Finnish Farm Fishing Lure

To travel the U.S., then go to Finland, and then return to Minnesota. It would be great to see some fishing photos posted with the little traveler!

Finnish Farm Fishing Lure

          This Rapala Fishing Lure is starting on its travels on September 10, 2005, from our Finnish Farm Find Cache (#GCJC6T).    That is the date of the Wirtanen Pioneer Farm Festival and we decided that, in the spirit of Eli Wirtanen, we should start a Travel Bug from the cache with the goal of getting to Finland.

        Lauri Rapala, like Eli Wirtanen, was also an impoverished Finn.  However, he  worked hard at fishing in order to provide for his family during a period dominated by war and economic depression.  He caught perch and pike on a baited trotline he trailed behind the soutouvene--a traditional Finnish fishing boat--that he rowed.  Rapala's eldest son, Risto, tells how his dad rowed as much as 30 miles a day.  The long hours spent on the water gave Rapala many opportunities to observe nature.  While watching schools of minnows swimming in the clear water below his small boat, Rapala noticed how predators would target a single fish out of an entire school of baitfish.  The Finn realized that there must have been a subtle difference in how an injured or diseased minnow looked or swam.  

        Eventually, Rapala identified the difference as the slightly off-center wobble of a struggling baitfish.  Realizing that a lure imitating this action might help him catch more fish to make more money for his family, Rapala picked up a shoemaker's knife, sandpaper and file.

        In 1936, Rapala carved his first successful lure out of cork.  He then glued tinfoil from a neighbor's cheese packets and chocolate bars to create the lure's outer surface.  And because he was unable to secure any lacquer, he melted discarded photographic negatives to form a protective coating over the lure.  The completed product--with black back, gold flanks and white belly--accurately imitated an injured Lake Paijanne minnow.  

    Shortly after creating the new lure, Lauri Rapala joined the Finnish Army in defending his homeland against invading Russians and Germans.  After the war, word about his fishing success and new lure quickly spread throughout Finland.  The demand for the rare, handcrafted lure grew and the family took on a new business.  Before long, the entire family and residents of Vaaksy were hard at work meeting the tremendous demand.

        Soon the Rapala family was producing up to 1,000 hand-crafted lures a year.  It didn't take long for the reputation of the legendary Rapala lure to spill westward to America.  Vihtori Tommola, a friend of the Rapala family and a Finnish immigrant to America, returned from vacations in Finland with lures for other Finnish immigrants.  Additional lures made their way to the U.S. via American athletes returning from the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki. 

        The lures' popularity quickly grew, especially with Finns living in those fringe areas along the Canadian-American border. 

        Check out the Wirtanen Farm at www.wirtanenfarm.org     Also check out the cache #GCJC6T that we hid at the farm in 2004.  It is the location of the homestead of a Finnish bachelor, Eli Wirtanen, who would surely have enjoyed fishing with and getting to know Lauri Rapala.