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Ed and
Ken invent
the Hound Dog Lure Retriever
in
the
early 80’s so
they wouldn't lose all their lures. After three
or four years of making the Hound Dogs with rubber hand
molds in Ed’s
garage Ed automates the casting process. He finds an old indexing
machine
and several months later it is ready to make Hound
Dogs. However, none of the famous mold makers they knew could make an aluminum
mold to duplicate
the Hound Dog. In the mean time several fishing lure companies needed to make a
lot of jigs. Since Ed and Ken had the machine and knew someone who could make
jig mol ds, they decided to cast jigs with Ed’s invention.
They quickly
moved from the garage to Ed's mini storage building and finally to their present
location. It didn’t take long to discover that getting new molds made was
taking way too long for their customers. They took the plunge and bought a used CNC Bridgeport
mill along with an old Mac Plus and some CADD software. 3D software was just
coming out so in order to make the products their clients required they invested
in a hot Mac IICX and the latest in
3D software. Ken was on his own as the 3D
trainer knew very little about making the designs customers needed. All
lead and soft plastic molds are now designed and cut in house.
Early customers such as Precision Lures, Mister Twister, Stan Sloan and Bobby
Garland had some wonderful ideas
that were turned into some of the great jigs and spinner baits that are still
found in many tackle boxes today.
The
original Hyper
Striper Jig was born about this time and Bass Pro
Shops i ncluded it under their Striper Stump Jumper Label. The Hyper Striper Tail
and later the Hyper Umbrella trolling rig were added to form the
basis for the
Hyper Striper System, which is a very
effective method of catching big stripers on artificial lures. Sales grew and KG
Enterprise expanded adding seven automated casting machines to the three Ed
originally made from salvaged parts.
Ed then
started work on a state of the art soft plastic injection machine to meet
customer demand for better products. Of course this meant another building and
more injection machines. By now, KG Enterprise was producing a wide variety of products for many
more companies including Action Plastics, Arkie Lures, Bass Pro Shops, Betts,
Big Bite Lures, Bink's, Blakemore, Canyon Plastics, Crooked Creek, ISG, Jef International, Jewel Industries, Realures,
Rinky Dink, Wapsi Fly, War
Eagle, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, and Zig Jigs
When
the fishing business turned south several years ago Ed and Ken found time to complete work on some saltwater big game lures that were started about
four years prior. Customers wanted a jig that would stay down and troll straight
at speeds up to 18 knots while maintaining the hyper action that triggers
strikes. They accomplished that and much more with the new Hyper Hoo line of
lures. The Hyper Hoo lures have caught a wide variety of saltwater game fish
from BC to Mexico in the Pacific, from Maine to the Virgin Islands in the
Atlantic and all over the Gulf of Mexico.
Their
next
project was
to improve jet head lures by adding larger smoke, more noise, and our famous
hyper action. With the invention of the two piece head and skirt and a specially
designed head they had a big game lure that caught two blue marlin between 400
and 500 pounds the first time it was tested. Hyper Jet big game lures can be
trolled at speeds between 4 and 20 knots with no loss of action. 
Finally,
Ed and Ken tested and added improvements to the original Hyper Striper Jigs and
introduced a new and improved model they named the Premium Hyper Striper.
Some of these innovation will be added to the original Hyper Striper Jigs next
year.
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