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Creme Lures 70 th Anniversary by Brad Wiegmann
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Its one thing to deceive a fish into biting, but an even bigger challenge is to get an angler to buy a lure.
No one understood that statement more than Nick Creme. Nick not only invented the plastic worm, but
also influenced anglers to purchase his newly invented lure that would impact the fishing world forever.
Before plastic lures became a staple in every angler’s tackle box most lures were made from wood,
metal or a combination of both. Other available lures during that period included “rubber” worms that
rarely fooled fish or anglers into buying them. Nick’s keen interest in chemistry would turn out to be the
key to solving the issue of making a lifelike worm unlike the rubber worm.
After World War II in 1949, Nick was a machinist living in the hub of major tire companies like Firestone
and Goodyear in Akron, Ohio. He had only finished his second year of high school before being forced to
go to work due to his father’s illness. Nick had no chemistry background, but a keen interest in learning
that would later prove to be paramount in the construction of the original plastic worm.
He eliminated different material for making his lure through trial and error. Nick turned to plastics as the
solution to his problem. He told a DuPont technician about his idea for a plastic worm. The technician
gave Nick several chemicals that might solve the issue with the chemicals he currently had. Eventually
Nick was able to develop this into a formula to produce his lure.
Nick solicited the help of many individuals during the process of creating the plastic worm. In the end,
his biggest collaborator turns out to be his wife Cosma. In fact, her kitchen became the official
laboratory of the Crème worm. It’s reported that Cosma would comment, “Oh, how that plastic smelled
when it burned.”
Although still the family’s kitchen, nights and weekends were spent cooking up different batches of
“Gogh” as it was called. Gogh was a mixture of polymer, pigments and oils. After cooking it, the Gogh
was carried downstairs to pour into the worm mold Nick had made and after experimenting with
different potions they came up with the perfect formula.
It was the American Dream came true. A fisherman had built a lifelike lure that would catch fish, lots of
fish. However, it turned out anglers weren’t so quick to accept this new lure.
“Nick told me many times he had a hard time with jokes and pranks being used with his worms. Party
tricks seemed the perfect place to add his worm to salads and such. The reality sunk in as he knew that
even though he had invented a great lure, he had to show people how to catch fish with them,” said
Wayne Kent who bought the company in 1989.
In those days, angler’s favorite way to catch bass was on live night crawlers. Ohio bass anglers would rig
a night crawler on a harness with three hooks, beads and one small propeller. Naturally, Nick rigged his
plastic worm the same way as the live crawler rig which continues to be a productive combination today
70 years later.
Nick put a mail-order ad in Sports Afield in 1951 for the 6-inch Wiggle Worm. It had a 3 hook harness rig.
Anglers could also order a pack of five individual worms without the harness rig.
Real success for Creme Lures didn’t happen until the plastic worm was used in the South. Anglers were
going crazy over the plastic lure. Reports of unbelievable catches began to reach the Crème’s in Akron,
Ohio.
In February 1959, Wayne Kent was working summers and after school at the Bait and Tackle Shop on
East Front Street owned by Milton Goswick. “I would count minnows and worms there. I also had a front
row seat in the plastic worm revolution. At that time the United States was building lakes and the
easiest way was simply to bulldoze the trees and place them in large piles close to the dam. Presto, you
had a lake,” said Wayne.
Carl Lowrance introduced the Fish Lo-K-Tor in 1957 or “Green Box” as it became known. It was the first
functioning depth finder for anglers capable of revealing underwater depth, bottom hardness and most
importantly bass in real time. Anglers could now see below the surface, but there was no lure at that
time able to fish in the logs and brush piles.
Around that period of time an angler on nearby Lake Tyler came up with what was later called a Texas
Rig. Rumor has it that he cut the brass pin out of a bell sinker and ran his line through it with a hook
behind it. Then he would thread a plastic worm on the hook and place the tip of the hook into the worm
making it snagless for fishing in cover.
“This was the first time in fishing history that a hook was placed into the lure. The amazing rig allowed
anglers to achieve their dream-fish the log piles. This one rig skyrocketed Creme’s plastic worm,” said
Wayne.
Anglers everywhere learning about the Texas Rig were clamoring for Creme’s plastic worms. This
brought Tyler, Texas front and center to the Creme’s back in Akron, Ohio. So much in 1960 they built a
second plant in Tyler. Both plants continued to operate for several years before they were combined in
the Tyler plant where it remains today.
Wayne remembers waiting on customer after customer wanting Creme worms. “At one time I would
only put names on a paper bag to hold under the counter filling them if and when they ever got the
worms. One afternoon, I heard my boss Milton place a long distance call to Creme Lures in Akron, Ohio,
and back in those days long distance phone calls were rare and very expensive. He was speaking with
Mrs. Creme and after explaining his problem and offering her an order; Mrs. Creme advised him they
were months behind and only sold product through distributors. It was at that time that he asked her if
she liked roses explaining Tyler, Texas, was the Rose Capital of the World. Unfortunately, she thought it
was Seattle and told him she couldn’t fill the order,” said Wayne.
After finishing the call Wayne listened as his boss called a local rose grower and ordered two dozen rose
bushes to be sent to Mrs. Creme in Akron, Ohio. “It was about two or three weeks later after that the
Bait and Tackle Shop was covered up with Creme worms. I’m not sure if that’s why they settled in on
moving to Tyler, Texas, but it surely didn’t hurt,” said Wayne.
Even with booming sales, Nick knew he had to get the word out on what a Texas Rig was and how to rig
it. Of course back then there was no internet or national bass tournament trail. Fishing knowledge was
spread through the local fishing retail tackle store.
“The Texas Rig presented a challenge for Nick to spread the word. Merely saying use a Texas Rig to catch
them would be met with a blank stare from other anglers. Nick not only invented the plastic worm, but
now had to find a way to explain it to anglers everywhere without modern technology to spread the
word,” said Wayne.
Field testers were the answer to Nick’s communications problem. Yes, Nick Creme invented them too
revealed Wayne. “In fact, one of the first was the now famous Bill Dance,” said Wayne.
Other field testers followed including sponsoring the first professional angler John Powell paying him
$1,800. Powell did B.A.S.S. seminars along with winning the second ever B.A.S.S. tournament on Smith
Lake in Alabama. Powell’s reputation was notorious as a shallow water soft plastic worming expert.
Wayne acknowledged many of today’s products were direct spinoffs of the Creme worm. “Bullet shaped
slip sinkers are a modification of the first bell sinker with the eyelets removed. Graphite worm rods were
developed so anglers could feel the tap-tap or thump of a bass biting a soft plastic Creme worm. A
whole category of worm rods were developed referred to as broom sticks allowing anglers to set the
hook on a bass when fishing plastic worms. Plus baitcasting reels really gained popularity with the ability
to control a cast,” said Wayne.
Today many of the plastic lures are spinoffs from the original Creme plastic worm. In fact, soft plastic
lures are a separate lure category. Old records at Creme Lures even show Nick being the first to add
scent to plastic with his “Cheese Nip” flavor.
Now it’s the 70 th anniversary of Creme Lures. Looking back, Nick and Cosma Creme would have never
thought they would have influenced so many anglers and the fishing industry. He was just a machinist
with a dream to build a better way to catch a bass at the right place, right time.
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