CrawChuck Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I'm curious if any of you guys have a story like mine. I mentioned in my first post having failed to read the fine print on my first lure license contract. I mean, the nice man told me I would get paid four cents for every craw lure they sold!!! Worked out to less than half a cent after the certain manufacturing expenses were deducted from my share. What they did not count on was the fact that I had made all the molds for their manufacturing facility to use and did not sell them so I waltzed in to the factory and gathered up all 100 of them while a crew stood watching! So much for that deal. Another time I had made a wood lure to mimic a topwater floating lizard. It had a pigtail screw on the rear eyelet used for attaching a plastic tail. Simply turned on a lathe with a fat body and goober head...called it a Wooder-Dog. It walked like a Zara Spook and was killer on spawners. This guy I met at Lake Fork in Texas used to publish an area guide newspaper down there (Lake Fork News I think and hope somebody who knows this fella is reading this). I left him a couple to try one weekend and got an excited call from him in about a week. Said he caught 65 bass over five pounds in one day and some of those went over ten pounds. So he wants to sell my lure and makes this fancy add for his paper at a price of 14.95 each. I was supposed to get $5. He ordered fifty Red and fifty Black which I made and shipped within a week. Never heard from him again and all his contact info would not respond to my inquiries. Kinda burns ya from trusting folks and from being willing to even share information on this site. I just figure I'm getting too old to keep all my ideas to myself and not give somebody new a chance. I sure hope all the folks here are honest. If there are idea stealers here it would be the very last time I would ever be able to associate with the kind of people who do what I love doing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesehead Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 If there are idea stealers here it would be the very last time I would ever be able to associate with the kind of people who do what I love doing! Sad to say but the may be some here. Most here respect each other and only use your ideas to bolster their own. or they will ask permission B4 using yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrawChuck Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I thought about editing that comment. It's just I get mad when thinking about my own stupidity and ignorance. I think if somebody has an idea and somebody else wants to make some money with it then they ought to ask or strike up a deal with the originator...or at least give credit which I have seen some here doing and it makes me feel good to be here. It would be completely rediculous of me to think I posted how to make a mold from a real crayfish and nobody is going to do it. I hope if somebody does they at least say where they got it. As for myself, I pick up alot from what I read and hear. I would like to think I am honest enough if taken somebody's idea and making money with it, I would at least pay them a royalty having given me the concept. That's just me though and it's my trusting folks that has got me into these situations. I should have read the fine print and I should have got payment up front for the wood lures. Lessons learned the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhopper Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 "CrawChuck"]I'm curious if any of you guys have a story like mine. I mentioned in my first post having failed to read the fine print on my first lure license contract. I mean, the nice man told me I would get paid four cents for every craw lure they sold!!! Worked out to less than half a cent after the certain manufacturing expenses were deducted from my share. What they did not count on was the fact that I had made all the molds for their manufacturing facility to use and did not sell them so I waltzed in to the factory and gathered up all 100 of them while a crew stood watching! So much for that deal. This is a standard rip off People in this business know all payments are a percentage of "Gross", NEVER, EVER, an amount per unit,, but in your case you could have probably nailed him, unless you had such cost to be deducted in your contract ? I have 7 licensed fishing products, so far so good :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrawChuck Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Yes it was all there in the contract that I failed to thoroughly read and have someone else read. I was young, eager and very dumb! Did not know anything about business and my wife worked for the guy which made it worse. I'm glad to have found this place and to have your advice which I've read in the other threads. If I ever get another lure out there I'll know better what to do. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbor Posted March 3, 2006 Report Share Posted March 3, 2006 I'm shure alot of people have been ripped off. I spoke to a guy(manufacture) Turner Jones micro Jigs and hea said that just as a simply good jesture me showed someone how he made one of his jigs and that someone worked with or owned rainbow tackle or something and they started producng and selling hus lures exactly, right out from underneith him. Now on the other hand who ever made the first spinner bait is not getting anything from any of the 100's of companies making spinnerbaits. As far as designs go, many see no point in trying to reinvent the wheel. You could try to make a plastic worm from scratch but in all reality you will be borrowing from many design to come up with what you want, unless you have never seen a plastic worm and are trying to invent one and not doing any reasearch. But there are alot out ther blatently stealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfellmy Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 yea I have been the victim of this too. In Indiana I didn't make sinkers. You can't sell a 1 pound sinker to anyone in Indiana. So most of the time I made spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, jigs, crappie jigs, etc. I was experimenting with a flexible leader wire instead of a wire shaft for a