The History of Rebel Lures - Plastics & Perrin

Frustrated with the incontinences, durability, and cost of balsawood minnow lures, in 1963 George Perrin Sr. released the Amazing Swimming Minnow, an injection-molded plastic lure under the Rebel Lures name, a division of his Plastics Research and Development Corporation. This lure featuring a durable, consistent design, cross-hatching, and a new vacuum-metalized finish changed the fishing tackle industry overnight and soon became one of the most recognizable lures in the world. Yet more than 60 years later much confusion, if not downright controversy, surrounds the history of Rebel Lures and Plastics Research and Development. For example, how did the Fort Smith, Arkansas, company start? How were iconic lures like the F10 Minnow, the Pop-R, the Wee-R, and the Humpback developed? And who exactly designed all those iconic fishing lures? In this special two-part mini-series of the Retro Bassin' Show dedicated to the Roots of Rebel Lures, we sit down with George "Buddy" Perrin Jr. who recounts his family's fishing tradition, the origins of Rebel Lures, and his late father's obsession with catching more and bigger fish through plastics, research and development. Part 1 will be dedicated to getting to know the man behind the minnow, George Perrin Sr. I'd bet my baitcaster, there is a Rebel Lure lurking somewhere in your tackle box, and now you will know the 60-year-old tradition these iconic bass fishing lures!
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[@PatrickMarbury]

What a great video covering this iconic brand! Rebel is definitely a brand that was born out of innovative ideas about how to do it better than anyone had before. I look forward to seeing the second part of this series!

[@RetroBassin]

The coolest part of this video project, aside from meeting Buddy Perrin, is reading all the comments and seeing how important Rebel Lures have been in making memories for so many anglers of all ages!

[@Lobo-tommy10]

The intro alone is worth the sub

[@EDCandLace]

This channel is chronically under subbed.... one of the best fishing channels on youtube. Like seriously, if googans has millions this channel deserves 10x that.

[@RetroBassin]

I appreciate that, good buddy! Funny, Buddy Perrin and I were texting this morning on doing things for clicks vs. doing things for history. Sure, we could have made this a 5-minute algorithm-friendly video that might get more clicks, but think of all the great stories and history we’d have to trim out. So with that, stay tuned for part two!!

[@adammitchell3462]

I know that rebel crawdad crankbait is absolutely killer. I've used it my whole life and I'm still slaying them on it

[@RetroBassin]

Deep or shallow diver?

[@adammitchell3462]

@@RetroBassin not sure...I use a variety of sizes but they all just have a short rounded bill on them

[@FounderOf4]

What a great story and video... I love getting into the history of my favorite hobbies. Thank you for taking the time to put this content together!

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks for tuning in, good buddy!

[@robinallen8773]

Can’t wait till the next episode, awesome show and very informative!! Great job Chris Let me if you come up to Michigan for I’ll take ya to Dowagiac to the Heddon museum! Open Tuesday Thursdays and Fridays

[@RetroBassin]

I will totally take you up on that Robin! Get me your info on FB or IG.

[@christopherjarreau9524]

Best lure historical video. I can’t wait for part 2. Love the videos and the history.

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks, Christopher! So glad I was able to connect with Buddy to make this one happen!

[@bcsdscar]

I always loved Rebel lures. As a kid and teenager I lived by a small stream and my go to lure was the rebel wee crawfish. Caught fish on them til the paint came off and hooks would break off . Anything from bluegill to Muskie and everything in between. Still one of my favorite lures of all time

[@RetroBassin]

I bought my first Rebels at a shop called Anchors Away in Severna Park, MD. I still remember the cross hatch!

[@alf9638]

What a wonderful interview. Youre doing the lord's work documenting these moments and the history of bass fishing culture in the US.

[@RetroBassin]

Thank you for that! It is really what this channel is all about.

[@alf9638]

@@RetroBassin You're doing a great job. There's something about the intersection of nature, sport, leisure and products which makes bass fishing such a rich and representative facet of 'Americana'.

[@raptorman6589]

Do a video about AC shiner

[@teijiosawa2230]

True!

[@crosscountrybankangler]

Caught my first bass as a kid on a rebel crickhopper, I’ll never forget it. Still keep crickhoppers, jointed minnows, and craws in my box today

[@ramondiazjr.3902]

Once again a great video.my very first largemouth bass was caught on a rebel wee r when I was about 13 or 14 and I still have that lure to this day .I'm 50 now so I very had it awhile it will never see the water again.an older gentleman gave it to me.fishing in maryland was always so good for me.great video and I love keeping it retro

[@BobbyBalsaRNM]

Awesome show as always! The History Channel of fishing. Love hearing these stories.

