BobEver
08-12-2006, 12:35 PM
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/business/15256289.htm
Faking out the fishes
By Kim Hart
Washington Post
After centuries of servitude, albeit involuntary and impaled on the point of a hook, the humble bloodworm is finally being liberated.
It's a revolution of sorts - one not of worms but of technology. A chemist in Florida has invented an artificial alternative that's catching on with American anglers.
The worm is slowly being replaced with a more modern concoction - the latest in a long line of high-tech gizmos that are making outdoor sports more about comfort and efficiency than the thrill of the chase and the rhythm of the tides.
Today's anglers take advantage of high-resolution underwater imaging to locate schools of fish, submerged cameras to see what's happening beneath the surface, and global positioning devices to find the spot again. There are super-light titanium reels, invisible fishing line, and scientifically engineered bait that simulates every fishy detail.
"Consumers, everyone from the serious anglers to the armchair dreamers, are becoming more savvy about the outdoors industry," said Katie Mitchell, spokeswoman for Bass Pro Shops. "We increase our offerings every year because there's always someone coming out with a new dimension."
Now: Fishbites. These fast-selling bloodworm challengers came out last year and have since taken a sizable chunk of the bloodworms' business in bait and tackle shops along the Eastern Seaboard. Resembling strips of pink bubble gum, Fishbites are infused with chemicals that mimic the scent of the real thing.
The bloodworm has for generations been the bait of choice for fishers of croakers, spot and mullet on the mid-Atlantic coast. But overharvesting of the mudflats of Maine in recent years has resulted in small, shabby worms, and high demand has at times more than doubled their price.
These days, a single, two-inch bloodworm can cost nearly a dollar - making a day of fishing with them a pricey proposition. Their small size makes it easy for sly prey to pluck them off the hook, and they survive only a few days in the fridge. A piece of Fishbites, by comparison, costs about 7 cents, lasts for months in the tackle box, and stays on the hook.
Although lures have been around about as long as bamboo poles, it is rare that one gains in popularity so quickly that it threatens an age-old industry.
"At the rate they're going, they'll probably take over the bloodworm," said Bob Salvatore, owner of A&R Bait & Tackle at the Cape Henlopen fishing pier in Delaware. With the peak of fishing season upon him, he is selling almost 3,000 bags of Fishbites a week. "It'll at least force" bloodworm dealers to lower their price, he said.
Fishbites made their debut five years ago when William Carr, a retired researcher at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, perfected a chemical mixture nearly identical to the substances that attract fish to live bait.
The family business, Carr Specialty Baits Inc., started selling the product through a few independent bait shops in Florida; now about 1,000 stores carry it. Revenue reached $1.8 million last year, up from about $257,000 in 2004, based on units sold. Profit is expected to grow by about 30 percent this year, and the bloodworm substitute accounts for 67 percent of sales, said Michael Carr, the inventor's son and vice president of marketing.
The product is simple: a strip of mesh fabric coated with a hardened, gel-like substance that emits the bloodworm scent in the water. A piece as small as half an inch long can stay on the hook long enough to catch four or five fish.
At a small Fishbites production plant in St. Augustine, Fla., several machines deposit long strips of the gel onto a conveyer belt that sends the substance through a series of dryers, cutters and baggers. Until last year, Carr and his son-in-law Terry Dillinger mixed the chemicals and squeezed the gel onto the fabric by hand. The company now has 22 employees.
Other companies have come out with similar baits. Pure Fishing Inc. introduced its Gulp! line three years ago, and it quickly became a market leader. Now that natural-smelling bait accounts for one-third of the company's sales, according to spokesman Ron Kliegle.
But Fishbites have swallowed the competition in local bait shops. "They've taken over completely," said Bill Weiss of Bill's Sport Shop in Lewes, Del., who sells four times as many Fishbites as bloodworms. The shop halved its bloodworm orders this year. "It's just not worth it to keep a lot of them around," Weiss said.
Plenty of purists stick by the wriggly worm. But it is unclear whether those old-school anglers can sustain Maine's bloodworm industry, which brought in $6 million in 2005, down from $7.5 million in 2004. About 1,000 independent diggers spend mornings bent over, knee-deep in mud, following the tides in search of the dwindling supply of bloodworms.
Fishbites may give bloodworms the rest they need to make a rebound on the bait market, but the industry will probably shrink in the meantime, said Les Watling, an oceanography professor at the University of Maine.
"If it's proven that these alternatives will do just as well, it will eventually put the worm diggers out of business," he said.
