Tackle the Waters Expands Local Tradition

SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake residents Jim and Connie Betson purchased Gary's Lures from owner Gary Ikerd this past spring. They changed the name to Tackle the Waters LLC. They look forward to offering the famous spinner baits Gary's Lures was known for as well as expanding their inventory to include a larger variety of lures, colors and sizes.

The Betsons have been fishing since they were children. They used Ikerd's spinner baits on numerous occasions and like the product.

Ikerd owned and operated Gary's Lures for more than 15 years starting in Missoula and then moving the business to Seeley Lake 12 years ago. Fishing professionally himself and his love for watching others catch fish, Ikerd said he was always trying to come up with something new and experimenting to see what works the best. His most popular lures were his 7/16 ounce spinner bait with a black, white or chartreuse skirt, single willow leaf blade and a six inch worm.

Ikerd sold the business and all his equipment and inventory to Betsons at the end of February. They chose the name Tackle the Waters after their family friend Nikki Maloughney suggested Tackle the Water to their granddaughter Kelti. Connie said they added the "s" to water to help it roll off the tongue.

Jim places the wire and the hook into the mold and pours the lead. He then sands the lead head and takes it to Connie to paint. He estimates he can pour about 50 of the 7/16 ounce spinner baits per hour.

"I like pouring lead and fiddling with it," said Jim. "It's instant and you have something."

Connie hand paints the spinner bait head five times with acrylic paints. The first coat is white, followed by the color, a gold stripe, red eye and black dot in the middle of the red eye. The final coat is the clear seal coat and glitter.

Jim puts the final touches on the lure with the skirt and a single spinner, which is a willow leaf, Colorado or serrated blade. Jim said the difference in blades comes down to the amount and type of noise they make in the water to aggravate fish.

While Ikerd stuck to the black, white and chartreuse spinner baits, the Betsons are expanding their color options to blue, red, tan, purple and pink to start with. In keeping with the tradition of Gary's Lures, each spinner bait is packaged with a six-inch worm.

"The blue and silver Rapalas are deadly certain times of the year so we thought maybe blue and silver would be good," said Jim.

The Betsons are also adding several more types, sizes and colors of jigs including a flutter jig. Jim hopes the flutter jig will be a good seller near Flathead Lake for the lake trout.

Connie has been experimenting with powder coat and vinyl coat paints. Regardless of the type of paint, she makes sure the eye of the hook is free of paint and ready to tie on.

Connie also purchased 24-carat gold and nickel spinners that are heavier and make a different sound than the stamped spinners Ikerd used.

The Betsons are hoping to run this as a hobby that adds a little extra income since Connie will be retiring from her head cook position at Seeley-Swan High School this June.

"We are just retired people trying to keep busy and not drive each other insane [once Connie retires]," said Jim. "I don't want a 24/7 job, it is more of a hobby. We are hoping for some extra spending money by building up our inventory all winter and having fun in the summer."

"We have to have time to test our products," added Connie.

The Betsons have registered to be certified Made in Montana. They also are looking forward to attending some of the area Farmer's Markets and festivals. They hope to offer the option of "Make Your Own Spinner Bait" allowing customers to choose the color of the head, skirt, worm and spinner and they will assemble and package it on the spot.

Tackle the Waters lures are available in Seeley Lake at Rovero's and from the Betsons by calling 406-677-2617 or email cbetson@hotmail.com.