The History of Luhr Jensen & Sons

"The fishing tackle business is a natural for success they say . . . when times are bad, people have the time to go fishing so they buy fishing tackle. When times are good, people buy fishing tackle because they want to go fishing." -Luhr Jensen, Sr.

Humble Beginnings

Luhr Jensen and Sons, a company known world-wide for its quality fishing lures and accessories, had its start in an unused chicken coop on a depression-ridden fruit ranch in the upper Hood River Valley of Oregon. But its real beginnings go a little farther back than that -- to the inventive mind of an enterprising man who had, for much of his life, found both peace and excitement at the handle of a fishing rod, and who used that enthusiasm to found a thriving business.

Luhr Jensen, Sr. was born on March 30, 1888, in Ironwood, Michigan, the son of German-born Julius Jensen and his wife Anna-Zinta Von Diltz Jensen. He spent his youth in Denver, Colorado -- most of it with his mother and his sister Doris, who later, under the pen-name of Shannon Garst, became an internationally-known author of at least 45 books on western history, biography and fiction for young readers. His father, involved in mining operations in Colorado, was often away from home, and later was killed in a mining accident when Luhr was still in his early teens.

While enrolled at Manual Training High School in Denver, Luhr worked as a newsboy and a printers devil for the Denver Post newspaper. He was a champion long-distance runner, experimented with electricity and the then-new electronics and ultimately graduated from high school, even though his strong will had occasionally clashed with school authorities.

Westward Ho

In 1909, Luhr came to the Hood River Valley. He had seen an advertisement printed by the government, encouraging rural settlement of that promising agricultural area . . . and he had been hooked. Only 21 years old, the young Jensen was anxious to move west to seek his fortune in the agricultural or lumbering industry of the area, and to find a new home for himself and, eventually, for his mother, sister and stepfather, Wesley Shannon.

Luhr worked in the woods and in various mills for several years, then finally persuaded his mother and stepfather to join him, and to purchase some land south of Hood River in Dee. They eagerly claimed 10 acres of stumps on Dee Flat and, while both men worked full shifts during the day at the Oregon Lumber Mill (still located in Dee and now known as Dee Forest Products, Inc.), they spent all their extra time clearing the land using shovels, dynamite and horses. Once cleared, they planted it with apple and pear trees, with strawberries set between the rows as an interim crop.

These were happy, albeit hard-working times. Family albums depict the scenes and the happiness they shared. They often spoke of the very special train trips into Hood River for shopping and visiting and perhaps to take a boat ride on the Columbia, or to spend a Saturday night at the outside bandstand near the center of town.

For several years Luhr courted his wife-to-be, Clarice Remington Davenport, the daughter of a pioneer lumberman and mill manager for whom he worked. They were married in 1914 after he had purchased an additional 10-acre stump farm which adjoined the acreage that had been previously cleared. Luhr and Clarice settled down to what they thought would be country living at its best, on what his letterhead called The Stonegate Fruit Farm. But even the namesake stone gate failed to materialize.

Though there were fun hobbies such as short wave radio, amateur photography, collecting Indian relics, and a few successful farm years, most of the times were very hard. He worked long hours in the local lumber mill and attempted to raise chickens at home. This latter effort was responsible for the construction of two 20- x 100-foot buildings which were never occupied by poultry because of an epidemic that totally wiped out the chicken population in the valley at that time. However, the buildings were ultimately put to good use. The newer one was remodeled to replace the family home which had been destroyed by fire in 1929. The other housed the equipment for the embryo fishing tackle business which he started in 1932.

The Depression Years

Luhr was 41 when the Great Depression hit. For two years the sales co-op in Hood River that ordinarily marketed the fruit the family so laboriously grew, picked and sent to them, could not realize the sales that so many farmers were depending on. Times were tough . . . jobs were few and far between. It was time for a re-grouping.

Quitting his job at the mill, Luhr bought a Sears & Roebuck suit and went to selling radios -- the big floor models that families used to sit around while listening to President Roosevelt talk about the good times to come.

He also had a lot more time for one of his favorite pastimes . . . fishing! He had always been an ardent angler, whether sitting peacefully in a rowboat on Lost Lake, casting from the banks of the Deschutes River, or standing next to the Indians at Celilo Falls.  He also was always searching for a better means of luring fish. He visited the Boyle Fishing Tackle Company in Portland one day, ostensibly to buy spinner parts -- wire, clevises, beads, spinner blades -- in order to assemble them in his own fashion. But the owner, perhaps sensing competition, refused to sell him the unassembled materials. So, he returned home that day with a second-hand, manually-operated printing press -- hoping to stamp out his own blades.

One of the acquaintances Luhr had made while traveling the countryside selling radios was Emil Gruebner, a retired German tool maker. Emil made the necessary dies for him out of old truck parts, and Luhr polished and assembled spinners in his typically meticulous way. They both were skilled and respected fishermen and soon the reputation of these two fishing pals and their beautiful spinners spread. Friends and associates began demanding them, and so a business was born in his little backyard chicken coop factory.

Luhr was selling spinners to Franz Hardware (still in business at the same Hood River location), a local retailer, when a wholesale representative from Oregon Marine Supply Company in Portland noticed them and wanted to market the lures in that city. Luhr quickly struck a bargain with the company's principals . . . if they would loan him enough money to start his manufacturing business properly, he would pay them back in product over the next several years.

