Our August featured sponsor is Terminator Fishing Lures

Any bass fisherman who hasn't heard of Terminator lures (www.terminatorlures.com) probably has been living like a crawfish, under a rock, for the past five years. Even if you haven't heard of Terminator, you've probably heard about what the company did. By introducing titanium technology to spinnerbaits, Terminator revolutionized what had been a stagnant market for a long time. In doing so, it spawned a host of copycats, but none has equaled the tournament success of the patent-pending original.

Terminator has been a strong sponsor of the Virginia BASS Federation for approximately five years. Each year, the company provides our anglers with dozens of baits, and provides the winner of each State Qualifying tournament with a Terminator jacket valued at $70. National Marketing Manager Alan McGuckin says our state's organization is among the top federations in the country, and is marked by its high level of "professionalism." Accordingly, we are the only state federation that has the jacket arrangement. By putting the Terminator logo on the backs of our state's top fishermen, McGuckin says the company gets "instant credibility."

While working for Lowrance Electronics in 1995 and 1996, McGuckin met Virginia Federation President Roger Fitchett, and the two had an instant rapport. McGuckin says that as he "came to recognize the character and work ethic of folks like Jerry Skinner, Eddie Johnson, Chris Poole, Don Dobbs and Roger the decision to align our premium brand with one of the country's Top 10 Federations was a no-brainer." He adds he's "been blessed to make a living in the fishing industry for seven years. I've worked with tons of organizations ranging from charity tournaments to the B.A.S.S. National Trail. I know one thing, regardless of the group's size, ulitmately it's the people who make our sponsorships fail or succeed. The Virginia Federation is composed of the type of high-character and professionalism that makes Terminator's successful sponsorship of their trail inevitable. They epitomize what a grass-roots organization should be".

Like many innovations, the Terminator spinnerbait did not arise out of the inventor's intent to "build a better mousetrap." In fact, its evolution was almost accidental. A dentist brought it to the fishing community. Until the 1980s, the files used in root canal procedures were typically made of stainless steel. Because it does not flex, stainless steel did not fit the natural curvatures of the root canal. As a result, it had a tendency to cause great pain and, worse yet, to occasionally break while in a patient's tooth. Dr. Ben Johnson was a root canal specialist, performing over 2,000 of the procedures each year in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Aware of the inherent deficiencies of stainless steel files, he began to experiment with nickel titanium files, which he subsequently patented.

Beginning in 1986, Dr. Johnson crisscrossed the globe to dental schools and dental conferences, lecturing and demonstrating the benefits of nickel titanium root canal files. By 1996, he was burned out on the effort, and decided to take up bass fishing again, a passion he had carried since his childhood in bass-rich Alabama and Texas. While fishing with a Tulsa tackle dealer one day, and catching numerous fish on spinnerbaits, the dealer told Johnson that in order to continue catching fish, they would have to tune the mangled stainless-steel baits. Building upon his experience in the dental industry, Johnson decided to create a spinnerbait that would never have to be retuned. Thus was born the Terminator.

In 1997, Terminator spinnerbaits were introduced to the public, sold in kit form via an infomercial. Now, Terminator is among the top 2 brands in numbers of spinnerbaits sold worldwide, a testimony to the technological benefits Terminator offers, considering it's two biggest competitiors have been around for over 20 years.

Since Terminator introduced the titanium-wire spinnerbait, a number of copycat baits have been marketed. There are differences, however. First, Terminator borrowed the metalized (non-painted) head created by its sister company, Horizon Lures, which, McGuckin says, gives the Terminator a "jewelry-like finish." Additionally, Terminator extrudes its own raw, nickle titanium wire to desired diameters for frames, unlike competitors, who outsources their frames. "When you control the manufacturing process, you control the quality. Quality has been paramount to our success" saysTerminator's Product Manager, Kyle Thorsen. He says, "when something does go wrong, we're in position to fix it immediately".

In addition to spinnerbaits, Terminator manufactures buzzbaits, jigs, inline spinners, and titanium wire leaders, all of which live up to the company's exacting and innovative standards. If you need a bait that will entice the fish to strike, and then live up to multiple strikes (including some from "toothy critters") then you owe it to yourself to tie on a Terminator. Substantial support of the Virginia Federation's efforts is an added bonus to purchasing a quality product.