SAN ANTONIO – Americans spend $50 billion a year on fishing and artificial lures have dominated the market for decades.
San Antonio-based Livingston Lures has spent almost ten years designing and selling a high-tech lure that features a built-in circuit board and speaker.
Erick Arnoldson, with Livingston Lures, tells KSAT, “It’s the only lure in the world that mimics the baitfish. Companies have been using fishing lures for over 50 years with a rattle inside. We’re the only company that has the actual biological sound of a baitfish. That’s what sets us apart.”
Arnoldson says their lures cost about a dollar more than other lures due to the electronic components. So, what does a baitfish sound like? It’s kind of a low chirp of sorts. Arnoldson says the lure’s inventor was inspired by a musical greeting card.
“He said, if I could get a Christmas card to make sound, I can put it in a lure. So, we took it over in 2012. We started going to all the major trade shows and the rest is history,” Arnoldson said.
Livingston Lures also sells a soda-can-sized speaker designed to replace bait in Bering Sea crab pots. The company was even featured on ‘Deadliest Catch.’ Arnoldson says they flew to Alaska and introduced their “Crab Caller” to local fishermen. He says the product exceeded their wildest expectations and could help ease the reliance on natural bait to harvest crab in the world’s oceans.
Based in a nondescript warehouse off Loop 410, Livingston doesn’t have a storefront but they have a significant presence on the web and social media. The company says their biggest customer is Bass Pro Shops. If you walk into just about any Bass Pro in the country, you’ll see a little piece of San Antonio for sale – sharp treble hooks and chirp included.