Old Mossback and the LeBoeuf Creeper

Folks still talk about "Old Mossback" and the LeBoeuf Creeper. The two are part of an aging story and nearly inseparable. The legendary muskie lurked in the waters of Lake LeBoeuf, located at Waterford, Pennsylvania, the reason for and the birthplace of the famous muskie creeper lure.

Lake LeBoeuf is a fitting place for the old story. It is an ancient lake, formed by the last glaciers some 10,000 years ago. As the glacial ice melted, water remained in the kettle-like depressions in the landscape. Seven pristine kettle lakes are located in the northwestern section of Pennsylvania, besides LeBoeuf: Canadohta, Conneaut; Edinboro, Pleasant, Sandy and Sugar. These lakes often yield surprises like the skeletal remains of woolly mammoths, or other long-ago bones and artifacts.

The kettle lakes and the related inland waterways are hidden secrets of some great muskie fishing . Nearby Conneaut Lake, for example, holds the record for Pennsylvania's largest muskie; caught back in 1924, the muskie was 54 pounds, 3 ounces, a record which still stands. French Creek , the Allegheny River and the Pymatuming Reservoir, all a part of the same watershed system, provide equal opportunities and often little used muskie hunting holes.

The glaciers left a remarkable fishing resource. As testament, many of the taverns, ma and pa "dinors" and gas stations have success stories of muskie's caught, framed and hanging on aging walls.

Many muskies were caught using the LeBoeuf Creeper lure, others on live bait in all the waterways. But Old Mossback was never framed and and hung on a wall; the aging fish was crafty and snarly. Maybe he learned some lessons living with the older bones beneath the surface.

Lake LeBoeuf, named by the French mapmakers after water bison which once existed on the shores, was Old Mossback's kingdom; his preferred hideout was an old sandbar, according to the tale among anglers. Muskies are known to be territorial and solitary and can live to be 20 years of age; Mossback must have been one of the elders. He thrilled and eluded the muskie hunters of the late1930's and well into the 40's and maybe even the fifties.

Reginald C. Exley, Sr., was one of those muskie hunters. A resident of the borough Fairview, twenty miles to the north, he also served as that community's mayor. On his way to the lake, he likely drove past the statue of George Washington, dressed in a British military uniform, on a small island in the middle of the Waterford's main highway, State Route 19.

The statue was erected (1922) to commemorate his visit to the old French Fort LeBoeuf on the shores of the lake in 1753 when he was still a British officer. Washington's visit was to get the French to move out of territory claimed by Great Britain; the diplomatic mission failed and hostilities soon broke out, the French and Indian War. The unique statue, the only one depicting Washington in a British uniform, was later moved off of the highway (1945) and placed in a small park closer to the lake where it still stands.

Exley was captivated with the thought of landing Old Mossback, said to be over five feet and and more than fifty pounds; the stories claim he was the meanest fish ever born. Exley first experimented first with live frogs in homemade nets. As a frequent and avid muskie hunter, he was aware that the bullfrog was the meal of choice for the fish. The effort proved to be an unsuccessful venture.

Exley then decided to carve out of a chunk of an old telephone pole an artificial bullfrog. Exley eventually created a set of two metal wings on either side of the lure to give it the movement and action similar to the plentiful bullfrog population in the lake. The wooden lure was painted to look like a bullfrog and Exley began to catch more muskie than before. The famous LeBoeuf Creeper, the original bullfrog muskie lure, soon became the lure of choice throughout the region.

Eventually, the first wooden LeBoeuf Creepers were produced at the LeBoeuf Bait Company and years later were made of plastic in two different sizes at several locations. They were a popular lure sold in hardware stores and bait shops throughout the small villages of the area; places like Union City, Mill Village, Edinboro and Wattsburg.

Many muskie's were caught using the creeper lure, the framed pictures have many stories; other lures are reported at the bottom of the Lake LeBoeuf, the spoils gained by a successful muskie. These are artifacts now as well.

But Old Mossback was smart (or real lucky) and was never captured; he likely died near his lair, without any public flair. Exley died of heart attack a few years after he created his homemade waddling bullfrog lure, although, as the story goes, he did have some respectful and fearsome strikes from Old Mossback.

For several reasons, including patent disputes, the famous LeBoeuf Creeper was discontinued in the 1960's; no longer produced, it is more of a collector's item today, an artifact from another era. An occasional lure can still be found at garage or estate sales, hidden in some long-ago tackle box, some maybe at the bottom of lake. No one knows for sure exactly what's beneath the surface, except for Old Mossback.