Still luring in sales

The Willow Leaf Troll, the Ruby One-Eyed Wiggler, the Gypsy – they aren’t characters found within the depths of some enchanted forest, but might just help you catch a fish.

Gibbs/Nortac Industries Ltd. in North Delta manufactures these and hundreds of other colourfully named fishing lures.

Syd Pallister has owned Gibbs/Nortac for almost 20 years. It’s named after trained craftsman and avid fisherman, Rufus Gibbs, who founded the enterprise in Vancouver in 1908.

Gibbs reminds Pallister of his grandfather. Both men were fishermen and pioneers in lure manufacturing, albeit in different provinces.

His grandfather started making fishing spoons 80 years ago in Abernethy, Saskatchewan and Pallister keeps a few of those old spoons on display in his office. They were the beginning of the Len Thompson Lure company.

All of his family went into the business after university, but Pallister set off on his own as a chartered accountant for 13 years. At the start of his career, he made tackle by night at Len Thompson.

Pallister was lured into the tackle business full time when he saw Gibbs/Nortac up for sale in 1989. He grabbed at the chance to combine his accounting skills with family tradition.

He still has a small hand in the family company, which his two brothers run in Lacombe, Alberta.

Gibbs/Nortac settled in North Delta in 2005. Among the rows of daily bookkeeping binders on his office shelves, Pallister keeps a collection of old newspaper clippings about the company, and displays vintage Gibbs lures on the wall, which don’t have quite the same bling as the newer models. Thumbing through the yellowed pages of a 1908 deposit book, he points out the 20 cent per hour wage of a Gibbs’ worker last century.  

It’s beneath Pallister’s second-floor office that the modern manufacturing takes place.

The lure-making process starts with a machine that stamps football-shaped pieces out of brass or copper sheets, like an industrial-strength cookie cutter. Thousands of cutouts arranged by material and size sit on the floor in a series of bins, like Blackbeard’s pillaged loot.

The metal pieces are then plated with nickel, chrome, silver, gold or a combination. The freshly plated and polished lures are wired together and hang in long, necklace-like strands.

The plating step ensures a high-quality lure, setting Gibbs/Nortac products apart from inferiorly plated overseas models, which can break easily and result in escaped catches.

In the fume-filled painting room, the plated pieces are sprayed neon colours to resemble prey.

Some are hand-beaded. Workers need good eyes and coordination to string the tiny red beads onto wires and attach them to the lure.

Then it’s off to see the “hookers” (an industry joke), where workers secure sharp barbed hooks to the end of each lure. The finished products are tiny works of art.

Row upon row of neatly stacked boxes are ready to be shipped close to home or as far away as Russia. The factory turns out more than a million pieces of tackle a year, including lures, sinkers and catch nets. While the process seems rapid, it can take up to three weeks to complete some models.

Pallister compares the tackle business to farming because of all the variables. Weather is a big factor, since recreational fishermen don’t like to fish in the rain or cold. He also has to consider what types of fish are predicted to show up in any given season.

Another challenge is the rising price of commodities. Metal prices are two and a half times what they were just two years ago. Since orders are placed months in advance, Pallister often ends up playing a guessing game when it comes to quoting prices.

The commercial fishing industry is hurting at present because there isn’t an abundance of fish. However, Gibbs/Nortac sells predominantly to sport fishing outlets and doesn’t feel the full sting of fish stock declines.

“Realistically, we just don’t take very many fish. We don’t need a lot of fish to support the industry,” Pallister says.

B.C.’s sport fishing industry generates about $1.4 billion a year.

“That’s more than the value of all the beer and wine sold,” says Pallister.

The provincial government has also helped Gibbs/Nortac reel in business. B.C. Freshwater Fisheries Society has partnered with the government to try and increase sport fishing licences.

“They want kids off the computers and video games and outside enjoying what B.C. has to offer,” Pallister says. “I can’t believe that I’ve ever done anything on a computer that’s as much fun as catching fish.”

Pallister still has his kicks out on the water when he finds time. He grew up fishing in Saskatchewan and keeps a photo of his father and himself at three years old, coming home from a fishing trip with a big pike hanging out both ends of his little red wagon.

But he doesn’t measure the success of a fishing trip by the size of the fish he catches. His most memorable trip was awhile back at Vancouver Island’s Gold River with his youngest son and his two friends. They drove about 40 miles through the forest to a rugged area, not for the faint of heart.

“You get out there and there’s no people, there’s no pollution, there’s no cars,” he says. “You look out at night and the sky’s absolutely brilliant. It’s so peaceful and so quiet.”

When the foursome went out on the water, it was pouring thumb-sized raindrops – not ideal conditions for a fishing getaway. Decked out in their waterproof rain slickers, they dropped their lines by a kelp bed. The boys were thrilled to see the coho salmon attack their lures.

“It was just so much fun watching those boys,” recalls Pallister. “They were just getting soaked and they didn’t care. They were having a riot catching fish.”

That’s the kind of stuff Pallister remembers – not the fishing itself, but the joy it brings.

He stands up to look at a collage of family fishing trip photos mounted on the wall and chuckles.

In June, he saw all 45 of his staff members enjoy a day of fishing at the Gibbs/Nortac 100-year anniversary party. Many first-time anglers were proud to go home with two- or three-pound trout.

Working with great people is a highlight of Pallister’s job. That, and tackling all the challenges that float his way as he turns out thousands of Willow Leaf Trolls, and Ruby One-Eyed Wigglers.

clyon@surreyleader.com