Florida Fishing Tackle Mfg Co (Barracuda Brand) was founded by Jack Reynolds and first offered stock in his new company in 1928. They started out making bamboo rods and then made fishing lures from the early 1930’s up until the 1970’s. He incorporated the company in 1933. The beautiful graphics on the Barracuda box was copyrighted in 1934. This long period of manufacture gave us a wide range of lure designs and level of quality. The earliest Barracuda lures were high quality and had glass eyes. Later versions had painted eyes. Perhaps the most interesting of the Barracuda lures was the one named “Torpecuda”. The first version of the lure had glass eyes and a feather for a dorsal fin. Florida Fishing Tackle Mfg Co lures are considered to be one of the great Tampa Bay area lure makers.
Jack Reynolds entered into a agreement with Porter Dalton in the mid 1950’s to make the Dalton Special. Dalton had already received a patent for his “Dalton Special” on September 19, 1939. The first Dalton Specials are marked Tampa, Fla. They were later marked St. Pete, Fla. Newer ones are marked Clearwater, Fla. The lure was made for a long time and is still popular today.
Florida Fishing Tackle BARRACUDA Lures
BARRACUDA Glass Eyed Lures
BARRACUDA Glass Eyed and Blue-Green Pattern Lures
The #50 TORPECUDA Glass Eye Lures, circa 1940
The #50 TORPECUDA Glass Eye Lures, circa 1940
The #60 TORPECUDA Painted Eye Lures, circa 1950’s
The #40 BARRACUDA Lures, circa 1940
The #30 BARRACUDA Lure, circa 1940
The #60 TORPECUDA Glass Eye Lure, circa 1940
The TORPAHU Lure, circa 1940
The #10 TIPSY CUDA & #40 TWITCHIN’ CUDA Lures, circa 1940
The POPEYE FROG Lure, circa 1940’s
The #77 KINGCUDA (SILVER KING) Lures, 6 1/2″, circa 1950’s
The #20 REYHU TROLL Lures, circa 1940
The FLORIDA SHINER Lures, circa 1940
The CONVICT 9999 Lure, circa 1940
The #88 BLOOPER Lure in Blue Boy (BB) Color, circa 1940’s
The “SCOBO” Lure in Blue Boy (BB) Color
SPARK-A-WIGGLE, SPARK-A-MIDGET and SUPER DEEPER
Dalton Specials
Dalton Specials
Photos of Porter Dalton, Circa 1940’s
The Original FFTMC Barracuda Factory at 2100 – 1st Avenue South in St. Petersburg Today
Carl E. Reynolds – Florida Fishing Tackle Secretary-Treasurer and Traveling Salesman
Early Barracuda Brand Lure Box Insert Catalog
Later Barracuda Brand Lure Box Insert Catalogs
Florida Fishing Tackle Co. 1939 and 1940 Tampa Bay Times Newspaper Ads
Dalton Special 1956 Magazine Ad
The PORTER DALTON 1939 Patent