Southwestern Ontario Outdoors: King Crusher lures provides quality, Canadian spoons

Jeff Helsdon, Echo Contributor

As I reeled in the first walleye on Long Point Bay’s elbow and looked around the boat, it amazed me how many things were coming together.

The lure responsible for catching the fish was a King Crusher lure in vibrant pinks known as the Sundowner pattern. I was fishing with Ty Earle, owner of King Crusher lures, his cousin Alec McLellan and Captain Allen Carroll of Jimmy Riggin’ Fishing Charters. a member of the King Crusher pro team who tests the lures. On the distant horizon I could see the water tower of Port Dover, the home of the company.

With the current emphasis on buying Canadian, why not look at domestic fishing lures as the success on our recent fishing trip proved?

Canadian fishing lures are not a new thing. The Canadian Wiggler is an obvious example as the name is a giveaway. Now owned by Lucky Strike Bait Works, I, and many anglers, have caught many fish with this hollow brass lure over the years. Lucky Strike also manufactures a variety of spoons, spinners and other tackle. Many anglers may not know the popular Williams spoons are made by Brecks in Quebec. Len Thomson spoons are another that is made north of the 49th parallel, as are Gibb’s from British Columbia. In addition, there are many smaller manufacturers scattered across Ontario.

King Crusher is the most recent addition to Canadian tackle manufacturers, starting last summer.

The 21-year-old entrepreneur has been fishing Lake Erie since he was young. He bought an air brush last year and started painting his own lures.

“I wanted to come up with the highest-quality lures with my favourite colour combinations,” he said, in between fish as we worked on our four-person limit with Carroll.

With experience in business while he went to school in Nova Scotia for aviation, Earle decided to sell his lures.

“It got so big we sold over 500 last year,” he said. “I needed to find a way into retail stores.”

Searching for a solution, he found a company in the Philippines that had the rights to Nasty Boy spoon blanks. This former company was famous for its spoons with holes to create noise, but the blanks used for King Crusher have the shape of a Nasty Boy spoon, but no holes.

Earle has complete control over the manufacturing, dictating the colour combinations and finish. The lures have an automotive grade clear coat on them.

“That’s the best way to ensure the lure lasts as long as possible,” he said.

There is also a unique process used to put the tape on the lures that the competitors don’t use.

“It’s the clear coat process how we put the tape on the lure,” Earle said. “We have a technique that allows the tape to stay on the lure.”

Carroll pointed to a pile of lures on his dash from a competitor, and picking up one, showed how the tape comes loose with constant use. He said this doesn’t occur nearly as fast with King Crusher Lures.

His father, Jimmy Carroll, who has operated R and R Outdoors the past 20 years, said he was impressed with the quality when Earle walked in the store last summer.

“I’ve never had a spoon with as good a quality paint as those ones,” he said. “We’ve had some (King Crusher) spoons that have taken over 100 fish and never had a scratch. With some other spoons, we’ve had the paint peel after 15 or 20 fish.”

Carroll said King Crusher is the best-selling spoon he has had. He mentioned the quality and the fact they are Canadian-made and have a good quality hook as selling points.

“Guys are coming in and buying one or two, and then they’re coming back and buying 10 or 15,” Jimmy said.

Amongst the 70 colours are standard Lake Erie colours like Greasy Chicken, Nascar, Pink Panties and Mixed Veggies. Earle said his takes on the standard colours have small improvements he has made. There are even glow-in-the-dark options in some colours.

But then there are his custom-designed colours. The Sundowner in its pastel pinks, which was the colour the walleye preferred most the day we were fishing, is one, and is amongst the hottest patterns of the year. Gin and tonic -a multi-colour spoon with green and orange – and tequila sunrise – a orange, green and yellow spoon – round out the list of the top three.

The King Crusher designs have unique names. Chernobyl shad, Area 51, Toxic Tadpole and Stelco were mentioned to illustrate the point.

“It’s making funny names so people will associate it with my lures,” Earle said.

The quality of the lures is gaining a solid reputation amongst anglers, with Earle selling out of most of his run of lures this year. The plan is for more next year.

King Crusher Lures are available at R and R Outdoors, Old Cut Marina, Angling Outfitters, Erie Tracker and Port Burwell Marina. The lures can also be ordered online at https://www.kingcrusherlures.ca

Jeff Helsdon is an award-winning outdoor writer, a columnist for Ontario Out of Doors and writes for several other outdoor publications.