Collection: Uncle Josh

The Uncle Josh Bait Company was organized as a partnership in 1922 by Alan P. Jones and Urban J. Schreiner, both of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. The partnership was incorporated in 1949. One day in 1920, the bass weren’t taking plugs or spoons, so the two men switched to live frogs and began catching fish. The same thing happened the following day, but they ran out of live frogs and couldn’t find any. It was then that they got the idea of making a frog out of pork, so they went to the village butcher shop for a slab of pork back fat with the rind on it. From this piece of back fat, they cut pieces the shape of a frog. These rough-cut frogs caught bass, not only that day but for the rest of their fishing trip.