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The following is an interview with the proprietor of Jig-A-Bait™ Lure Co., taking place on October 24, 2000.

Tom Heuke, Inventor and Proprietor of Jig-A-Bait™ Lure Co.

Interviewer:  Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came up with the idea for your automatic jigging devices.

Proprietor: I’m a fourth generation recreational fisherman.  I guess you might say fishing is in the genes.  I’ve been fishing for over 40 years.  I didn’t set out to invent an automatic jigger, but came upon the notion quite by accident.  I attached a vibrating motor to a fishing rod as a joke and became intrigued by the possibilities.  Through trial and error and countless hours of work I came up with the device now called the Jiggle-Lure™  Model M.  Shortly after experiencing some windy days on the ice, Jiggle-Lure™ Model F was conceived to take advantage of the wind gusts.

Interviewer:  How about the Bucket Wind Jigger™, how did you ever dream up that device?

Proprietor:  That was purely by accident as well.  I’d been ice fishing and had returned home and was unloading my tackle.  I placed one of the experimental jigging rods from the Jiggle-Lure™ Model M across the top of a box and left to get another load from the car. When I returned about a minute later the jigging rod was oscillating on the box. At that moment the idea for the Bucket Wind Jigger™ was conceived as I envisioned taking advantage of that great oscillation ability to jig a fishing line.

Interviewer: I suppose you are going to tell me the Silhouette™ and Silly Wet™  Lures were accidents as well?

Proprietor: I guess you might say that.  My young son and I were out seining some minnows so we could go fishing and he says “Dad, look at that leech swimming over there.”  Sure enough a leech was undulating up the slow moving stream through the water.  I had experimented with some sheet latex as fins for lures when testing the Jiggle-Lure™ Model M, but I never considered making the entire lure out of the material.  I  said to my son, “You know, I bet I could make a lure that would have the same appearance and action as that leech.”  As soon as I got home I made a leech shaped lure out of gray latex and placed it on a lead head jig.  I thought it looks like a leech, but it will never work to catch fish.  The next time I went crappie fishing, I gave it a try and the crappie loved it.  I used it all afternoon, catching one crappie after another.  It didn’t take long to discover the tadpole and minnow shapes were the best applications to this idea since they had some natural swimming attributes. 

Interviewer: I didn’t even know fish ate tadpoles.

Proprietor: They are a natural food source that no one ever considers because they never see fish eating a tadpole.  Tadpoles would be almost impossible to bait on a hook alive, but I can assure you fish do feed on them.  Bull Frog tadpoles are illegal to have or use as bait in many states, as they should be since it takes several years to mature into Bull Frogs. Some smaller tadpoles look a little like leeches.  If you consider all the leeches you find attached in fish mouths, it is not likely they are their because they swam into the fish’s mouth, but that they were being eaten by the fish and managed to attach to the fish’s mouth before being swallowed. I think this explains the success of the Silhouette™ Tadpoles and the Silly Wet™ Minnows since they mimic tadpoles and leeches so closely.

Interviewer: All right, so what makes you think the Jiggle-Lure™ Model M  actually attracts fish?

Proprietor: Let me tell you about the first time I ever tried the Jiggle-Lure™ Model M on the ice.  I placed a 1/32 oz yellow and orange feather jig on the line and started the Jiggle-Lure™.  I lowered the lure about 1 foot under the water and adjusted the device so the jig was swimming and dancing.  Then I lowered it down to about 6 feet deep so it was no longer visible.  I fished for about 15 minutes and nothing happened.  I was beginning to feel that the time already spent working on this was a waste because it appeared to not work the way I thought it would.  I could have very easily threw it aside at that point and continued fishing in a conventional way, but I didn’t.  I thought maybe the depth had dampened the action and maybe it was just sitting still or something.  So I raised the lure up so I could just barely see it again at about 4 feet deep and I wanted to make sure it was still moving. I could see it swimming around but it kept disappearing.  I couldn’t understand why it was disappearing unless it was swimming out laterally out of sight.  So I raised the line up so I could clearly see the jig.  What I next saw was an amazing moment for me.  Largemouth Bass about a foot long were darting in from different directions to take the jig into their mouths and then expelling it back out.  At least a dozen bass had staged around the jig like spokes on a wheel, and were taking turns inhaling and expelling the jig.  Sometimes they would just sit back and watch as if mesmerized or waiting for that perfect moment to attack.   All of the action was undetectable.  I never even knew they were hitting the jig.  I knew at that moment that this device was something very unique, it attracted fish, as I had theorized it would.  The countless hours were now all worth the effort.  The next step was to see if I could catch the fish.  That was very simple, because whenever I stopped the jig action, the fish were right on it, sensing the vulnerability and the advantage they gained on the bait when it stopped moving.   I never caught so many bass through the ice before as I did that day.  And they never seemed to tire of biting.  I cannot imagine how many actual bass had been attracted by the vibrations produced by the Jiggle-Lure™. 

