, each dedicated to producing what is arguably one of the most well-known fishing lures in the world.

Kim held up four tails in her hand and told us, here’s what you need to know, “Wash, dry, dye, tie.” Then she explained to us the entire progression of gathering, processing, and grading tails before they can be used by the crafter. Looking at the dyed tails, I couldn’t help imagining the camo advantage a bright green squirrel would have, at least until winter.

Squirrel hunters typically pitch the tail after harvest, so with a little planned effort, sending tails to Mepps for the high-end return of $0.25 per tail or credit toward the purchase of Mepps tackle is a great “recycling” option. No doubt, Mepps’ claim to have recycled more squirrel tails than anyone else in the world is true; they accept 45-50 thousand tails each year. Wondering how the squirrel might feel about the recycling idea, caused me to think of squirrels more as tail donors, although this idea immediately conjured the unsettling image of tail-less squirrels scampering through my woods.

And in the interest of squirrel conservation, Mepps does not advocate hunting squirrels solely for their tails. So before you launch your squirrel tail business, you may want to consider some associated home use recipes like fried squirrel, jerky or gravy. Also good to consider, tails are best if taken after October 1, and don’t forget to save those bucktails.

There are a few mechanized steps in the making of Mepps spinners, like the stamping of the blade. But ultimately, it’s the hands of a few patient, talented women that create and give style to this truly iconic brand, varieties numbering in the thousands.

As we drove north out of town we reflected on our experience. Something real and genuine at a time where traditions and home-grown businesses are being lost in favor of buy-outs, knock-offs, and corporate assimilation. Suddenly fishing tackle started to feel personal again; I think I’m going assemble a retro tackle bag: Mepps Aglia, Jitterbug, Hula Popper, Daredevle, Heddon Lucky 13 & Zara Spook, Rapala, Lazy Ike, and maybe a few others.

In the meantime, as the woods outside my house begin to show signs of squirrels cutting hickory nuts I start envisioning a Missouri Squirrel Tail Donor Center but then reject the idea. Non-traditional catch and release of tail-free squirrels might upset the neighbors a bit. However, I may have to look into my local deer processor allowing me to gather deer tails during the opening weekend of the deer firearms season. Happy hunting!

Missouri’s squirrel hunting season for eastern gray and fox squirrels runs from May 23, 2026, through February 15, 2027. The daily bag limit is 10 and the possession limit is 20.