Livingston Lures Retains Jerry Rago for Bait Design
OutdoorHub 02.18.13
New Pro Series line of baits to debut at ICAST 2013
Livingston Lures continues to push the envelope in the fishing industry by retaining premier bait designer Jerry Rago. Rago will be working with the Livingston pro-team to design the new Pro Series of baits. The Livingston pro-team is comprised of Elite Series anglers Brent Chapman, Jeff Kriet and Randy Howell.
Jerry Rago, owner and designer of Rago Baits, has already designed baits that have won three Bassmaster Elite Series events. His baits have also won hundreds of other tournaments around the country. With six lure design patents Rago is known as one of the premier swimbait designers in the world. Less publicized are the baits Rago has never brought to market. “I’ve been designing hard baits of all shapes, sizes and actions for years. I have many customers who are extremely successful with many of my non-swimbait designs. Truth be told, non-swimbait style baits are easier to design than swimbaits. With swimbaits we are looking to replicate the exact movement of a fish. With traditional baits, swim actions are much easier to create.Using lips, body shape and weight dispersion I can create baits to exactly match the action and look that the Livingston pro’s want.”
Livingston Lures CEO, Fred Battah, believes Rago is the perfect addition to the Livingston team. “We have three very talented professionals that have the experience and knowledge of what they want in our Pro Series line of baits. That’s where Rago plugs into this team perfectly. Jerry (Rago) will work very closely with Brent (Chapman), Jeff (Kriet) and Randy (Howell) to design what they want and need to be successful. Once they’ve designed the baits we have the resources to develop and distribute those baits effectively, that’s what we do,” explained Battah.
Livingston Pro and 2012 Elite Series Angler of the Year, Brent Chapman, believes this is the right fit. “Adding a true lure designer like Jerry is an important step. Jeff, Randy and I understand fishing enough to know what we want, but we aren’t artists or engineers. Every angler would love to have baits designed to match exactly what they want, and that’s what we have now with Livingston and Jerry Rago.”
Battah explains how the decision to work with Rago was reached. “We sat down with our pros a few weeks ago and discussed their ideas. After that meeting, we knew we needed someone special to design these baits. We have some great concepts in the works, and they should be ready to preview at ICAST in July. When we looked for bait designers around the world one name kept coming up, Jerry Rago. There are very few single bait designers that have made tour level event winning baits, and even fewer that have won multiple tour level events. What we found most amazing is the number of wins that have come on his baits, and he only has a few dozen baits in total. That ratio of wins to designs is amazing.”
Rago is ready for the opportunity. He states, “I’ve enjoyed making my baits for mainly western anglers and progressive thinking anglersaround the country. Engineering and designing lures to do what I want them to do in the water is my passion. To do this for a first class company like Livingston and three of the best anglers in the world is a dream come true. I am especially interested in incorporating their proprietary vibration and sound system into the new pro series hard baits. Many of the baits I have designed in the past have worked mostly because of the vibration and sound they make in the water, it’s no secret that helps catch fish. I’ve already had a bunch of conversations with the pros and I can’t wait to get started. In the end, I know the baits we design are going to help tens of thousands of people around the world catch more fish, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Rago will be joining Livingston Lures at the Bassmaster Classic Expo booth later this week. He will also be speaking to the media at the Livingston Lures hosted media luncheon on Saturday at the BOK center. If you are headed to the Bassmaster Classic, be sure to stop by and meet the Livingston Lures team.
