Middletown brothers find fishing alluring

by Jim Morris

Dave Robbins caught his first fish 70 years ago.

“It was at Lake Erie and I was three years old,” he said. “They tried to sneak a perch on my line, but I fooled them and caught a little smallmouth on my own.”

Fishing has been a big part of the activities for the Robbins family. And now the three Middletown area Robbins brothers – Dave, 73, Paul, 68 and Rick, 66 – have taken the tradition a step further, manufacturing their own tackle.

Robbie’s Lures – named after their father – began about three years ago when the three were sitting on the bank at a pay lake. They were using live goldfish to catch catfish.

“We figured we could make the same thing out of soft plastic and it would save fishermen a lot of money, instead of always buying goldfish,” Dave Robbins said.

So they did, and since the three were experienced at many types of fishing, they have come up with more than 100 lure designs for freshwater and saltwater fishing. Spending many years living in Cocoa, Florida, they have knowledge of both.

“Saltwater, freshwater, we fished for everything in Florida,” Dave Robbins said.

All of the lures are handcrafted, so no two lures are exactly alike.

Many molds are carved by Dave out of balsa wood. The soft plastic material melts into the right shape in a microwave. They are innovative, too. For one mold, they caught a tiny bluegill, froze it and then used it to make a mold.
“It’s realistic and it works,” Paul Robbins said.

Two of their top sellers have been plastic shrimp and gobies.

Their biggest challenge has been marketing their large array of lures. They thought they caught a huge break a couple of years ago when In-Fisherman Magazine wrote an article about one of their lures, Robbie’s Special. They sold about 200 after that, but it didn’t translate into increased sales in the long run.

“We need to get into more shops, but that’s not easy to do,” Dave Robbins said.

They’ve tried the local flea market a few times but aren’t enthusiastic about it.

“People come by and look and they say they like what they see, but not many people buy anything,” Dave Robbins said.

They are also hoping to generate more sales through their Web site, www.robbieslures.com.

Another move they hope pays off is to have some area tournament fishermen use their products, both around here and in Florida.

“We’re starting to see some interest,” Paul Robbins said.

For more information about Robbie’s Lures, visit the Website or call (513) 594-9617 or (513) 255-7523.