By Steve Weisman

Area anglers need to mark Thursday, February 21 on their calendar for the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club’s (IGLFC) annual spring fishing seminar at the Hap Ketelsen Center in Everly. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., followed by the meal at 6 p.m. and seminar at 7 p.m. Dan Spengler, senior bait development engineer for Pure Fishing will spend the evening offering insight into the development process for Berkley hardbaits. The seminar will provide information on product design, prototyping, lab and field testing, in addition to final product release to the anglers.

According to Terry Thomsen, IGLFC president, “The evening’s activities are free to members, and we welcome the public to come. The cost for non-members is $10 and we will also have memberships available at the door. Dan will also give those in attendance two of Berkley’s newest crankbaits ($15 retail value) for free.”

Thomsen continues, “For the past several years, we have brought in professional anglers and guides to share their knowledge, but we decided to change things a bit this spring and with Dan’s help give our members a greater understanding of the hardbait design process and when a hardbait is ready to be released to the public.”

It’s in his blood

Those words best describe Dan Spengler’s passion for designing fishing lures. A native of nearby Ocheyedan, Spengler says, “My passion for fishing was instilled early in life by my dad. Growing up in Ocheyedan, I befriended many kids who had the same drive to fish. We spent every free minute fishing.”

However, Spengler’s passion went deeper than that of his friends, and he soon began designing his own lures. “I developed my first lure at age nine. It was an inline spinner made from a paper clip. Over the next 15 years, I designed, hand carved and tested over 100 wooden style crankbaits and top water baits. My passion for Berkley came earlier in life. I was surrounded by influential anglers like Otis ‘Toad’ Smith and Jim McDonnell who gave me Berkley products. I remember when I was 10 years old, my dad snuck me out of school to see one of Jim’s seminars. At the end of the seminar, Jim gave me like six packages of Berkley Power Bait. I thought that was very cool. My friends and I caught so many fish on Power Baits that I became obsessed and soon dreamed of working at Berkley.”

Spengler later went to college at South Dakota State University, where he earned a Master’s degree in Fisheries. However, the desire to work at Pure Fishing still tugged at his heart strings.

Sure enough, his dream came true, when he was offered a lure development position at Pure Fishing in 2010. Long story short: Spengler got the job and is now living his childhood dream. The success of the Berkley hardbait program begins with a “teamwork approach. We are all working together for the same end result: to make the best hardbaits out there that catch more fish.”

The seminar

Spengler’s goal is to help those in attendance understand the hardbait design process. “First, I will give a little background about how I got into the industry. It’s hard to believe but since I was hired, I’ve worked directly on over 70 Berkley hardbaits. Just last year, we designed, developed and released over 20 hardbaits alone.”

These will be Spengler’s seminar topics:

• Discuss behind-the-scenes steps in the concept and design process.
• Shape development and prototype testing in the lab. During this process, top pro anglers are brought in for their input.
• Field testing, taking the hardbait to the water. Testing in a variety of locations to determine if the product is right. Here, it all comes down to letting the fish tell the engineers if it is ready for market or not.
• The final portion of the seminar will be an actual how-to seminar, where Spengler will provide his techniques for fishing his favorite Berkley products, along with an encouragement to get kids involved in fishing.

“I am really looking forward to this opportunity. I hope that a lot of kids will attend. One of my life-long goals is to get as many kids interested in the sport of fishing as possible,” adds Spengler.

Spengler with a big nighttime walleye taken on a Berkley Shallow Cutter 90.

The legendary Toad Smith with a young Dan Spengler!

Spengler and his son, Maverick team up on a big bluegill