spinnerbait. I fished with a guy that was really interested in the bait. The problem I had was the leader wire coming out of leader connector sleeve and loosing the blades. Guess what happened a few months later? The Limberneck was a big hit. Even used the guys name on it...he was in the back of the boat with me that day. I never talked to him again. Other lure that I was messing around with was a weedless bass jig with a flexible wire coming out of it just in front of the weedguard. I poured the jig with the wire coming out and the mold wouldn't close (since there was no spin jig mold at that time.) I was fishing a BASS tourney and got partnered with a big time pro. I used the lure and was doing well (I finished in the money.) The pro asked me about it and I told him a little about it. Then the next season of Bassmasters TV show, here he is using my lure to catch fish (this was the first Bassmasters show that shoed them fishing and was not a tourney.) Problem was that he called it a Spin jig from so and so company. The lure industry is tough. Your ideas will be stolen if given an opportunity. It is kinda like the Wld West any more. I can't imagine how tough it is now, when I was doing my lure stuff in Indiana was 1985-1990. Then I gave up tourneys and went back to creek smallmouth fishing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 When money comes into the equation ethics is the frist thing out of the window. Just look at Enron. It's too bad the business world is such a cut throat place. I think it has a lot to do with mutual respect or rather the lack of it. It would be great if everyone would play nice. It would make things so much more productive. My 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebsboy Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Hi, I'm new to this site, and just logged in. I haven't had the bad luck (actually no luck) in the lure industry, but I have had similar problems in my own job (banking). A few years ago, the bank had this big promotion called The Good Ideas Club. You submitted your 'Good Idea' to a committee and, if they liked it, the idea would be moved up the line, with the idea person getting the credit and possibly a bonus. I submitted a suggestion about putting ATMs in a van,creating a mobile ATM vehicle, possibly using the van at fairs, shows, concerts, etc that might not have ATM availability. I was called into the Vice President's office, where he said it was a great idea, but. . .then started talking to me in a manner like an adult trying to explain atomic fusion to a ten-year-old. He mentioned expense, maintenance, etc, but thanked me for my contribution and gave me a T-shirt. Two months later he takes a position with a larger bank and, in about another four months his picture hits the local newspaper in front of--an ATM-equipped van with the bank's name and logo plastered all over it. I feel that people with creative ideas are usually victimized by others with good business sense, but no creative abilities. The only vindication I have had is that he was put in charge of coming up with other ideas for the bank, and has been a total failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsworms Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Hi, I'm new to this site, and just logged in. I haven't had the bad luck (actually no luck) in the lure industry, but I have had similar problems in my own job (banking). A few years ago, the bank had this big promotion called The Good Ideas Club. You submitted your 'Good Idea' to a committee and, if they liked it, the idea would be moved up the line, with the idea person getting the credit and possibly a bonus. I submitted a suggestion about putting ATMs in a van,creating a mobile ATM vehicle, possibly using the van at fairs, shows, concerts, etc that might not have ATM availability. I was called into the Vice President's office, where he said it was a great idea, but. . .then started talking to me in a manner like an adult trying to explain atomic fusion to a ten-year-old. He mentioned expense, maintenance, etc, but thanked me for my contribution and gave me a T-shirt. Two months later he takes a position with a larger bank and, in about another four months his picture hits the local newspaper in front of--an ATM-equipped van with the bank's name and logo plastered all over it. I feel that people with creative ideas are usually victimized by others with good business sense, but no creative abilities. The only vindication I have had is that he was put in charge of coming up with other ideas for the bank, and has been a total failure. Oh man......I'd go after that guy! BTW......Welcome to the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael merrill Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 Fellas, There are some ideas that just shouldn't be shared.Unfortunately, I too have had a few less than desirable transactions, and know people who have been blatently ripped off.One guy who did the rippin' is pretty well known now and has someone else's spoils,as far as I am concerned.I would not even think about using that man's lure...no matter who touts it's praises.There are way too many wolves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodieb8 Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 once burned twice shy. a lot of good stories guys.. its no different in canada. rubber cheques and stolen ideas. its a cruel world. one thing i have never done and never will is steal and copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhopper Posted March 12, 2006 Report Share Posted March 12, 2006 once burned twice shy. a lot of good stories guys.. its no different in canada. rubber cheques and stolen ideas. its a cruel world. one thing i have never done and never will is steal and copy. This is the world, those who know how to play the game best, usually win. It took me years of learning how this game is played, and what players are cheaters. I will try to help any I can in getting into the game so they can reap the rewards of their new tackle designs. Rodney Long, Inventor of the Mojo SpecTastic "WIGGLE" rig, SpecTastic Thread, Boomerang Fishing Pro. ,Stand Out Hooks ,Stand Out Lures, Mojo's Rock Hopper & Rig Saver weights, and the EZKnot http://www.ezknot.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
