For years spin anglers have used a variety of plugs called "spooks" to catch striped bass. I kind of looked around on where they orginated from and it looks like Heddon started to manufacture them shortly after WWII sometime in the 1950's. They were originally translucent, and that is where the
name "spook" came from. According to an article in The Dallas Morning News, HERE, the "Zara" portion came from the action the lure made in the water, as one customer stated, ...."it moves like the girls down on Zaragosa Street". And that is where the Zara Spook name was born.
Over the years they came painted, swaybacked, and were copied by others. What makes this lure so enticing to fish, and anglers, is the "walk the dog" action it gives. There is a learning curve and technique to fishing these type of lures properly, otherwise it's just another cast and retrieve type
lure.
I got an email around Christmas about an special offering from FlyMen Fishing Company. It was pre-release 3 pack of Spiral Spooks for $39.95. Remember, it was Blane Chocklet who designed and offered the The Game Changer through FlyMen a few years back and that was really hot that year and continues to be very popular, although to me, very diffciult to tie. So this Spiral Spook was designed by Chase Smith and will too be offered by FMFC. You can see some videos of the Spiral Spook below,
These quickly sold out during the inital offering, and I can see why. Credit to Chase for seeing something, like the effectiveness of the Zara Spook, and designing a fly that matches it and can be thrown and worked with a fly rod. It has mono stinger hook out the back, weights inside, and the body is wrapped foam. Now, striped bass eat head first, but I guess if it's small enough it can eat the whole thing, but if not will you miss fish becasue of the location of the hook? Just thinking on paper.
Okay, now onto some business. Remember just a few short years ago when just about everyone was offended by just about everything? Well that crossed over to fly fishing. I'm not saying it was right or wrong, but it did. After you read some of the opinions it at least had you re-thinking some of the names of the flies that we had out there. You can read the blog post from The Caddis Fly which got things going HERE. In it they mention one of the current fly names up for discussion, the Sex Dungeon. Author Jay Nichol's set off a firestorm, and some much needed, realigning of some of the fly names being offered out there. Some critics thought the motivation was just a woke author getting caught up in the snowflake/ woke times we found ourselves in.
Around that time I made a blog post kind of referencing Jay's post and something about The Caddis Fly fly shop where he worked, HERE. A day before his post you could by a fly called PJ's Lynch Mob, a day after the post, the fly was renamed PJ's Mob. Now Lynch Mob isn't a good description for anything then a lynch mob. My post was just a reminder that before we call other people out, we better check ourselves. In the end it was all good, and might have brought some much needed awareness in the future when fly designers and tyers developed new flies. . But let's get back to the Spiral Spook.
So we have established that Heddon named the first Zara Spook around 1950. In an article for NPR in 2017, HERE, author Leah Donella lays out the history and the other meaning of the word spook, "But as many of us know, it's also, sometimes, used as a racial slur for black people". She also goes onto explain when spook was first used as a derogatory term. It was during WWII, when the Tuskegee Airmen were called the "Spookwaffe". The German airforce at that time was called the Luftwaffe, so you can figure that out. There are many other historical publications that confirm that the slur was used and why.
Where does that leave us now? A fishing lure, developed nearly 70 years ago, and still made and used today. And a fly fisherman, Chase Smith, who in his love and passion of the game develops a fly based on that famous, and very fish catching, lure. One is called a Zara Spook and the other Spiral Spook. Will there be, or need to be, a renaming of this new fly by Chase Smith? Will anyone bring this up to FlyMen Fishing Co.? Some will say this is all ridiculous, where does this all end? By history, Mr Heddon didn't name his lure for any derogatory reason, and I doubt Mr. Smith did either. But, that said, we know how things happen, and quickly get "cancelled" in this day and age, maybe just a tad less than a year or two ago.
What I feel is this. We have to be aware. We have to be respectful. We have to communicate. But we also have to use common sense and not generalize or apply a meaning that was different from the original intent. We'll see how this progresses, if it goes anywhere at all.