A Short Back Ground Of Rapala Fishing Lures
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010Whether famous brands or no-names, there are lots of companies out there for fishing that produce everything you can think of in the branch from lures, hooks, and rods to beginner fly fishing rods. Heddon and Rapala are two names with tradition in this business. But before talking about Rapala fishing lures, maybe we should first see a little of its history. The company started the lures production some 60 years ago. The products are clearly crafted from experience and the until now, Rapala has developed progressively winning its name of international brand with a large distribution network and a great position in relation to its competition.
Rapala fishing lures were first produced in Finland. Fishing and farming was the occupation of the man, Lauri Rapala, who founded the company in his native country Finland. As the saying goes ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’, so did Rapala decide to improve his fishing productivity, by developing a better lure. The prototype for Rapala fishing lures saw daylight in 1936 in the form of a carved lure that caused an off-center and wobbled in the water. This initial model is still the basis for a lot of the Rapala fishing lures.
Rapala company won most of its fame after the Second World War. After the war Rapala revived his small lure making enterprise. In the very beginning, all the Rapala fishing lures were made by the founder himself and later on he involved the members of his family in the process as well. Since the very first days of the company, high emphasis was put on testing, and all the Rapala fishing lures still have to go through a rigorous quality checking process.
The international episode in the Rapala fishing lures story started after the Olympic Games of Helsinkin, 1952, when foreign visitors took some of the products abroad with them. From this moment, exports started, first toSweden and Norway and then to the USA. In 1957 the business changed its official name into Rapala and Sons or Rapala-Uistin. Further business exposure was achieved with the publication of a complex article in the pages of Life Magazine in 1962. It was perhaps because the same magazine issue wrote about Marlyn Monroe’s death that Rapala fishing lures increased their popularity in America, even if the quality of the products contributed most to the market impression.
The rest of the international market opened a lot more easily after success of Rapala products in the United States, but there appeared lots of imitators too. Legal actions have been taken against unauthorized copying, yet, forged versions still exist; yet, the quality provided by Rapala still remains a good criterion of appreciation that is surely unsurpassed.