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks, Bobby. This one was as much for me and Buddy so glad you enjoyed!

[@mikeconley9590]

I grew up a few blocks from the factory. The train always spilled the plastic pellets and we'd grab them and take with us to school. They were perfect for ammo in our straws. They replaced spitballs😂 id put a handful in my mouth and I was like a machine gun.

[@RetroBassin]

Great story, Mike! I will totally share with Buddy!

[@johnswofford599]

My family lived down the street from the Perrins. I used to hang out with them when I was in Jr. High. I have the mid size original purple and silver original minnow that my dad bought sometime in the 1960s. in my tacklebox right now. I am glad to see that Buddy seems to be doing well.

[@Spartan265]

As a big fan of history this is the kind of stuff I love. Learning about this history of fishing is really fascinating. From how we fished in prehistory all the way to current day. Learning about the history of different brands etc. It's all so interesting.

[@samuelschult985]

What a piece of history wow and there's a second part 👍

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks for tuning in, Samuel. Part two will be Rebel boxes, boats, and more!

[@calebriemer8763]

Awesome video! Can't wait for part 2! Old Rebels are some of the best old school gold out there!

[@jesseaskew957]

Absolutely fantastic video about this man and the origins of the Rebel lure. As a kid who grew up in Eastern NC, the Rebel lure was a go to lure for bass and also rockfish . Fascinating video !

[@DsTackleBox]

Nice! I had the clear red top rebel box in the red, white and blue scheme. Beautiful piece that was a rare piece to find! ✌️🤠

[@RetroBassin]

You'd flip seeing the box of Rebel prototypes...I definitely need to get that on film.

[@DsTackleBox]

@RetroBassin I do like me some protos! Good time well spent!

[@homerlee8334]

Awesome content. Rebel lures have been in my tackleboxes since the 60s. I remember buying my dad a Rebel Minnow for one of his birthdays when I was a boy. That lure was in my box by the end of the summer. Thanks for taking me fishing dad! I was blessed.

[@LowBrowFishing]

Nearly 50 years ago, some of my very first lures where Rebel. To this day, I still have a good supply of Pop-Rs and Wee-Rs. Thanks for posting this. It was a blast!

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks, LowBrow!

[@propgungoesboom2647]

Along with a 1/4 oz beetle spin the currently manufactured rebel humpback is my go to lure for anything that swims. Keep it simple and keep it old school.

[@Fish-Erman]

I'm old enough to remember the days when Rebel was the go to minnow bait in salt water, before the Bomber Long A came along. I still love Rebels, I have at least 30 still, many in sizes they don't even make anymore. They catch as many fish as Rapala, Smithwick, Bomber, Megabass, etc. I love that they don't have rattles. But they do cast horribly compared to the minnows made today with weight transfer systems.

[@RetroBassin]

I need to throw some of my salty Rebels!

[@conormichael7964]

This channel is amazing, you deserve wayyyyy more views and subscribers than you have. I love those old school rebel lures, those and the Rapalas are LEGENDARY for reasons. The rapala and rebels always have a place in my boxes and I’ve been collecting them for a while

[@Stumpjack]

What a great conversation. It's people like this, folks who have a real connection to these iconic companies, that make fishing history come alive. Can't wait for part 2.

[@RetroBassin]

Knew you’d dig this one, Dave! We definitely need to his the Mepps office this year…

[@Stumpjack]

@@RetroBassin I contacted Mike Sheldon again a month or so ago, and told him I want to do another interview with him. The audio in my first sit-down dodn't turn out. He was cool with that. Plus, I just like visiting that place! lol

[@throwluckfishing5785]

Thank you for this! Awesome history!!...... Channel always encourages me to buy more lures! :)

[@RetroBassin]

Me too, that's the problem!

[@jorge2753]

i’ve got an original pop-r rebel lure from around the 70s-80s and a bunch of other lures from that same era handed down from my dad

[@jasonsmith2439]

Omg your collection in the background is amazing

[@teijiosawa2230]

What an interesting interview!

[@RetroBassin]

Glad you liked, Teiji! Wait until Buddy and I go through his father’s tacklebox, lure by lure…

[@MrSeanWesty]

Still love fishing the crickhopper on ultralite!! I placed an order for their new soft plastics, hopefully there as good.

[@RetroBassin]

I love the Rebel creatures! Cat'R Crawler was a beast.

[@PatrickMarbury]

The new LIVEflex soft plastics are the real deal! You will be very happy with how well they work! Take it from the guy who developed them.🎣Tight lines!

