Southern Bait Co., ca. 1940s–50s
Southern Bait Company, ca. 1940s–50s
Edwin Tilton
Coral Gables and Miami
Acc. no. 2021M.012.089
Georgia native John Wyatt patented the original Porpoise Minnow lure, shown in center, manufactured by the Southern Bait Company of Savannah. At some point, the company relocated to Coral Gables. In the 1940s, Edwin Tilton, also from Georgia, retired to Florida where he made some design changes to the lure, and it became Tilton’s New Porpoise Minnow. Later lure boxes show a Miami address.
