Why I founded Jackfish Lures!

This has been a big question presented to me for years and years, and it's often asked in a way coming from the people asking as if they don't believe in my products it's asked with a hint of doubt. I even had a fool who managed to take part on our field team for a while, a wolf in sheep's clothing you know. He had success with our products and still had doubts, because we were not a huge name like other brand names. He always referred to people as customers, and that always made me cringe, and talked about us being a small name. What is in a name? Yeah we have a name it's Jackfish Lures TM The question burns on (Gary why did you start Jackfish Lures?) This blog post is going to put an end to that question, and please read this whole post, because I have to get brutally honest and say what has to be said. I am no longer going to be restricted in what I say or how I say it, because I want you to know the truth of the matter. So here is why I started Jackfish Lures.

First of all lets go way back to California 1973, when as a 4 year old I caught my first fish, a good ol Blue Gill. I am one of many anglers who have the mighty Blue gill as the very first fish we caught, and I love it. That fish was so cool and you know when your a kid like that the fish is 10 times bigger than it really is. That experience is what got me going, it started a lifetime of fishing adventures and drove me to crazy lengths to get out fishing. It was when I was 8 years old and addicted to fishing that I took to cutting up dads coat hangers and bending hooks with them. We would show up at church and I was crushing peoples hands from making so many hooks. I looked for every advantage I could get and all the while listening to the Lindner brothers on the Radio and on T.V. Yeah some of my friends thought I was nuts and you know, I really don't care what they thought, I was having way to much fun. I took to cutting lawns and shoveling walks to earn money for fishing trips and gear. So eventually my friends who wanted to play and do other things stopped coming by the house. I was to busy with doing what I could to go fishing, and it did not matter if the family was just going for a hike in the mountains, I still found a way to get a hook in the water. Fishing has been a deep deep passion for me since I was a kid, I love this sport like no other and have lived a life of fishing.

There once was a great tradition of lure making here in North America, lures crafted with pride and made by hand for fishermen who loved the sport. Dedicated anglers who took to creating lures and making them with pride and passion and an unmatched dedication to quality the likes of which the world had never seen before. The great United States of America, My very home land, and Canada North America. Two countries built with people who care about quality and pride and have passion for fishing and the outdoors. I tried to figure out when and where this great tradition of hand crafted lure making started to decline and could not put a finger on it. WWII was the start of the decline, as close as I can figure, as manufacturing was ramped up to hyper drive to keep up with the war, and plastics started to show the potential we all know of today. What we ended up with was communists in Russia, and that spread all over the world and into China and others. I grew up in the U.S.A and I can tell you right now I did not like communists, Russia, China, Cuba, Korea, and others. How does this relate to my fishing! Well in the store I see "Made in China" on the package of some of the lures I was looking at, Rods, Reels, Lures, Lines, the list goes on. "Made in China" Yeah, China, are you kidding me! China, it still makes me angry that money and greed trump quality! That someone might be so driven for a buck, that they would let a "Made in China" appear on the package of the product with their name on it!

It got to the point that some of my favorite lures I purchased were so dang rusty they had to be thrown out. They were made out of just pure garbage components, because the company was interested in sales and numbers over the quality. Of course as a kid I am just thinking the lure has reached the end of it's life. Man oh Man what garbage we have been sold!! Garbage, plain and simple, you go look at some of those kids outfits in the store. They are just plain trash, and it gets me so angry I can chew up nails and spit out bullets. Your darn right I get so angry and upset when I see a kid struggling with a piece of Chinese made trash I just can't help it. I love this sport way to much to just sit back and not say anything, and maybe others are afraid to but I am not. Greed, money, big dollars, that is where the quality went, they take 20 cents worth of components get a china man to make a lure then sell you the garbage for 8 dollars all the while making you feel like your getting the best stuff on the planet. Greed has crept it's way in, and there is nothing we can do about it. Because it's a companies right to be greedy, they can and they do, and it's their right. Hey it's big business, with millions of what they call customers and it's big for the sport, commercials and celebrities and the whole package. A big fancy suit and tie wearing CEO and all the fixings, out at the golf course spending your money. Playing 18 holes of whack a little white ball all over a big green field and ride in goofy little carts and wear stupid looking pants and shirts, I will bet all "Made in China"

I got to the point I could not do it anymore, I could not support communists with a purchase of a Chinese or foreign made product. I just could not do it anymore, so I started looking for "Made in the U.S.A" "Made in Canada" yeah, that's right, home made lures and gear. And I started to craft my own lures, because I wanted dependable tough lures. Dad and Mom also wanted some of my creations, and it was not long and that was all we were using was the lures I was making. We tossed everything else out. Friends started to ask Gary can you craft this or that for me, and I did and it was not long until I had enough people demanding I do this on a bigger scale. The Bucktail spinner was the lure of choice for most because I was using high end components and using real stainless steel made in America and Canada. I was not going to let any of my family or friends fish with a piece of crap, so the very best of my lures went to them. These lures were made by my hand, each one, one at a time with care and passion, just like the good ol day's.

I pour every body with pure tin, You read that right, I pour every body to every lure we make, because I want to make sure it passes my inspection before it goes into the rest of the shop for work. If you have a Jackfish Lure in your box, I poured that lure body myself. Laura, Tyler, and myself, we make Jackfish Lures. One at a time, hand crafted, with a purpose, and with pride and passion for your success on the water. I will only let the very best leave the shop in a Jackfish Lures package, because it's going to be my family or a friend using that lure. I craft every single lure as if my very own dad was going to use it today. Every single one, one at a time, with the very best components I can get. The best hooks the best beads, the best hand selected deer tails, that now we die ourselves to insure the quality of the color. And even after all of that, after we have given our very heart and soul to everything we do. Your not getting a lure until our Field Team has spent hours and weeks and months and years field testing every pattern upside down and inside out. Our field team is one of the greatest workings of Jackfish Lures, and all are here because they care about your family and friends. Because we want you to succeed on the water, because you are going to have your family out there fishing with you. And by gosh your gonna have the very best or else if your using something I made. Because there is no way I am going to let your family fish with anything but my very best. Because for me fishing is about the family and friends. And your not using anything unless I made it myself and I know you have the best of what we do.

 I care about your success on the water, and it's driven into our motto, "Because excellence is not an act; it's our habit" and the best is what your going to receive every time out. So it takes us a lot longer to make lures, and there is no way we could ever stock a Wall-Mart or any big store, however sometimes the best stuff is worth waiting for. The word "customer" it's used a lot, stores and big companies. Your never going to hear me call you anything but friend! We don't make lures for "customers" we make them for family and friends! The answer to the question (Gary why did you start Jackfish Lures?) I did it for my Family and friends, and that includes you my friend. Because I will never be satisfied with you fishing with anything but my very best, and it made right here in Canada..

 Gary Love, Jackfish Lures, WFN Ambassador, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada.