MUSKOKA LAKES TWP. - MacKinnon
Tackle Incorporated has slowly expanded from
a basement hobby to a company providing anglers
with a viable alternative to lead based tackle.
That alternative is glass tackle called Muskoka
Glass Ghost.
The business grew from an idea Laurie MacKinnon
had about six years ago. It began when he experimented
with different coloured lead jigs while ice
fishing. He thought about a jig with no colour
and, after having the idea on his mind for a
few months, glass surfaced as the material to
use.
He built the glass lures in his basement for
approximately four years before moving to the
fronporch of his home. Now, he is looking forward
to moving into his portion of the shop built
on his property along Highway 141 in Raymond.
MacKinnon Tackle Inc. was incorporated in January
2003 after Randy Bennet and nephew Sean Roosen
decided that Mr. MacKinnon's hobby of building
the glass jigs, spinners and sinkers was more
than just a hobby. They became his partners
in the business and the task of patenting the
designs, setting up a web site and creating
informational videos began.
Over the last six years, while working as a
caretaker for a family on Lake Rosseau, Mr.
MacKinnon, who has been modifying lures since
he was 16, has built 9,000 lures. Of those,
more than 5,000 were made in the first five
years. He takes the basic glass jig heads and
spinner bodies made by Ashby Glass, and hand
makes the different jigs, spinners, and sinkers.
It is only during the past winter that he hired
two part-time workers. One to paint the jig
heads and spinner bodies, another to attach
the buck tails to the lures. Before hiring help,
Mr. MacKinnon relied on people volunteering
their time.
After incorporating, Mr. MacKinnon and Mr. Bennet
began going to sportsman shows in southern Ontario
to market the product.
"We did the Toronto Sportsman Show last
year, that was our first show," said Mr.
MacKinnon. "We did about $4,500 in sales,
or a better statement would be, we sold in excess
of 500 lures. That was testing the market to
see what it was like. The reception was great."
This year, at the Toronto Sportsman Show in
March, about 900 lures were sold. Also, for
the first time Mr. MacKinnon and Mr. Bennet
went to the Brampton Outdoor Sportsman Show
and Orillia Perch Festival in April.
From these shows the products are now being
offered, or soon will be, in both local area
and southern Ontario businesses. Through the
shows contact has also been made with environmental
groups that have expressed interest in the lures
as an alternative to lead products.
"I knew it was an incredible idea,"
said Mr. MacKinnon. "But I thought I would
be banging my head against a very tough business
and, I thought, the angling public. I'm amazed
how well received the idea has been and how
much help people in the industry have been,
how open and accepting of me they've been."
Many different sizes of lures are in production
for different types of fish, from the very small
perch jigs to the much larger ones for pike.
They also range in use from fresh water to salt
water, and are being used as far away as the
Amazon River.
Even though the glass lures have terrific success
and have come a long way from the first one,
Mr. MacKinnon feels that they still need more
work until the "ultimate design" is
achieved.
"The very first piece of glass that we
put on a hook, the second or third cast I caught
a fish on, but it was very crude it needed a
lot of refining."
Before incorporating, going to shows, making
informational video's on the products and building
a web site that will eventually be used to sell
the product, word of the product simply spread
by word of mouth and Mr. MacKinnon handing them
to people in the field to use.
"When I go out fishing, if I have someone
going with me I tell the guys to 'use your favourite
lure, whatever you want' that I'm running glass.
There's been several times now that the guys
I have out with me say 'okay, that's enough,
I want a piece of glass on my own line, because
I'm tired of not catching fish.'"
One of the avid anglers he sent the lures to
for trial about five years ago was Lorne Fraser.
Mr. Fraser has since started his own guiding
company, taking customers out on Georgian Bay
and lakes Joseph, Muskoka and Rosseau, and has
Mr. MacKinnon's lures as part of his tackle.
Mr. Fraser was featured on the videos about
Muskoka Glass Ghost lures and helped out at
the Sportsman Show in Toronto this year.
"I knew he was an avid fisherman and I
wanted people in the field trying the idea out,"
said Mr. MacKinnon. "He and his cousin
went out and had amazing results right off the
bat, which is what I had, too. So, I knew there
was something to it, not just another hair brained
scheme I had hatched."
The cost of the glass lures is a bit more than
lead lures, but does not turn a profit for the
company at this point. One lure, for example,
that is used for salt water fishing sells at
$50, the piece of glass on it costs the company
$40 alone. The lures vary in price from $2 to
$50.
"I don't see this as a get rich scheme,"
said Mr. MacKinnon. "It will make a good
retirement project, something I can do until
I'm feeble."
The glass lures can be used clear for the weight
or coloured to attract the fish. They also work
to attract fish by the unique noise they make
and light refraction. The glass is very strong
and is similar to the glass used for marbles.
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