Faking out the fishes
By Kim Hart
Washington Post
After centuries of servitude, albeit involuntary and impaled on the point of a hook, the humble bloodworm is finally being liberated.
It's a revolution of sorts - one not of worms but of technology. A chemist in Florida has invented an artificial alternative that's catching on with American anglers.
The worm is slowly being replaced with a more modern concoction - the latest in a long line of high-tech gizmos that are making outdoor sports more about comfort and efficiency than the thrill of the chase and the rhythm of the tides.
Today's anglers take advantage of high-resolution underwater imaging to locate schools of fish, submerged cameras to see what's happening beneath the surface, and global positioning devices to find the spot again. There are super-light titanium reels, invisible fishing line, and scientifically engineered bait that simulates every fishy detail.
"Consumers, everyone from the serious anglers to the armchair dreamers, are becoming more savvy about the outdoors industry," said Katie Mitchell, spokeswoman for Bass Pro Shops. "We increase our offerings every year because there's always someone coming out with a new dimension."
Now: Fishbites. These fast-selling bloodworm challengers came out last year and have since taken a sizable chunk of the bloodworms' business in bait and tackle shops along the Eastern Seaboard. Resembling strips of pink bubble gum, Fishbites are infused with chemicals that mimic the scent of the real thing.
The bloodworm has for generations been the bait of choice for fishers of croakers, spot and mullet on the mid-Atlantic coast. But overharvesting of the mudflats of Maine in recent years has resulted in small, shabby worms, and high demand has at times more than doubled their price.
These days, a single, two-inch bloodworm can cost nearly a dollar - making a day of fishing with them a pricey proposition. Their small size makes it easy for sly prey to pluck them off the hook, and they survive only a few days in the fridge. A piece of Fishbites, by comparison, costs about 7 cents, lasts for months in the tackle box, and stays on the hook.
Although lures have been around about as long as bamboo poles, it is rare that one gains in popularity so quickly that it threatens an age-old industry.
"At the rate they're going, they'll probably take over the bloodworm," said Bob Salvatore, owner of A&R Bait & Tackle at the Cape Henlopen fishing pier in Delaware. With the peak of fishing season upon him, he is selling almost 3,000 bags of Fishbites a week. "It'll at least force" bloodworm dealers to lower their price, he said.
Fishbites made their debut five years ago when William Carr, a retired researcher at the University of Florida's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, perfected a chemical mixture nearly identical to the substances that attract fish to live bait.
The family business, Carr Specialty Baits Inc., started selling the product through a few independent bait shops in Florida; now about 1,000 stores carry it. Revenue reached $1.8 million last year, up from about $257,000 in 2004, based on units sold. Profit is expected to grow by about 30 percent this year, and the bloodworm substitute accounts for 67 percent of sales, said Michael Carr, the inventor's son and vice president of marketing.
The product is simple: a strip of mesh fabric coated with a hardened, gel-like substance that emits the bloodworm scent in the water. A piece as small as half an inch long can stay on the hook long enough to catch four or five fish.
At a small Fishbites production plant in St. Augustine, Fla., several machines deposit long strips of the gel onto a conveyer belt that sends the substance through a series of dryers, cutters and baggers. Until last year, Carr and his son-in-law Terry Dillinger mixed the chemicals and squeezed the gel onto the fabric by hand. The company now has 22 employees.
Other companies have come out with similar baits. Pure Fishing Inc. introduced its Gulp! line three years ago, and it quickly became a market leader. Now that natural-smelling bait accounts for one-third of the company's sales, according to spokesman Ron Kliegle.
But Fishbites have swallowed the competition in local bait shops. "They've taken over completely," said Bill Weiss of Bill's Sport Shop in Lewes, Del., who sells four times as many Fishbites as bloodworms. The shop halved its bloodworm orders this year. "It's just not worth it to keep a lot of them around," Weiss said.
Plenty of purists stick by the wriggly worm. But it is unclear whether those old-school anglers can sustain Maine's bloodworm industry, which brought in $6 million in 2005, down from $7.5 million in 2004. About 1,000 independent diggers spend mornings bent over, knee-deep in mud, following the tides in search of the dwindling supply of bloodworms.
Fishbites may give bloodworms the rest they need to make a rebound on the bait market, but the industry will probably shrink in the meantime, said Les Watling, an oceanography professor at the University of Maine.
"If it's proven that these alternatives will do just as well, it will eventually put the worm diggers out of business," he said.