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Product Review
Gibbs Lures

The more a product becomes a classic,
the more imitations
are made.

Manufacturers of
handcrafted surf-
fishing plugs these days spring up all the time.

But who were the originals?

Gibbs Lures is one.
Polaris Poppers, pencil poppers, Danny Swimming Plugs, needlefish and other lures from Gibbs are legendary by now.

Who is the company?

Stan Gibbs founded Gibbs Lures in 1946, turning a love for whittling wooden plugs into his living.

Polaris Popper

His lures caught fish,
and the company
took off, while maintaining
the tradition of hand-craftsmanship.


Danny Surface Swimmer
Dennis Ryan and
Dan Smalley currently
own the company,
manufacturing the lures
and other products in
Cumberland, Rhode Island.

Pencil Popper

After 50 years, Gibbs still
handcrafts each lure,
making them out of wood,
never resorting to plastic that became so popular with lure makers, despite the competition from plastic.

Gibbs resisted cutting corners that synthetic products offered, and that’s what sets it apart, the company says.

Gibbs Lures remains a small, family owned business dedicated to top-quality and attention to details, the company says.

Ninety percent of the shops that sell Gibbs Lures are also family owned, and the lures are not sold in mass-market chain stores.

Gibbs uses no distributor and supplies the lures to dealers itself.

Gibbs Lures currently makes 17 different lures in different sizes and colors, including surface and deep-diving swimmers, poppers, pencil poppers, needlefish, darters and skippers for the surf; a Canal Special, invented for the fast waters at the Cape Cod Canal; and a trolling swimmer.

For more info, visit the
Gibbs Lures web site.


Stan Gibbs founded the company
in 1946, turning a love for whittling lures into his living.


The company carries on
a tradition of hand-craftsmanship.