The Heddon Zara Spook has been in experienced anglers fishing tackle arsenal for over 75 years. The Zara spook #9260 was the plastic version of Heddon’s original Zaragossa #6500 series, which were developed in the early 1920’s.  The original Zaragossa lures were made of wood, and some had natural looking glass eyes.

The design of the Zaragossa and the Zara Spook provides a top water lure that swims in a zig zag motion when retrieved rapidly. The “walk the dog” surface retrieve emulates a wounded bait fish, and hungry predators cannot resist. These lures have been fished successfully around the world for decades. The spooks are deadly for snook, tarpon, jack cravelle, blue fish, stripers, dolphin and more.

The Heddon Zara Spooks are still being made and fished by discriminating anglers today. Many styles and numerous colors of Spooks are manufactured, some of which are now decorated with natural fish looking hologram finishes. The spooks are now made in a saltwater version, and in several sizes from the Baby Zaras to the new saltwater Super Spooks.

I personally have fished Zara Spooks for over 55 years. When catching Jack Cravelles in Palm Beach Inlet back in the mid 1950’s my brother and I would remove the hooks from the lures. When the big Jacks attacked them, we would get the first run out of the fish before they would spit out the hookless spook. That saved us a long grueling battle with a 30 or 40 lb. Jack. We also used the Spooks off the beaches and ocean piers during the fall mullet runs, and caught tarpon, snook and blue fish on them. They are great inshore lures and can be used around docks, seawalls and mangroves for snook tarpon, jacks and more.

Some old vintage style lures just cannot be improved upon. The Zara Spooks are some of those style lures. If you want to buy a truly proven lure with a 75 year history of successes, you cannot go wrong with a Heddon Zara Spook.

You can purchase your Heddon Zara Spooks at Fishing Tackle Depot.

Vintage Zara Spooks

Modern Zara Spooks