Fishing for a home

Karl White of Luther is still looking for a home for his multi-million dollar antique lure collection.
White, who removed the collection from the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks last year, wants someone to build a museum for it. He believes it’s deserving of such.
““It’s the best collection in the world and the only collection that depicts the history of fishing,” White said Monday.
The problem is money. No one has been able to obtain the financial sponsorships necessary to make White’s dream of a fishing museum a reality, he said.
However, White said he is currently negotiating with officials from Branson, Mo., about moving his collection to the entertainment capital of Mid-America.
“I hate to leave (Oklahoma),” he said.
White’s collection not only includes antique fishing lures, but boats, motors, rods and reels.
“I’ve got the first of everything,” he said.
White said he would consider donating the vast collection (the Oklahoma Aquarium could only house half of it) as a gift if he was assured it would be cared for and depicted in the proper way.
He wants any museum that houses the collection to organize it in a way that visitors will learn about the history of fishing and its evolution.
“I want the fathers and grandfathers to go in there and say, ‘This is what I used. This is the best lure I ever saw.’ That’s what I want. Not just a mass of stuff to be looked at.”

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