HONOLULU, HAWAII — ACTIVE YEARS 1990s – 2013

Kelela Lures came out of Hobbietat, the Honolulu hobby-and-tackle shop, where the maker — Bob Tang, known as Kelela — was Butch Farm's business partner. From the 1990s into the early 2010s, Kelela built a loyal following, best known for the "Opelu" head, named for the opelu (mackerel scad), one of Hawaii's prime forage fish.

When Kelela passed away around 2013, his partner Butch Farm worked to keep the lures going, carrying on production in various ways. Eventually it became undoable — for a couple of years he couldn't find anyone to pour the lures and work the molds — and the line wound down. As a result, genuine Kelelas have grown increasingly hard to find, and they're prized by the collectors and fishermen who know them.

As a museum and archive, we're honored to preserve the work and memory of Bob "Kelela" Tang, a Honolulu maker whose lures live on through the people who fished them.

Notable shapes: Kelela "Opelu", "Aku", "Malolo", "Nehu", "Ala'Ihi", "Kumu", "Canefire"

Identification tips:

• "Kelela" branding, Origami-folded Tape Insert
• A wound-down line — genuine pieces are increasingly scarce and collectible

Below, you’ll find our ever-growing digital archive showcasing every lure that has come through our shop. This collection is constantly evolving as new lures arrive, making it a living record of rare, limited-production lures. We will continue updating this database regularly, building what we aim to be the largest digital archive of offshore trolling lures in the world.

If you have any further information or any lures you believe deserve to be showcased, please reach out to us at ren@luremonger.com