What does balsa wood, Marilyn Monroe, a water tank and wrapping tape have in common? They’re all part of the Rapala story, featured recently by Bill Sherck in the new TV show “Made for the Outdoors.”
“It’s quite a story when you see how this things get made for the outdoors,” says the show’s Minnesota-based host, Bill Sherck, who traveled to Rapala®’s world headquarters and factory in Finland. “The Rapala story starts a long way from home, roughly half-way around the world.”
Each week on “Made for the Outdoors,” Sherck tours factories to show how the most popular brands build their outdoor gear. More often than not, the story involves more than just machines and raw materials. So it was when he flew to Finland and learned the legacy of Laurie Rapala, the lumberjack and occasional commercial fisherman who launched a fishing revolution that still bears his name — “an amazing fish tale turned reality.”
“Laurie Rapala’s legacy is more than a fishing lure,” Sherck says. “It is a bond between people and a love of a sport so simple, yet so complex. It is the reason we fish. … So the next time you reach into your tackle box, think a little bit more about the individual baits – all the passion that goes into them, and all the work. It’s a great story about how your gear gets made for the outdoors.”