Warrenville man lured to collection

As a young man of 15, Dan Basore was fascinated with his coin collection and obsessed with collecting every date and every metal. Then his grandfather died.

He left behind a fishing tackle box full of lures that he intended to use one day to catch the “big one.”

“Being the only one that fished in the family, that box came to me,” said Basore, now 67. “Going through that box, I realized I may be able to collect every coin but there is no way to ever collect all of the fishing lures that are made. And my new passion was born.”

Today the Warrenville man’s collection of lures reaches into the “tens of thousands,” dating from 8,000 B.C. to the present day. He’ll have several of them with him Thursday evening when he discusses the evolution of fishing from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Naper Settlement’s Visitor Center, 523 S. Webster St.

Basore said he’ll give a guided tour through several his favorites. After the event Basore will evaluate and appraise fishing tackle brought in by participants.

“Even when I do these exhibits they can only scratch the surface of my collection so that allows me to rotate my favorites along,” Basore said. “But I expect the group will be most interested in the copper culture pieces that they’re not likely to see in very many places.”

The copper pieces, he said, date back to 8,000 years ago when people first began making hammers of dolomite and began chipping away at rock formations until they found copper.

“They would pound that copper until it was a flat sheet and make lures and fishing hooks,” he said. “Some of these pieces are true pieces of art an will be of interest to anglers and non-anglers alike.”

Tickets will be available for $5 at the door as space allows