By Don Norton
Ask most older bass fishermen to name a lure that they have used consistently over the last 40-50 years, excluding a jig or plastic worm, and many will probably say a Zara Spook.
Anyone who loves to fish topwater lures has mastered the art of “walking the dog” with a Zara Spook and has had the thrill of a bass blowing up on the lure, leaving them in awe.
This lure is one of the most successful bass fishing lures ever created. The earliest versions of the lure, the Zaragossa 6500 series, were made of wood; however, in 1939, Heddon introduced plastic to their new line of lures.
Often referred to as the spook, Heddon’s lure gave the great top-water “walk the dog” action a new name and meaning. Anglers could easily create the action by merely twitching their rod tip in a consistent manner, which allowed the lure to zig-zag across the surface, imitating an injured baitfish. This erratic action often resulted in a crushing explosion as a bass found the bait irresistible.
Heddon created many different plastic lures in 1939 including: the Model 9240, Zara Spook Jr., painted gold eyes, 5/8 ounce, 3” long, two piece hardware, two treble hooks; Model 9250, Zara Spook, gold-painted eyes, 4/5 ounce, 4 ¼” long, two-piece hardware, two treble hooks; Model 9260, Zara Spook, same as Model 9250 but three trebles; Model 9200, Darting Zara Spook, 4/5 ounce, 4 ¼” long, two-piece hardware, three trebles; Model 9010 Midget River Runt Spook, 3/8 ounce, 2 ¼” long, two-piece hardware, two treble hooks; Model 9540 Chugger Spook, painted gold eyes, 5/8 ounce, 3 1/4 “ long, two-piece hardware, two trebles; Model 9140 Wounded Spook, painted gold eyes, no name on little prop, 5/8ounce, 3” long, two-piece hardware, two trebles; and Model 9160 Wounded Spook. Painted gold eyes, no name on little prop, ¾ ounce, 4 ¼” long, two-piece hardware, three treble hooks.
Many of these older lures are no longer in circulation, and those that are in a collector’s possession. From 1978 to 1984, Heddon reintroduced the original style because anglers disliked the plate hardware.
Ten years later, in 1994, Pradco purchased Heddon. The distinction between Heddons, Zaras, and the later Pradco Zaras is easy to see by examining the front hook-hanger screws. The Heddon models have the hook hardware set into two heavier plastic inserts. Pradco does not. The seam line is horizontal to the lure on its belly and back lines on the Heddon Zaras. The Pradco Zaras have a single neck seam line about a ¼” in front of the front hook hanger, and the letters are also smaller and closer together.
Heddon continued introducing even more spooks to their line-up in 1940 with the Model D9010, a Go-Deeper River Runt Spook, and the Heddon Model 980 Punkie Spook, which was a flyrod version of the Pumpkinseed and weighed only 1/20th of an ounce and was only 1” long.
The Heddon Zara Spook is probably one of the most copied lures on the market today, with dozens of different shapes, sizes, and colors.
And most are referred to as spooks.
Zara Spook 9260 (1939–present) is a topwater type fishing lure. The lure is cast out and retrieved in a “walk the dog” fashion (side to side or zigzag motion). It is supposed to mimic an injured fish and comes in many different fashions but the most prominent is the minnow type. Any fish that takes its prey from the water’s surface would be considered a targeted species with this lure.
History
The Zara Spook was first developed by the Heddon company as a wooden lure named the Zaragossa 6500 series lures. In 1939 The plastic version was introduced and following the naming of other plastic lures Heddon added spook to the name to classify it as a plastic lure. The Zara Spook 9260 Series lures contained different types of hardware throughout their production. Heddon two piece hardware were the first hardware on the 1939 catalogued Zara Spook. Later lures through the 1940s and 1950s had surface hardware. Later models contained bell hardware and moulded hangers through the 1970s. In the mid-1990s, a 4-inch long model with three hooks was introduced, and a smaller 2-inch model has also been developed for light tackle fishing. The Zara spook and spin off models are one of a few lures still marketed under the Heddon brand name by EBSCO.
