This facility is located in Northern Wisconsin. It is a non-profit
organization that was opened in 1960 for the purpose of developing an attraction
and a museum to collect, preserve and display the artifacts of the sport of
fresh water angling. The grounds feature the much photographed 4.5 story tall
leaping musky, containing an observation platform in the gaping mouth.
The grounds contain a nature pond, a four building museum complex with over
5,000 dated lures, over three hundred antique rods and reels, and over 300
antique and classic outboard motors. There is also a video theater seating 35
people that shows constant running movie shorts depicting various aspects of
fishing. The grounds are open year around, seven days a week from April 15 to
November 1st, and Monday through Friday the rest of the year.
You can visit their web site at:
http://www.freshwater-fishing.org/
Opened in 1995, this private museum is dedicated to saving the history of
Heddon fishing tackle company. This museum is located in the old Heddon factory.
Currently they are about 3000 square feet of displays in the old office area of
the plant.
Currently they are building their research library, and working on their reel
display. This museum is available to anyone who wants to come and look through
their records. They are open every Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 8:30, and the
last Sunday afternoon of each month from 1:30 to 4:00. There is no admission
charge. They are also open by appointment at other times if you call
ahead.
Don Lyons was not a collector, but he had been born and raised three blocks
from the Heddon plant, and just hated to see it fall to ruin. He and his wife,
Joan, run the museum to save the history of Heddon. The museum is located at 414
West Street, Dowagiac, MI 49047. Their email address is: heddonmuseum@lyonsindustries.com
Clive Edwards has created a virtual museum
exploding with information about the wonderful fly boxes of Richard
Wheatley. The site looks like an encyclopedia of information for fly
fishing collectors. As Edwards states "I run a website for collectors,
users and sellers of Angling Equipment made by Richard Wheatley since
1860. This Company exported Angling Equipment from the UK around the
world and even produced a range of fly wallets for Canada and the
United States in the first half of the last century."
If you are interested in these items, I don't
imagine there is a better source of information available. You can
take a look at
www.richardwheatleymuseum.org