Interviewer: So why didn’t you keep this secret to yourself?  A lot of anglers are very secretive about their successful techniques and tend to be quiet about breakthroughs in techniques so that they can use it to their advantage in fishing tournaments.

Proprietor: I have to tell you I was very paranoid at first because I knew I had something special, possibly revolutionary,  that possibly would change the way anglers would be ice fishing in the coming years. So I did try to keep some of these new developments a secret for a while.  I figured if this new technique and tackle was going to be of any use to me or anybody else, that I would have to patent the devices and the lures and make them available to purchase.  I thought about how many good ideas and techniques are taken to the grave by secretive anglers who are not willing to share their ideas with other anglers.  I think that is a shame, and I didn’t want my ideas to stay buried in my tackle box.

Interviewer: I understand you have patents on all these devices and lures you have told me about.

Proprietor: Yes, it took some time and effort, and I actually wrote the patents myself because I felt  I couldn’t find a patent attorney with the knowledge of fishing that I would need. The Patent Office determined the devices to be new ideas that had never been previously presented to the public and patents were awarded to me for my efforts.  I thought that this was quite an accomplishment to get 6 patents in 6 years  in the field of fishing, an area that actually probably predates agriculture.  I used to think if I came up with one good original idea that was my own, that would be an accomplishment.  But once the Jiggle-Lure™ came along a flood of ideas came to me, some of which I’m still working on.

Interviewer:  So you have presented your automatic jiggers and lures at some of the recreational sports and fishing shows, what has been the response from anglers?

Proprietor: We usually set up the automatic jiggers with some of the lures in containers of water so anglers can see how they operate.    It’s kind of funny because their attractive abilities work almost the same way fish are attracted. People walking by are immediately taken by the “action attraction” and tend to gather around and stare at the action of the lures being produced by the jiggers as the jigs dance and swim and zig and zag in the containers. It reminds me of that school of bass I mentioned earlier.  I mean what would you expect, this is something they have never seen before and it has caught their attention. They are caught by just the sight of the presentation.  Just think about the possibilities when you throw in the vibration noise factor that fish depend on for survival.  That, I’m telling you, is why this new technology is revolutionary.  Never before in the history of fishing has such presentation been possible during vertical jigging.

Interviewer:  Hey, I just thought about the possibilities of the use of the under water cameras in conjunction with this presentation. 

Proprietor:  You bet. I’ve thought about it too.  I don’t own one of those cameras yet, but just think about having the fish and your jig in view and being able to change the jig’s action  until the fish succumbs to temptation.  What is good about the Jiggle-Lure™  is the many different appearances or actions it can give to the same jig.

Interviewer:  Have you been working on anything  new recently?

Proprietor: Every time I go fishing I make it a point to try something new that I’ve thought about.  The creative well hasn’t dried up yet. Some things work and some things don’t and some things work so well that I think I’ll keep a few of those things to myself.  There is something about catching a fish on a lure that no one has ever tried before.  It’s like traveling uncharted territory.  It’s been a pleasure visiting with you, but now I think I have to go fishing rather than just talk about it.

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The following is an interview with the proprietor of Jig-A-Bait™ Lure Co., taking place on Dec. 14, 2003.

Interviewer: I just saw an advertisement that made me think of you since you invented the Jiggle-Lure™, and just had to call you to see what you think of those new Buzz Stix vibrating poles?

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