The Stream and Lake traps probably cause more confusion about identification than any other minnow trap. The Stream and Lake Company bought equipment and rights from Orvis in the early 1970's and started making a trap identical in most respects to the Orvis minnow trap. The first few years of traps even left the Orvis logo in the glass. This was later removed and they were made with no markings to signify the maker. Their newest model, still available at this time, uses a plastic screw lid, and the glass has a hammered look. Take a look at the pictures.
note: some information from a recent e-mail concerning
Stream & Lake Tackle: "Stream and Lake was a small 'wagon jobber' of fishing
tackle originally. The two owners are Bill Gonom and Al Peck. Not surprisingly,
both have extensive bait shop backgrounds.They were buying and wholesaling the
Orvis trap along with many other tackle items. Sometime in 1972 or 1973 Bill
called Orvis to buy more traps and was told that Orvis was out of traps and out
of the business of manufacturing traps. During this conversation, Bill
discovered that they were willing to sell, and in 1973 Stream and Lake bought
the bending machinery and some wire plus the rights to use 'Formerly the Orvis
minnow trap' in description and advertising material. Bill states that they did
not get any Orvis glass traps from the purchase. Nor did the glass bottle
manufacturer have any Orvis glass bottles in stock. Bill states that they did
not sell any 'Orvis Logo' traps when Stream and Lake started to market their own
trap..." This conflicts with earlier information we got from company
spokespeople, but we will be researching the issue. This page may change as a
result. -Dave
1: The carrying handle is rounded, not squared like Orvis.
2: The wire "feet" point in opposite directions - Orvis
feet all point forward.
3: Most importantly - the funnel entrance hole is drilled,
not smoothly molded like Orvis.
