Rebel Celebrates 50 Years

Fifty years and millions of lures ago, Fort Smith, Ark., angler George Perrin established a lure company that would lead the industry in innovation. In 1962, demand for Perrin’s Floating Minnow prompted him to create Rebel Lures, shifting his company’s manufacture of plastic parts for refrigerators and air conditioners to the manufacturing of some of the most dependable and popular fishing lures in history.

Trial and error on the water

Several years earlier, Perrin grew frustrated with the wooden minnow lures on the market. They were inconsistent, diving to different depths, running to the left or right and taking on water, which killed the action. With experience in plastics manufacturing, Perrin reasoned that he could make a better lure out of plastic. He knew if he got it right, each lure would be identical, run correctly at the right depth and most importantly, catch more fish.

After experimenting and testing the prototypes at Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita, he hit on that right design and established Rebel Lures, named after the mascot of the high school his daughter attended. Rebel’s first lure, the Rebel F10 Minnow, is still available, and still catches fish.

Millions of lures were manufactured in the early years of Rebel, and some remain in the line today. "We made enough Rebel Lures in the 1980s to outfit every man, woman and child in the U.S. It was nothing to make 10,000 lures a day," Danny Stoner, a longtime Rebel employee, said. "Perrin was very innovative in production. We were the first to use pad printing and a heat-transfer process of decoration."

An innovator in the industry

Rebel wasn’t just limited to making lures. In 1970, the company entered the bass boat market and furnished boats for the very first Bassmaster Classic. Bobby Murray won that tournament, and the gentleman angler still works for the company as a seminar speaker and fishing instructor. Rebel branched out further, producing the first tackle boxes to depart from the basic metal boxes of the day. Rebel produced the first double-sided tackle box, with lids and storage areas on both the top and the bottom. Designed by anglers, these boxes led the industry with adjustable storage areas, spinnerbait holders and molded areas for pork frog jars.

Even while producing boats, tackle boxes and even trolling motors, Rebel always kept lure-making the main staple of production. With constant input from professional anglers and a dedication to providing high-quality fishing lures at a reasonable cost, Rebel Lures continues to earn the reputation as “America’s Favorite Fishing Lures.”