On Oct 11, 2013, at 9:14 AM, "Larry Dahlberg" <larry@dahlberg.net> wrote:
Dear Waylan,
Congratulations! Your spoon design has been judged the winner in the Lure Build off for 2013! Specifically the weighted design with rattles.
We feel it fills a niche, specifically in the redfish category and of all the lures submitted has in our judgement “moved the category forward” and serves a need.
As you may know, other non-metal spoons have been manufactured and marketed. Most widely distributed was a version done by Rapala in both weedless and non-weedless with a treble, which was discontinued due to lack of success in the market.
Nonetheless, we feel that your spoon (especially dressed with a scented soft plastic or strip of fish), due to its’ broader shape is better suited to the shallow environments and slower presentation often required for redfish than the narrower Rapala spoon. (Which incidentally had a very poor hook)
Unfortunately, due to the fact the design has no patentable features and the earlier lack of success in the category. The manufacturer has opted not to put it into production at this time.
As you may know, the alternate prize in this case involves engineering help plus a few things to help prime the pump in the event you may want to begin small scale hobby manufacturing and sales of your own:
*If the winning lure does not meet the manufacturer’s criteria of being a worthwhile investment in terms of tooling, manufacturing and development, although the winner will not have their lure put into production, they will receive $1,000 of Alumilite products and $1,000 worth of Alumilite Engineering services to assist in furthering the development and/or other production venues of the inventor’s design. They will also receive $2,000 worth of River2Sea products, and a cash prize of $1,000.*.
Again, my congratulations on a job well done! I’m glad you hung in there for the second year and continued to refine your design.
Best regards,
Larry