cleaning old lures

[bucketmouth64]

My chiropractor asked me something that I didn't have the answer to regarding old lures. So I thought I would pose it to all of you. He has several old lures from the 60's from his dad. He uses them to fish with but he thinks that the lures have accumulated bad odors over the years...like from oil and the such due to bad storage. He thinks the fish are repelling away. He wanted to know the best way to clean up the lures. He was thinking of using Basic H soap. After cleaning them he wanted to rub on some anise scent on them. What advice can I give him? Thanks for all your help.

[Borch]

Lots of options. First off remove the hooks if it's not a problem to do so( no sense hokking yourself). Then use a good no scent soap with a bit of water in a small wash tub. Most have anise oil in their product already.

Had a freind who accidently spilled mixed gas for his outboard into his open tackle box. This worked for him and the mess he had.

Borch

[IFallsRon]

Soak the lures overnight in a bowl of water and tablespoon of dishwasher detergent. Scrub with toothbrush if needed. Rinse and dry.

[Dan Thiem]

Tell him that some of them lures may have some collecter value and cleaning them might due more damage to them.

[bucketmouth64]

thanks for the info. Sounds like a pretty simple process to get them cleaned up. Dan, I did tell him that some of the lures might have some $$value as collectors.

[Ed Carlson]

Cleaning may damage them if the paint is soft or cracked. I would get them looked at first and not clean them.

Collectors do not care if they smell bad, or are dirty, but if they get damaged they will likely not want anything to do with them.

Have a collector look at them and then ask them if they can be cleaned and how to properly clean them.

I think that is safest?