History being made on Aug. 12, 2021 with 1st Rip Teazer King!

Design Phase

Slight differences in four 3D models were printed out to insure a perfect fit into our Magnum Meat  Heads.  Then, cast in modeling clay for a test pour.  This is the part where every thing has to be 110%.  Making sure rotation is no muss, no fuss perfect.  Weight, thickness and balance was the biggest issue to be conquered to get the right 6" looping arcing-roll-kick our meat heads are famous for.

Making the 3D prototypes test strips is when the reel-hard-work began.  Spent hours agonizing over length and shape to move to into the production stage.  3D printed prototypes were essential to finalize design for the injection molds.  One last successful water test on Manistee Lake validated the hard work and grey matter that went into Project 2021. 

All Numbers Start at 1

History was made the first morning out when a 10 pound Coho decided to meet his fate at 9:30am on 8/12/20.  This mid-morning fish broke the ice for what was more to come.  We only took 2 fish in the am.  More history was made in the evening when a 20 some pound King jumped all over a X-Glow green prototype Rip Teazer.  This fish came from no-where, because there was no marks on the sonar.  Evidently, getting dark, Mr. King could see the glow from a long ways off and charged in to whack it.

Adding Reel Re-Scent

Sense of smell is the big deal when it comes to fishing meat.  The right scent turns negative, or neutral fish into biters.  This was not overlooked during the test phases.  Tried several formulas incorporated into the soft plastic mix during the injection molding process.  Took it a step further by adding more scent in the packaging to eliminate any negative rubber/plastic odor.  This is the part nobody can copy.  Unless they can read my mind.  The formula that goes into our Strip Teazers & packaging is a company secret. 

During the design phase made sure to add scales to our strips for a better underwater signature.  Increasing the surface area for our strips also holds more scent.  Re-Scent is to add enhanced smell of bait fish.  Re-Scent is a powerful fish attractant made from 100% pure baitfish extract.  Use this product sparingly.  A little goes a long ways.  Do not store your Strip Teazers drenched in this sauce.  Too much of our Re-Scent can discolor, shrink and turn your strips into worthless chunks hard rubber. 
                        Do not soak the strips in this secret baitfish sauce!
    

Re-Scent
Powerful fish attractant
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No Brine Needed
This mess is goner!

3D Printed Strip
Clay Mold for pour


 

Production Test Strips
Final color test shots

Transitioning to Production

I'm good for a few brainiac moments punctuated by long periods of mental drought.  Smarts on my end was recognizing the 2020 pandemic was going to be a slow year for the Great lakes tackle business.  This allowed for the time, energy to scratch together the budget required to bring weapons grade Strip Teazers™ to your tackle arsenal.

Making something so simple is hard.  The strip by itself has IQ of a dead stump.  Rip Teazers are inanimate objects relying a 100% on the action/spin rate of our Magnum, or Super Magnum Meat heads for an enticing lifelike movement.  The right size, shape, balance, weight and plastic's flexibility/texture (saltwater grade) took months in the design/testing stages.  These are all major considerations that effect an enticing kick-roll perfect spin rate to get Mr. Fish to commit.  This is where soft plastics "meats" the water.  There's is NO learning curve what-so-ever for out of the package instant success.

This is total in-house manufacturing project.  This is a labor of love mixing & matching colors that clone our existing lineup of spoons, heads and flashers.  Then, formulating a brand new exclusive colors like our daylight green glow SUV that we're especially proud of.  We're still conquering production issues to make sure we can meet demand in the busy summer months.  Biggest delay is the cure time when the strips are marinated with scent before packaging.  There's no way to speed up the scent cure-drying process for maximum fish output that takes a few days.

Reel Future

The best is yet to come.  Only color tested was XG-Green Glo due to time constraints. 
The primitive stone age XG green glow hand-cuts we used, did put fish in the net.  But we all know, that's not the only color fish will hit.  There's whole spectrum of proven patterns in our tackle lineup that catches fish.  Having color coordinated presentations with the our Strip Teazers™ matching the meat head sure simplifies the program.  The reel-future is full of boundless fish producing possibilities ...yet to be explored.

Cloning our existing proven color patterns was a piece of cake.  We already have an excellent foundation of colors to build from.  Matching Rip Teazers to your favorite color meat heat is a confidence builder from the git-go.  You won't be near as tempted to swap out colors when you already have a known, proven winner swimming in your spread.  A major part of being successful is not being antsy.

We all fish in the future tense waiting for the next opportunity to win, lose, or draw against our foe, Mr. Fish.  It's the uncertainty that always keeps fishing eternally fascinating.

8/12/20 ST Coho
 Super Strip 9:45am

Printed 3D strip
Solving Fitment Issues


 

ST final Product
Few of the selections

Advantages

R.I.P. short for Rip Teazers are engineered to work with zero tuning for the perfect roll-kick with our Magnum, or Super Meat meat heads.  Insert the strip in the head, peg it and just add water.  This speeds up the time consuming process of tuning the meat to the head when you're in a hurry trying to catch the first, or last light bite.  Tuning is a must when using whole Green Label Herring to get the spin/kick/roll right.

Over the past few years, frozen strips available to Manistee, MI area leave a lot to be desired.  Today's strips are Ginsued so thin, it's like you're trying to slice a one tomato so thin, it  last all winter.  Skinny cut strips of nowadays are lacking body.  Seen these slim slices wrap around the meat rig™ hook, turning into an overpriced twisted mess no fish would ever hit.  Price on today's strips is way-higher then it used to be.  Less quality for more money is the truth.  That's why I stuck with whole Green Label herring over the years & cut it up onboard.

Eliminating the mess from cutting up herring and time spent is an important point.  
The chore of making and storing brine is gone when you use our strips.  Brine is an ongoing costly job you can get rid of.  With brine comes storage issues.  Both long term and short term of where to keep it safely.  Lastly, the bait merry-go-round is over to see, ...who has what and when?  In-season bait is hard to come by.  Coupled with less companies in the bait business willing to take risk that comes with warehousing a perishable frozen product.

Nothing Left on the Table

Designed our Rip Teazers with an Alewife scale pattern with small ridges to grab scent and provide a better underwater signature.  Dressed them up with our company logo.  So, you know who made them.  Just like our meat heads, "Made in USA" was proudly added.  Showing our pride in American made tackle.   Exported to the world from good ol' Manistee, MI USA.

Bringing original pro-grade fishing tackle to this solar system is my job.  We have a wide variety of several fish producing colors.  Both glow and non-glow are lethal options.  You can customize your spread like never before.  It's easy to gravitate to colors that have produced for you in the past.  Now, you have a bunch more choices to put your "A" game in motion.

Durability is off the charts with our saltwater grade replacement herring strips that should last for many seasons.  Not for a fish, or two.  Then, another trip to the tackle store.  Making an indestructible herring replacement strip was at the vanguard during product development.  Rip Teazers are my ultra best effort to date, designing world class big water fishing tackle.  You're looking at another world first from yours truly.  Being the 1st to raise the bar this high is rewarding and separates me from my less inspired copy cat, knock-off artist manufacturers.

Thanks for visiting!

  
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STs part 1  l  STs Part 2  l  Show the Glow  l  Test for the Best  l Use and Care  l
 

Production Mold
8 cavities



Decked Out
And ready to fish!