Competitive sportfishing catching on
By Ginny Johnson
STAFF WRITER Greenville News
Published: Saturday, July 21, 2007 - 8:18 am
http://www.greenvilleonline.com

Perhaps the name itself was a prediction of Vertical Lures' rapid rise to success, earning them an innovation nod at the ICAST sport fishing convention in Las Vegas.

The Pickens County-based family-owned business, which designs and produces fishing lures and connective pieces aimed at bass anglers, debuted their Chunk X-Sling at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades.

The sling is a rubber device fishermen can use to connect a soft, plastic lure to a jig, or hard, metal lure, without damaging the plastic lure (How to Install). The sling earned husband-and-wife team Eric and Val Harrell the 2007 Catch of the Year Best New Product in the terminal tackle category.

"We refuse to ride the coattails of products already out there; there are no corners cut," Val Harrell said.

There philosophy seems to work: In little more than a year, Vertical Lures surpassed its four-year business plan.

The award brings satisfaction and represents new challenges, like being ready for the Super Bowl of fishing, the Bassmasters Classic, coming to Lake Hartwell in February.

"Competitive bass fishing is kind of at the stage that NASCAR was 15 years ago," said co-owner Val Harrell. "It's up and coming right now and the competitive side is taking the country by storm."

As are the Harrells' wares, which are now offered at 130 stores in 27 states.

"We were assembling, packaging and shipping them from home," Val Harrell said. "That is no more."

Instead, the pieces are now made in Singapore and California, among other places, and assembled at a Greenville firm.

"There are definitely sacrifices that you have to make," Val Harrell said. "This has been a struggle."

Still, the Harrells emerged from their first year making a profit and did so without the aid of a small-business loan, "which is practically unheard of," Harrell said. "But, we're debt free."

And they haven't given up their careers, Val sells real estate at The Cliffs and Eric is a chiropractor at Oaktree Medical Center in Easley.

"It's been fun; it's a wild ride starting a business," Harrell said. "It can be a tangled web, especially if you're doing it on your own. But how many people get the chance to say, 'I took that risk'?"