About This Stamp
Celebrate the beauty and ingenuity of some of America’s most successful freshwater fishing lures with this colorful pane of 20 Forever® stamps featuring five different, close-up photographs of five popular lures. The collection is a sampling of modern fishing lures used in different environments:
Crankbaits, or plugs, are popular among anglers because they are relatively easy to use. They attract a variety of fish including bass, walleye, and pike. Their unique swimming action is generated by a plastic lip and curved body, which makes them dive and wiggle just by reeling them in. Anglers tend to run these lures along the bottom, bouncing them off rocks, logs, or other submerged structures.
An in-line spinner lure is made to mimic the movement of a swimming baitfish, attracting predator fish with a spinning blade and a weighted body that create vibration in the water. They often have tails dressed with feathers, animal hair, or rubber skirting to attract bass, trout, pike, and other species in shallow streams, rivers, and lakes.
Spoon lures have been around since the 1800s and are named for their concave shape. Spoons have remained popular because their unique movement and glimmer under water are so effective at catching fish, especially bass, pike, and trout.
Topwater lures are extremely popular and are designed to be fished on the surface of the water: Wakebaits use wings to create a commotion like the wake of a boat as they skim the surface. A popper has a concave face that creates a popping sound when it is pulled across the water.
Given the many choices open to anglers, there is truly a fishing lure for any occasion. Whether in lakes, streams, or rivers, a fisherman or fisherwoman can catch just about any target if they have the right tools.
Every freshwater fishing lure has a unique history, and each has played a significant role in the evolution of fishing as a sport. From the earliest handmade wooden lures to swimbaits made of modern materials, there are countless freshwater lures available, each designed to meet the specific needs of the angler.
Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps using original photographs by Sarah Cramer Shields.
The Freshwater Fishing Lures stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever® stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Photographer
Sarah Cramer Shields
Sarah Cramer Shields is a documentary photographer and the owner of Cramer Photo in Charlottesville, Virginia. With degrees in fine art photography and cultural anthropology from the University of Virginia, she focuses her work on telling people’s stories. Her passion for photography derives from her ability to find the natural beauty of a subject.
Her images have been published in numerous newspapers and magazines and in five cookbooks, and she has photographed notable personalities including journalist Katie Couric, musician Dave Matthews, and restauranteur/philanthropist José Andrés. She is very proud of her collaborative work on Porchraits, a project that documented over 1,000 Virginia families on their front porches during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Freshwater Fishing Lures is Cramer Shields’s first project for the U.S. Postal Service.