[@michaelmaldonado5680]

This will b by far the best video of yr channel!! Congratulations bro

[@Mosey410]

Greetings from Baltimore ! My fishing buddy turned me on to the Wee R crank baits when we were 15-16 I’m 44 now. I’ve been fishing those the Rebel jerk baits and popr for years. I love the fat Wee-R square bills and the silver and black medium divers. Love this show,when my old lady complains about me bringing home more stuff for our museum of a house all I gotta do is show her one of your videos to show my collecting compulsion is just average. Keep up the great work.

[@Mosey410]

can’t wait for the next episode great job on the editing

[@RetroBassin]

Great example of a comment I WON'T share with mine haha

[@chrisfuller3277]

Back in the day, a Rebel was about all we had. My biggest bass, 8.2 pounds was caught on a Tennessee Shad Deep Wee-R. Truest running baits of all time.

[@RetroBassin]

That’s a hog on a crankbait!

[@kennyhollidayjr5206]

George Sr's son Mike is my buddy down here in South Florida. Great video I just sent him a link to this video 👍

[@johnm2617]

😮 Dont get any better than this ! History! From the family members! Very interesting! Ty so much !! Peace !

[@RetroBassin]

The fishing world is better for these amazing stories, that’s for sure!

[@OfftheHookOutdoors99]

Great info!

[@RetroBassin]

Thanks good buddy!

[@rickvann3489]

Nice history lesson

[@thereever3187]

Omg seeing that pic of the Talking Spoon in the intro. Still my favourite topwater of all time.

[@RetroBassin]

I have a few of those but have never thrown them! Any tips?

[@thereever3187]

@@RetroBassin Two handed baitcaster, long cast and with your rod tip high start reeling as soon as it hits the water using a retrieve similiar to the shaking method for swim jigs, little pops to keep it on the surface. Just fast enough of a retrieve to keep it on top. They almost always land hook side up like a frog. If you still have one in the package I believe that is one of the retrieves described on the back.

[@jeffscantling6199]

I have that same tackle box that is on the shelf in my garage, it used to be my grandpa's striper box but the latch falls off when you move it around a lot so I keep it on a shelf and store lure making materials and spare hooks/ split rings/ etc in it. I caught my first keeper (18"+ in California) striper on one of my grandpa's old broken back spoonbill minnows, and then I proceeded to catch hundreds of keeper stripers that year in a period of a few months that I went fishing almost every day. The problem I have had with some of the old rebels is that after a while they will fill with water and wont run right when trolling.

[@RetroBassin]

Love the story, Jeff! So cool to hear how these lures were such an important part of people’s childhoods.

[@ericbunksvintagesportsman6311]

LOVE THIS!!! great stuff!!

[@RetroBassin]

Yeah buddy!

[@dutch_clutch8211]

I love the illumination of lure history. The evolution of technology has simply refined the finesse of anglers' past, and it speaks volumes of the understanding these men had in thinking from the perspective of the fish they caught

[@RetroBassin]

My favorite part was hearing about George Perrin the outdoorsman!

[@Rotationonetwisted]

I remember using rebel minnows when I was 9 years old I still have them in my takle box

[@RetroBassin]

About when I got my first one!

[@owentwintype4649]

Love this!

[@ufcguruofficial]

Awesome!

[@VB-bk1lh]

