It seems to me that books about Rapala lures must be like Rapala lures themselves; once I’d clapped eyes on this book, I just couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it!
There can’t be many anglers who haven’t heard of the name Rapala. Even if lure fishing doesn’t float your boat, the sheer volume of Rapalas sold around the world means that there can’t be many tackle outlets that don’t stock them.
On a personal level, I’ve had some great fun with Rapala lures and caught some nice fish. Lure anglers like to experiment with their tackle and often swap from one lure to the other, but they always have ‘banker’ lures • those they can bank on to catch fish, even when all else has failed. Most of the Rapala range would fall into that category.
Anyway, enough about the lures themselves, this review is about Rapala: Legendary Fishing Lures, the book by John E. Mitchell.
One thing to note is that this is an official Rapala book, which means the author had access to all the appropriate data, including sales volumes from way back. These statistics are amazing. However, they are even more mind blowing when you realise that Rapala was formed when one man, Lauri Rapala, whittled his own lures in order to catch fish to feed his own family.
This book follows the history of the company from that day; how it became a family business, how the company broke into America (an incredible tale in itself, based on trust and true gentlemen) and how it then expanded worldwide.
To me, the history in itself was interesting enough. However, this book doesn’t end there. Included are colour charts showing every lure made by Rapala, along with tips from the professionals to help the reader gain the best results from using each lure. John Wilson makes an appearance, as does the Australian, Rex Hunt, who used a Rapala to catch on his last ever show.
With over 200 pages, plenty of colour and black & white photographs, this hardback book is an absolute must for any lure enthusiast. I absolutely devoured it • I just couldn’t wait to get stuck in and it didn’t disappoint. It’s certainly different than most fishing books, as it has a great deal of historical content, but that combination of history and advice made it an extremely enjoyable read for me.
The cover price is £18.99, but we found it cheaper on Amazon. Click here for details.
Elton Murphy
