SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa - Without revealing sales figures, Tom Bedell and Terry Carlson agree that Pure Fishing had the largest sales increase, in terms of top-line revenue growth for the legacy Pure Fishing business, in 2007.
"It was fantastic - an extremely successful year for us," Bedell said as he stepped aside as interim president of the company founded by his father nearly 70 years ago for Carlson to become president and CEO.
Some of the 2007 growth came with the acquisition of Penn and Shakespeare among other top brand name outdoor products by Coleman, Pure Fishing's parent company that is a part of Jarden Inc.
Both brands will be operated as one company as part of Pure Fishing, based in Spirit Lake.
Bedell, who remains on the Pure Fishing board to work on special projects, added that with the "sales growth, a lot of those products are manufactured here in Spirit Lake. So we are facing capacity issues that will require us to expand the manufacturing of the products we make here.
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"As we're able to create this one fishing business, we're now the world's largest fishing tackle company. Now the challenge is how to be the world's best fishing tackle company in all these different niches."
Some of Penn and Shakespeare production is done in the United States and some is done outside the United States, Carlson says. While some of the Shakespeare business will be moved to Spirit Lake, some is made all over the world.
"That's the beauty of all these brands and companies put together, because we were focusing on Spirit Lake. But it's a true global company. We make things in Sweden. We make things in China. We make things in Pennsylvania. And we make a whole lot of things in Spirit Lake. And that mix will continue to evolve." the new president added.
"To the extent that we are successful on those 12 brands, our business should grow in Spirit Lake. We have made it clear that our warehousing and manufacturing are going to remain in Spirit Lake.
"At the same time we're going to have manufacturing all around the world, not exclusively here. You couldn't do that. There are certain things you can do here that make sense. And there are certain things because of your competitive and cost reasons that it makes sense to do them elsewhere.
"We recently got the news (in a North American Angler magazine survey) that our Abu-Garcia brand is the number one brand in reels. And those are made both in Sweden and elsewhere. It's pretty exciting for our company to get number one share on a global basis
According to Bedell, almost half of Pure Fishing's business comes from outside the United States. The company, he explains, has its own sales and distribution companies in 22 different countries.
"Things made here in Spirit Lake are shipped all over the world," Carlson adds, noting that Spirit Lake primarily makes baits and lines. "So to the extent that we are successful in Europe or the U.K., that increases our business here."
Speaking to the recent acquisition of the Penn and Shakespeare brands, Carlson explained, "that's why we're so excited about Penn, because Penn has such a brand name even in Europe that to the extent it grows, we grow our business here in our manufacturing and everything else here."
Along with its classic fishing lines, one of Spirit Lake's great successes is Gulp Alive synthetic bait, Carlson adds.
"We now have bait that because of scent technology can compete for the first time with what was live bait. We can even claim sometimes that Gulp Alive out fishes live bait. And we can recharge the bait so that you can use it and as it loses scent you can put it back into a container and it recharges the bait. It's a huge breakthrough."
Bait has its own urban lore
Bedell explains there is a lot of fact and a lot of fiction - urban lore - in fishing lure. "It's part of the excitement of fishing," he says.
"There are anglers who a few years back swore that if you put WD-40 on your fish bait you would catch more fish. And they would go out and they would absolutely confirm in their own mind that that worked.
"We've taken WD-40, put it on baits in our fish tanks and tested it on fish. And from our studies, in our laboratory, which may or may not be duplicating the real environment, we've been able to prove that fish cannot stand the taste of WD-40!
"Which totally makes sense," Carlson noted.
Another example, the new CEO says, goes back to when he was a child in Indiana, fishing with his father in Lake Michigan.
"We fished Lake Michigan to the point where I can't eat a salmon any more. But my dad had a secret concoction we used when we fished tournaments and it was competitive.
"We used to have a Cool Whip container that he'd fill with Scotch and sugar. We shook it up. And after we tied on the lure, we would dip it in this concoction that we were never allowed to tell anybody about. We'd dip the lure in this thing just before you'd throw it in."
The mixture was supposed to get the human scent off, Carlson said.
Just like the WD-40, Bedell said Pure Fishing's tests "showed fish are repelled by sugar," adding that the tests were done in laboratory conditions.
But he didn't explain if the Pure Fishing labs ever tested a fish's reaction to Scotch.
