A few years ago, Dennis MacDonald and his son-in-law, Jack Houghton, grew so frustrated at losing pricey jigs and lures to toothy bluefish and stripers that they decided to make their own. The Abington duo started having much better luck reeling in fish.
Fellow anglers noticed and asked how they were doing it.
The result: Daddy Mac Lures LLC.
Since their homegrown business was formally created in 2013, its sales have grown by 1,000 percent. Originally carried by just one tackle shop, in Scituate, Daddy Mac now markets 120 varieties that can be found in nine Bass Pro Shops, the Kittery Trading Post, and more than 40 tackle shops from Maine to New Jersey. A small online business ships worldwide.
Ralph Wilkins, a commercial fishing boat captain and former cast member of National Geographic’s “Wicked Tuna’’ television show, said he tried the firm’s best-selling Viper lure when nothing else was working.
“I met Jack at a show where he had a funny-looking lure that looked more like a toy swimming in a tank,’’ said Wilkins, who, like most commercial fishermen, typically prefers live bait. “We chatted, and he gave me a couple to try. One day I was out and no one on the water was having a good day. I rigged up the Daddy Mac lure and tossed it in where the fish were. On my first troll I got a 50-inch striper. I tried it again and got another one. Since then I’ve been using them to catch my quota. That got me involved with Daddy Mac. Nice family with a nice product.’’
Houghton and MacDonald are surprised at how quickly their business has taken off, particularly since being entrepreneurs wasn’t their plan in the beginning.
“We just wanted to make our own lures to save money,’’ said MacDonald, 65, a retired salesman and an avid fisherman all his life, even skipping a Little League all-star game when he was 10 to go fishing while all other members of his family took in the game.
“We started making lures with metal we melted down. We collected wheel weights from area garages and expired bullets from shooting ranges. Not everything worked, but most [lures] did.’’
At the center of this enterprise are two attached houses in Abington, one home to MacDonald and his wife, Donna, the other to their daughter, Kerrianne, who is married to Houghton, a full-time computer programmer and part-time commercial fisherman. The search for the perfect line of lures quickly took over both homes, said Kerrianne Houghton.
“We had lures hanging from the lampshades, and the assembly took place in our kitchen,’’ she said. “We still do the assembly, packaging, and mailing from here, but we’re getting close to needing a warehouse.’’
Both members of the father/son-in-law team say they represent a good yin and yang, in part because MacDonald specializes in freshwater fishing and Houghton in saltwater. They credit Kerrianne for the packaging and marketing. When her son, Colton, is home from college, he helps out with sales and marketing.
It was Kerrianne who came up with the concept for the Daddy Mac logo: from the waist up, a cigar-smoking man; from the waist down, the tail of a fish. A merman, in other words, and one bearing on his fishing hat the nickname MacDonald acquired years ago.
“I wanted the logo to be my dad’s face on a fish,’’ she said. “It’s unmistakable.’’
With 81 years of fishing experience between MacDonald and Houghton, the two seem to know what sells and what works. They also know to keep their prices at or below the major companies’ to maintain their success.
“What they sell for $20, we sell for $7. Our prices range from $6.39 to $21.99, and our margins stop people from undercutting us,’’ Houghton said.
Their products, which use the more durable Kevlar instead of metal-on-metal for keeping the jointed lures together, are patented, and all are tested by the pair and their team of pro staffers — professional fishermen and captains like Wilkins.
The company has 43,000 Facebook followers and 270,000 hits on its website, www.daddymaclures.com, and attracts regular features in fishing magazines. Thanks to social media and visibility at stores and shows, the firm keeps its advertising costs down as it introduces new products. Initially more focused on saltwater fishing, Daddy Mac is making headway in the freshwater market as well.
“These guys are such awesome guys, everyone wants to see them succeed,’’ said Andy Celona, fishing manager at the Bass Pro Shops store in Foxborough. “They back it up with great product and customer service. Jack came in and did demos at the store and talked to customers; you don’t see that with most companies. They will keep growing and growing.’’
As the firm grows, say its founders, Daddy Mac wants to maintain its Abington and Southeastern Massachusetts roots, sponsoring local sports teams and eventually hosting fishing derbies and opportunities for kids.
“Our own kids love to fish,’’ said Houghton, today a highly sought-after speaker at fishing expos. “We want to share that enthusiasm with all kids.’’
Christie Coombs can be reached at mccoombs@comcast.net.
