April 9, 2001

St. Joseph, MO Newspaper

Many fishermen use fishing lures and do not realize how they are supposed to work on the fish. They just know that they mimic prey that the fish will want to feed on. Some local fishermen decided that wasn't enough for them.

Ambush Lures, made up of Brett Ware of Denton, Ks, Ryan Gruhn of Atlantic, Ia, Todd Gray and Tim Tadlock, both of Maryville, Mo, decided they would attempt to invent a lure which can better mimic the sounds of a bait fish. Through years of research and testing, their first lure has finally hit the market.

Ware, an engineer by trade, was the primary designer of the lure. Gruhn, an engineer who works in the plastics industry, is focused on the manufacturing. Gray and Tadlock take care of the marketing and sales. The four individuals had been friends and fishing buddies for a while and decided they could put their creative minds together and design a lure that mimics the natural sound patterns of bait fish. "There have been very little innovations in the fishing industry within the last ten years. We were trying to come up with better innovations to help people catch more fish." Ware explained.

Through the first phases of the research, they discovered that fish can hear twice as well as humans. Ware described it like this, "You walk out onto a dock and you see all the fish scatter. You didn't hear anything, but the fish were able to hear the dock squeak when you didn't." The group used technology that allowed them to hear what the fish hear. "Fish can actually hear the mechanical sound that the lure produces. This sound is in addition to the vibration produced by the lure", Ware explained. The vibration is what is supposed to closely mimic the sound of a baitfish. This mechanical
sound which is produced by other lures, could be one reason for the fish's lack of interest in the lure.

The group also learned that the baitfish's body puts out multiple vibrations. Ware said, "The body of the fish would vibrate at one frequency while the tail will vibrate at a different frequency." This accounts for different sound patterns produced by one fish. Traditional lures only produce one sound pattern through vibrations. Ambush Lures has come up with a new technology that allows them to produce the sound vibrations of the body and the tail at the same time. The new technology is called "Flo-Thru Technology". Ambush Lures designed this technology and applied for the patent in 1996. In March of 2000, they received their patent on the technology.

Traditional fishing lures produce sound through rattle chambers and create vibration through the exterior design of the lure. The Flo-Thru technology is an internal passageway that runs through the lure. As the lure is retrieved, the water flows through the passageway causing the sound producing vibration. This passageway is necked down at the rear of the lure that allows for the production of the different sound frequencies.

During the testing phase of the lure, it was tested on various types of game fish including Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Crappie, Lake Trout, Small mouth Bass. With the lure producing on all of the species.

Currently, the only lure available is a stealth diver that is similar to lipless crank bait style. This is just one series of the lure on the market now. Ambush Lures hopes to have about ten more series out in about 18 months.

Ambush Lures is attempting to get the information on their product out to the rest of the fishing industry, but their main focus at this time is concentrated in this area of the country. With the knowledge and hard work of the staff at Ambush Lures, the fishermen in northwest Missouri might be the first to experience this new innovation that could change the whole fishing world.

Currently, Ambush Lures can be purchased at Town & Country Supply in St. Joseph or on their web site at www.ambushlures.com.