Tilsan Lures - VIC :
Tilsan Lures - QLD:
Tilsan lures is the company that was started by Til and Sandra Martinello. Til sponsored the 'Windermere Classic' in 1990. The lures were built because Til was tired of paying the high price for Rapalas back then. The lure worked and were further developed for the market. Tilsan Lures took the market by storm in the late eighties and the company invested alot of money in a replicating process that produced balsa blanks of high quality. Their lures have a manufactured one piece stainless steel metal harness that runs from head to tail and ballasts the lure.
The lure above is an early wooden hand signed Tilsan lure that is the pre-runner to all other Tilsan lures.
Tilsan lures have a tough durable finish. Right shows the earliest packaging when Tilsan were first released - they came on a yellow card and were encased in a small clear tube attached to the card. There was a sinking and floating model.
Above shows the Tilsan deep diving model in early tube packaging and in one of the more uncommon colours.
Tilsan shallow diving model
Tilsan colour range for 1992 from Harbord Tackle catalogue
Tilsan produced lots of advertising material in the early days of promoting their products including the bottom extract introducing the slogan ' can't even break 'em with an axe'. These are from Freshwater Fishing magazine in the 1990's. They were distribuited by E.J. Todd until Tilsan was sold to Halco around 2001.
Above - original deep diving model. Below - Tilsan 'Barra'
Below is an early advertisement for the Tilsan Barra which was run in the major fishing publications in the early 1990's
Below is the Harbord Tackle catalogue for 1995 which was one of the last catalogues they produced. They list the Tilsan 'Barra' as a new model.
Below is a review that was published in Fishing World, May 1995 and outlines the available models at the time.
Harbord Tackle Supply, 1995
Below shows the modern Halco packaging for the Tilsan minnows c.2012. Production quality has remained high.