My most productive lure is an OLD 6", all black, Rebel Minnow. floater. We used to fish off the beach down at the bay as kids, about a 40 minute bike ride from where I lived then. I got to know a few of the old timers who fished there back then and one old guy gave me the Rebel Minnow after seeing most of my lures were either beat up or just cheap knockoffs from the department store then. It immediately caught a huge striped bass, in exchange for the lure, (and knowing it would never survive the 40 minute ride home on a hot day, I gave it to the guy who gave me the lure. four casts later I had its twin, then soon after another. That same spot produced bass with that lure for a good three or four years steady. We rarely went anywhere else. Years later, after getting a drivers license and a truck, I was at another spot, a bit further down the bay fishing some rocks, I cast out that same lure and it immediately got a hit, but what ever it was was huge and was taking line. The fish headed for the rocks with me unable to stop it or control it that far out. In a split second it broke me off in the rocks. I was more upset about loosing my favorite lure then the fish. I didn't get another hit again there all day. I had hoped that maybe I'd either snag the broken line or recatch the same fish but no such luck. It was two or three weeks later before I got back there, that time I brought surf shoes and was dressed to be able to step into the water or over the rocks. I had bought the next best thing to the lure I lost, a black/silver version of it that was likely 10 years newer than the one I had. I made a few casts, but got nothing, then I switched it up and got out my lighter rod, and tried a lighter lure, and got a few croakers and a couple of small blue fish. As the tide went out, I was slowly moving further out along the rock pile that was a mix of boulders and dumped concrete forms from a demolished pier removed many years ago. At nearly dead low tide I saw a few red beads on a piece of fishing line. I carefully snagged that line, which when I grabbed it brought up a mass of line the size of a basket ball with bits of line going in all directions, including several half eaten fish some rusted hooks, and about 12 lbs of lead sinkers. Not wanting to get snagged on it, or to leave it there period, I started to pull in the whole mess, even venturing out about waste deep into the bay to try and unhook a few of the pieces that were wrapped around the last few chunks of concrete. I slipped twice, nearly killed my self trying to get that out of there but finally freed it all up. In the end it the mess weighed about 40 lbs. Wanting to get back to fishing as the tide turned around, I dragged the whole muddy, stinking mess over my truck and just tossed it in the back. It felt heavy but I had no idea why other than I figured it was full of lead. I fished for a few more hours and managed one keeper striper and two more larger croakers. I left before it got dark and at home, I just pushed the whole mess of line and lead off the back of the truck into a wheel barrel and went about cleaning my catch. The next morning I got a better look at the mess of old line, and started to cut it apart with the thought that if nothing else its free lead for more sinkers. It took me two hours to carve it all up, or at least to get down to what was so heavy. In the middle of the mess was a chunk of iron about 16" long 4" wide and tapered. Later I found out it was likely the keel from a small sailboat that had gotten broken off there years ago. After untangling that chunk of iron, which had a bunch of square headed nuts and bolts sticking out all over it, I started cutting up the line itself, as i did I started to pull out lures, more sinkers, hooks, etc. I was alrmost completely through it I was pulling in the straggler pieces that were hanging over the sides of the wheel barrow. When I did up came my a 6" black rebel minnow just like the one I had lost weeks before. I can't say if it was the very same one that i lost but it sure looked like it. For it to be that buried in a tangle of line like that was probably unlikely but it was the place where the other one was lost and I've never seen another one like it before. (All black, no metal or foil look, just a light dusting of silver on the belly, yellow eyes, and a bit of red at the base of the lip. Regardless of whether or not it was the one I lost, it caught me many dinners since then and likely still will. Its most effected at night, and the black/silver one I bought back then is my day time favorite. Those two have become my go too lures and are two of the only five or six I bother to carry these days, learning to travel lighter than I used to then. No more giant tackle boxes or trucks packed with tackle. I've narrowed my surft gear down to just what I need to put a fish in the pan as cheaply as possible.

[@teamflanneloutdoors5631]

Thank you Retrobassin ( I requested you do Rebel)👍 Rebel, please offer your standard size Squarebills again🙏

[@RetroBassin]

Part two will be Rebel boats, tackle boxes, and Ringworms!

[@teamflanneloutdoors5631]

@@RetroBassin I’m all in Brother 🤜🏻

[@johndrx165]

I have many, plus that tackle box! I started in the 1970's but have bought some older ones on EBay.

[@RetroBassin]

That’s a great looking box!

[@Drop_the_Net_Get_the_Gaff]

I caught 5 peacock bass on a 20 year old golden shiner stickbait today.

[@Ndogg673]

Njs record striper (78 lb )was taken on a 5 1/2 black back rebel minnow

[@RetroBassin]

Don’t see the black anymore!

[@michaelchapman1258]

The “Let’s try this place” as you are leaving is me.

[@kennethevans138]

L take the long Rebel minnow and toss it in hole in the lilly pads I wait until the ripples all die them lightly twitch it not moving it just making a light ripple like a minnow when it dies and have caught some monsters.

[@RetroBassin]

I bet that worked!

[@bayouburner281]

My 1st Rebel lure was the Humpback-Spent summer vacation at my grandparents in the Arkansas Ouchitas fishing cold water creeks. All the locals swore by them. Never saw one at Walmart, Kmart, at tackle shops until I went to one up there. Beat creek bait to cover water imo, biased of course 🤠😂😃

[@RetroBassin]

I bet that thing was deadly in 8-10 feet!

[@tedsell1455]

Hard to Beat

[@dannydecare2116]

I'm a fishing junky I spent so much money and time on and in the water as a way to save some money I dive for lures iv came acrossed alot of old and rare baits

[@coldspring624]

Funny I just stopped in my barn and looked at all the rebels I have hanging on the walls

[@edwinro77]

Well done as always!

[@TheRedneckPreppy]

I doubt a fishing trip goes by that I don't throw a Pop-R.