1. Lake Guntersville, Alabama Lake Guntersville is a 69,000-acre lake located in northern Alabama and is widely regarded as one of the best bass fishing destinations in the country. The lake is...
An Interview with Bo Merckle – Samsson Lures
“It was just a whole bunch of happy accidents.” -Bo Merckle (Owner Samsson Lures)
When it comes to custom-made lures, the possibilities are nearly limitless. With advancing technology, designers are constantly discovering new and exciting methods to create designs that not only attract bass but also captivate the angler.
Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing one of the most friendly and welcoming custom bait designers I have ever encountered. While browsing through various Facebook groups dedicated to bass fishing, I stumbled upon a truly unique post by a gentleman named Bo Merckle from SamsSon Lures. Unlike the typical airbrush showcases I often come across, Bo’s idea was refreshingly heartfelt, and I felt compelled to reach out and ask if he would be willing to discuss his brilliant concept over the phone.
I had the opportunity to chat with Bo about his memorial lure design and the inspiration behind it. Here’s what he had to share about his remarkable idea.
The Memorial Lure
Bass Hounds: What inspired you to come up with the idea of a memorial lure?
Bo: Well, it was just a whole bunch of happy accidents. We had a my son and we had some transfers, just digital transfers that we figured out how to make and one was Ninja Turtles. I was going to have my son put it on one of his toys, cars or whatever, something like that. We had been into painting custom lures and I thought it’d be kind of cool to just see if it would go on a crank bait. So I put it on there and it was the Ninja Turtle. Raphael. I believe.
Bass Hounds: So the Ninja Turtle was the first one?
Bo: Yeah, then I hand painted like a little cityscape behind it with a full moon and posted it on my lure page and people went nuts over it. They had a big auction over it and everybody thought it was pretty neat. I think most people thought I just painted it like that, but I am not THAT good.
Bass Hounds: From what I have seen you are that good at it where people would assume it was all done by hand.
Bo: Shortly after that we we started using that technique here and there. You know, maybe some horror creatures and movie posters. It’s just something different that people never really thought of on fishing lures to try and stand out from the thousands of painters on social media.
Bass Hounds: Yeah, I have seen it over and over again on Facebook. While the artwork is amazing, it just doesn’t stray from the norm, but when I ran across your post it really made me stop and think about what a great idea it is to memorialize the angler in your life that is gone and how much that has to mean to someone.
Bass Hounds: So is that when you started making them for others? After the post on social media?
Bo: we made them for fun and then a pro contacted us and he wanted to do a couple of neat lures for and he didn’t say how or imaging or anything like that for St. Jude. A St. Jude Fishing Tournament, as something to auction off. So we had our customers we put a notice on the page, send us pictures of your kids first fish, or just your child holding a fish and give us permission to use it for a project. I’ll pick so many winners, and I’ll make them a surprise. That way I could get lots of people to actually send us their pictures.
Bo: They all participated, we made that one, and it auctioned for a very large sum of money and then we saw how much people loved it, and that’s when the wheels kind of turned for, hey, this might make us some extra dollars.
Bass Hounds: Is there any story you remember in particular, as far as an order that you’ve gotten where it’s something that it was a commemoration, and what stands out most in your mind for an order like that?
Bo: We’ve had so many. When we first introduced them a little less than a year ago, it was an overwhelming response and I didn’t have a quick way to make them like I do now. I finally bought all the equipment where I could do all the transfers myself, but back then I had to order them and contract that part out, then they’d be shipped back to me as transfers and I would make weekly batches.
Bo: This guy, his grandmother, and I remember his Facebook profile picture, but I can’t remember his name right now, it was Popeye driving a fishing boat. He was really close with his Gandmother and they really loved to fish together. He wanted a picture of her holding his daughter so it’d be her great granddaughter. His young daughter was very close to his grandmother and she wasn’t going to make it much longer. There was actually like a race against the clock to get it there before she passed.
Bo: I Never forget it. It broke my heart so bad I couldn’t even charge him. We had that happen a lot because we were thinking it would be for a kids first catch, Christmas ornaments and happy memories. It hadn’t really hit me that people are going to want this for their lost loved ones.
Bass Hounds: Yeah, that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I saw it. I was thinking, what a cool memorial keepsake for somebody that is a fisherman to have a lure that is basically them and hand painted for a keepsake that they can have with them forever.
Bo: I had no idea just how much that meant to people until Bill. It’s just been about two weeks now as I had to make one for my older brother and he passed. Me and him were fishing buddies. We actually talked about making custom lures together. But yeah, all the people that I talked to and I got so many just really beautiful emails from people that I made a memorial one for and it meant a lot to them and they would send back a really nice thank you and I think, oh, that’s really sweet, that’s really sweet. But it never really hit me just how much it actually means because when I had to make one for my own brother, I almost couldn’t do it. It was that emotionally charged.
Bass Hounds: I’m sure that people get the exact same feeling when they get it in the mail and see their loved one kind of immortalized on a bass lure, on a crank bait. It’s really such a great idea.
Bass Hounds: I saw some younger anglers, bass fishermen on some of your samples. What would you say that the biggest request on these orders are for?
Bo: So far, the vast majority is the memorializing, and not necessarily a family member. It can be an old fishing friend. It’s a lot of older folks that are retired. Then you’ll have some mothers and something like that. But I’d say that we probably get more memorializing than anything.
Bass Hounds: So if somebody wanted to purchase on of these, what kind of crank bait would you look at? Like a glide bait? I assume you’d have to have something relatively big, right?
Bo: Yeah, I lean towards these flat sided muskie baits a lot. They’re so much easier. And you got a nice flat surface to keep it all looking good.
Bass Hounds: What about the image that people send you? What resolution do you need to make these come out as sharp as they do?
Bo: The higher the better. We don’t have a minimum, if your camera is a 40 megapixel, that is much easier to work with. I can show you one that was taken kind on an old scratched up phone like mine, and I go through and I enhance it as much as I can.
Bass Hounds: Yeah, there’s only so much you can do with it, though if it is low resolution correct?
Bo: Yeah. I’ll have one that was taken on a good iPhone or a digital camera, and you can see the all the little whiskers on their face and stuff like that from a distance. And another at low resolution. When the lower one comes out on the transfer, when I start doing it, I’ll look at it and think, oh, this isn’t turning out. I don’t think this is going to look good. Then when you add that thick layer of clear coat, it’s like it puts it under glass and magnifies it.
Bass Hounds: What’s the turnaround for an order like this? You said you do it all in house now, correct?
Bo: Yes, right now. I’ve got the turnaround down to about a week.
Bass Hounds: Do you supply the lure blank, or do they need to send one in?
Bo: If they want it done on a $50 swim bait, (and some of them do) then yes they need to send that in. Otherwise, I do not charge for the lure blank that I supply.
Samsson Lures
Bo Merckle - Owner
SamsSon Lures is a small family business.
What started as a desire to have a versatile topwater lure that resembles a big juicy irresistible dragonfly has become a family endeavor…
Every lure is hand painted one at a time with your satisfaction in mind. We value your faith in us and take every order seriously no matter how big or small.
We strive to make any finish possible from simple proven fish catching patterns to photo quality portrait lures….If you can dream it, we do our very best to make it happen and at the most competitive price you’ll find.
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