Mom-and-pop lure companies thrive
By BRENT FRAZEE
The Kansas City Star


Take a second and consider where that shiny new lure in your tacklebox was made.

It might have been manufactured on an assembly line in some high-tech factory. But chances are just as good that it was made right here in Mid-America in a farm shed, a garage, an obscure building in a small town, or a basement.

Maybe these lures don't have the name recognition that the Rapala, the Zara Spook, the Wiggle Wart or the Terminator do. But the products put out by the "mom-and-pop" companies, as they're often called, still have a niche in the fishing-tackle market.

Here's a look at a few of the baits made in Missouri or Kansas that are luring fish and fishermen alike.


As an engineer and an avid fisherman, Brett Ware always wondered how good the lures on the market were at imitating the vibrations given off by baitfish.

So he did studies to find out.

Using underwater sound equipment, he listened to the sounds emitted by shad, minnows and crawdads. Then he listened to the crankbaits on the market.

His immediate conclusion: There was room for improvement.

"The imitations were a long way off," said Ware, who lives in Denton, Kan. "They just weren't doing a good job of imitating underwater sounds.

"A lot of these lures were known to be effective, but I think the fish were hitting them more out of aggravation than being attracted by natural sound."

So Ware set out to invent something that sounded natural underwater. What he came up with was the Stealth Diver, a lipless crankbait that utilizes what he calls "flow-through technology."

The bait has an open chamber that extends from its nose to its tail, allowing water to rush through as it is retrieved. That passageway gives the lure a natural vibration, one that Ware knew right away would be a winner in the fishing market.

"When I got my first prototype, it was just an unpainted version that I wanted to test for how it retrieved," Ware said. "I went out to my dad's farm pond and I caught six bass on 10 casts.

"I knew right away that I had something."

In the spring of 2000, Ware put his lure on the market under the name of Ambush Lures. Made in Maryville, Mo., the baits already have made a splash.

Ware is proud of the fact that his Stealth Diver was featured in an issue of In-Fisherman magazine. And he says sales are good.

"Being an engineer, it's been fun to design a lure of my own," said Ware, who still has a full-time job as an engineer. "It's always satisfying to catch a big fish on something you've made."



Posted on Sat, Sep. 21, 2002
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/other_sports/4116976.htm