A fascinating tour of the history, science, and marketing behind the world's bestselling lures - and a son's personal journey to reclaim his lost heritage as an angler.
Bob Morris's interest in fishing lures was sparked after he inherited his late father's beloved tackle box. The contents - a battered bucktail jig, rusty knives, and a Johnson Silver Spoon with the remains of a pork rind still attached - unleashed a torrent of memories about days spent fishing with his father, including some hard-learned lessons along the way.
In an attempt to identify some of his father's old lures, Morris is soon drawn into worlds he never knew existed: the obsessive subculture of antique fishing lure collectors (aka 'plug monkeys') who will pay tens of thousands of dollars for a single lure; garage inventors who dream of striking it big in the fishing lure market; and a cadre of neurobiologists, polymer scientists, and engineers who are out to create the perfect fishing lure.
Weaving these findings with Morris's poignant quest to resurrect his youth as an avid angler and connect with his own sons through fishing, Hooked introduces readers to everyone from