The Hardy Strathallan Devon Lure

Hello, pictured on the right is the Hardy Strathallan Devon Lure.

I am sure you will all be familiar with the tackle company Hardy Brothers. Their name will crop up regularly throughout these blogs, and I would imagine that certain blogs will be devoted specifically to Hardys, as a company, rather than just to specific lures.



Well, they have produced a vast range of lures, and today I have featured one of their relatively modern ones.

Production of this started in 1963,(but I do not know how long production continued for).

They named it the Strathallan Devon. Later blogs will talk more about the naming of minnows, and devon minnows, and other variants. Basically at this point all you need to know is that the simple, fish like design for this lure is classified as a devon minnow. Where does the word Strathallan come from? I don't know, but Hardys often named their products after customers,or places. Occasionally their customers suggested the design of a product to Hardys,who took it on as a good idea and recognised the contribution of their customer by naming the product after them. A nice gesture I think. Also it meant they didn't have to think too hard for the name themselves!

Looking on the internet, the name Strathallan when put into Google provides me with the information that it is a river valley in Scotland. This sounds like a good idea for a fishing lure name, so why not? The Google alternatives of a boarding school, a hotel in Birmingham or a World War 2 troopship (sadly sunk), do not sound to be quite as likely a reason.

The lure was made in one piece, of moulded plastic. You will note in the picture, just,that in front of the treble hook is a little cone shaped sleeve. This was to prevent the hook from bending against the body of the lure and distorting its shape. Whether this idea was successful I don't know. At the front of the lure is a small retaining ring which held a swivel. I think the, rather protruding, eyes on this were made of glass.

The lure was made in various sizes,including 2, 2 1/4, 2 1/2 and 2 3/4 inches.

There was a wide range of colours available, gold(as pictured), silver, red and silver, ox blood and silver (I wish I could see that combination!), rainbow trout and finally natural minnow(as opposed to un-natural?).

The only example I have encountered is the gold one above. If I remember correctly it was a 2 inch Strathallan.

These are relatively modern lures, and as such I would have thought relatively commonly available. However, I have only ever seen the above pictured lure available at auction. Nor do they seem to appear on EBay very often. Despite this I think when I sold the above lure I only got a few bidders, and it went for about £4 or £5. A suggested list price for this was £15-£25, hence the buyer got a bargain, which was fair enough.

A possible reason for its lack of attention was,(if I remember correctly), its lack of brand markings. Hardy Brothers have never been slow at coming forwards when it comes to self promotion. They manage to get their name onto the smallest of items, even from their earliest days of tackle production. Hence it is somewhat surprising(if i remember correctly!!) that this lure is un-named. Presumably the production process wasn't amenable to printing, or impressing a logo or name onto the lure. I have found in this hobby that the name on the item can be critical to financial success, if you intend collecting to eventually sell.

No idea what kind of packaging this was supplied in, box? blister pack? card? Anyone know?

Hopefully this has proved useful in providing at least a bit of information about that nameless, but cute little lure that you had in your collection.


The next lure coming up is the Allcocks Nevison Minnow. I definitely need some help with this one!