The Story of the Backyard Bass
The Backyard Bass started with an avid angler by the name of Dale living here in the Pacific Northwest. Dale’s kids were young and just starting to try fishing, and he was looking for a fun way to teach them how to cast. He tried having them cast onto his back lawn but found that they quickly tired of casting a plug onto the grass and reeling it back in. He saw that they had a lot of fun casting at the lake but they only visited the lake on the weekends. Dale was looking for something that he and the kids could cast to at home.
Watching his kids’ excitement when catching a fish at the lake Dale began to experiment with fish shapes as casting targets, ones that could be reeled in once they were caught. A few crude prototypes later he formed a sheet metal fish that was lightweight, rounded and pliable enough to form a mouth that could be snagged with a casting plug. His kids tried the fish, loved it and pretty soon neighborhood kids were streaming into the backyard to cast for the fish.
When Dale approached Ironwood Pacific Outdoors with his idea we quickly agreed to mold the fish from bright polyethylene plastic and to name the fish the Backyard Bass. The Backyard Bass have now been adopted by Angler Educators all over the country for helping to teach kids how to cast.
Ironwood Pacific Outdoors, Inc. is located in Tigard, Oregon and manufactures and markets a line of fishing and marine accessories.