The Business Grows

In 1934, the couple sold their Dee Flat ranch and moved into Hood River where they purchased a home. With the money he had borrowed from the Portland wholesaler, Luhr constructed a small frame building behind the home and his little spinner business, born in the Depression and started in a chicken coop, had become a genuine enterprise, with sales in two states and a giant debt to service. With a handful of employees cutting, assembling and polishing, and with his teenage son and daughter working after school, the business grew. They worked hard -- the company prospered and they were able to pay off the debts that had been incurred.
Luhr continued to create new lures, such as the still-famous Ford Fender, named after the Model A from which he obtained the headlight reflector and built the blades. He had a straightforward and honest business sense and a fresh and unconventional manner that appealed to many. To cut red tape, he would pen the answer to an inquiry at the bottom of the inquirers letter and send it back by return mail. His favorite call of Fish On!!! would ring through the offices and stores of his wholesale customers announcing his arrival. Avowedly modest in his ambitions for nothing more than a good product and a good living, he never-the-less saw the business expand, with sales almost doubling each year.

World War II

When World War II started in 1941, their eldest son, Luhr, Jr. joined the Navy. Luhr, Sr. continued to work with what materials were available until 1943, and then had to shut down the operation until 1945, due to various war-caused material shortages. It was during that period that he turned his energies to clearing a few acres of land he had purchased. Underbrush, blackberries, thistles and some giant boulders were removed and, before too long, a spanking new family home appeared.
With the end of the war and the return of Luhr, Jr., the business again boomed. In 1947, they built a new frame building on the cleared acreage and soon spinners were once again rolling off the modest little assembly line, with more employees and more widespread distribution. Luhr Jr.s recent experiences and youthful enthusiasm spawned a new and different breed of lures . . . small wobblers and spinners called spinning lures. These were cast by a new-fangled type of French reel, referred to as a spinning reel.

Luhr, Sr. Retires

The reputation and success grew and the tiny firm, now strengthened by the involvement of another family member, the second son, Dave Jensen, was marketing their products in many new areas around the United States. As the two youthful brothers took hold of the business in the early' 50s, Luhr, Sr. was very busy . . . letting go. Though officially retired and well into his sixties, he remained actively involved in the business -- even though he didn't want to be! Some will never forget the day, when, typical of Luhr's sometimes gruff manner, he came into the spartan little office and emphatically announced that he was moving away from the beloved Hood River Valley where he had spent over 40 years of his life . . . to the Oregon Coast -- so that he wouldn't have to watch his sons run his business into the ground. It is sometimes very difficult to let loose of something that has been so near and dear for so long.

The early '60s continued to show sales growth and expansion for the company. The third son, Phil, joined the organization in 1961 after graduation from the University of Oregon, and quickly focused his energy on developing a nation-wide sales team. With a growing product line and a sudden thirst for expansion, the company moved strongly into new markets and, adding products from several other companies that were acquired during the period, watched sales grow from a 1960-base of about $250,000 to well over $1 million by 1970.

Luhr, Sr. spent a very active and happy 20 years at the Oregon Coast, first moving to Yachats, later to North Bend with a vacation home on Siltcoos Lake. Always restless in retirement, he fished, gathered an impressive collection of agates and semi-precious stones, raised tropical fish and collected stamps. Several heart attacks later, he moved to Wooodburn, later to Salemtowne, then returned to Hood River where the serious illness of his wife of 50 years, Clarice, ultimately resulted in her death in 1971. However, long before his own death in 1973, Luhr, Sr. had the satisfaction of seeing the business he had created become a large and thriving company of international scope.

Lake Michigan Miracle

In 1967, a wonderful phenomenon occurred that was to make Luhr Jensen a household name in the population centers of Chicago and Detroit and the surrounding mid-west states.
In order to combat a growing and difficult problem with a small baitfish known as the alewife, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources embarked on a coho salmon planting project in several tributaries of Lake Michigan. Eggs were taken from a hatchery at Bonneville Dam, some 25 miles west of Luhr Jensens Hood River headquarters, and flown to Michigan. There the department hatched them and released the fry into rivers that flowed into the lake. The success of that program is now legend.

First the coho salmon, then chinook prospered and provided what has been termed by many as the greatest fishery on the North American continent. With a growing awareness of this magnificent resource, and the various states scrambling to provide facilities for boat launching and other fishing access, the industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Many companies manufacturing products such as boats, electronic fish-finders and temperature-sensing devices, fishing tools such as downriggers and all of the attendant accessories have found a new and challenging market for their products.

Luhr Jensen met that challenge with aggressive promotion and sales action, and by 1970 was established as the dominant lure manufacturer to that fishery. The famous J-Plug(r) and later the Dipsy Diver(r) adjustable, directional trolling sinker accounted for sales close to $1 million annually in that area.

Growing Pains

In the early '70s, the company was scrambling to provide manufacturing space for its growing sales. Several downtown Hood River buildings were purchased and adapted to the various manufacturing, inventory and shipping functions. During that period, the company was utilizing more than ten different locations in the area to meet the demands from its continually expanding sales.
It was during that same period that Luhr Jensen, Jr., was actively building the company's reputation and sales in the Canadian marketplace. He enjoyed that challenge as well as the abundant good fishing to be found in western Canada. So much so, in fact that it was decided the company should open a manufacturing facility in Vancouver, B.C. He work very hard in the years following and up until his retirement in 1984. He firmly established the company there - to the extent that sales now run in excess of $2 million.

A New Home

Meanwhile, Phil and Dave Jensen tended the home fires in Hood River. The company had outgrown the many buildings and rather haphazard growth patterns of the past. So, a new and more efficient 60,000 square foot structure to house the entire tackle operation under one roof was built in the late '70s. In 1989, a nearby building was purchased which now houses the company's plastic injection molding and vacuum-metalizing operations. Both stand on the banks of the mighty Columbia River, within a stones throw of where Luhr, Sr. once fished for salmon . . . with his very special spinners . . . made on a hand printing press . . . from dies fashioned from old truck parts . . . assembled in a chicken coop.

Luhr Jensen, Sr. would indeed be very proud.