Super Slayer Tackle Co. began in 1993. My oldest son, Joe, wanted to be a fishing guide. Being a guide and having a bait that was designed and built by you went hand-in-hand because you could sell baits and guide dates at sport shows.

Joe designed the first bait, the Slowie Slayer. There hasn't been a bait of that type in a 100 years.It was a deep running jerkbait made of hard maple. This was the start of the company name and also the baits with the double S's; Super Slayer, Slowie Slayer, etc. This took place in 1989.

In the spring of 1990, Joe went to the Madison sport show with 20 baits and sold all of them. This was the start of getting people acquainted with Slowie Baits and the Super Slayer Tackle Co.

While fishing that spring on Big St. Germain Lake in Wisconsin, we couldn't make anything work. We tried every bait we had in the tackle box except for one. We took a Slowie Slayer apart, added a tail on the back of the front section and started fishing with it. We knew we needed a spring bait and this fit the timing just perfect. We caught a 40" fish just four casts later. This was the start of the Slowie Sleeper. The only thing we changed on it was the wood. We made it from a soft maple which gave it a little more buoyancy and made the bait run a little more shallow. The original Slowie Sleeper had a hand tied feather tail which was eventually replaced by a treble hook. The Slowie Sleeper is also a great twitch bait.

Being a family owned business, we discussed building a top-water bait . We came up with the Slowie Smacker, which is made of pine for buoyancy and great action. Having three baits covered most of the needs of muskie fishermen; a deep runner, a shallow runner and a top-water bait.

We thought we had some good products, so we went to the various sport shows and sold baits as Joe booked guide dates. We also began selling to distributors, sportshops and bait and tackle stores.

About that time, writers for Musky Hunter, In-Fisherman, Woods and Water, Wisconsin Outdoor Journal and Muskies, Inc. began writing articles on the use of adding live-action rubber tails and skirts on your baits. In 1995 we, as a family, decided to design a a bait with live-action rubber. James, my youngest son, was at a sport show and came up with a drawing with what the bait should look like. We followed his diagram to make the Slippery Sam and Slippery Sam Jrs, again going with the tradition of using double S's for bait names. We also had these copyrighted.

The first show we took these new baits to was at the Milwaukee sport show. The baits were a big hit , because of the rubber tails and silicone skirts. The response to the Slippery Sam and Slippery Sam Jr. was so great that we had to set up a production line at the motel so we could keep up with the bait sales. We had no idea that everyone would be so enthusiastic about the baits. At that time, we met "Crash" Mullins, noted musky guide from Cave Run Lake in Kentucky. We gave him some samples to fish with (this was March 1st). We didn't see him again until August at the Eagle River National Fishing Tournament. His comment at the time was "I can make the bait work!". When he went home, more than 50% of the muskies that he and his clients caught were taken on Slippery Sam and Slippery Sam Jr. Baits. He guides about 200 days a year and he caught 150 muskies that year.

About the time we started building the rubber baits, we changed the lips on the wood baits. This changed them from jerkbaits to crankbaits, changing the lips made it easier for more fishermen to fish with them.

In 1998 we added tandem baits to our Slippery Sam and Slippery Sam Jr. baits, This allowed them to run shallow.

To date the largest muskie caught and released on a Slippery Sam is a 54" with a 25 1/2 " girth. The largest fish caught on a Slippery Sam Jr. is a 51" with a 25" girth.

Super Slayer will continue to add new colors to our line of baits, we also plan on coming out with new designs in the near future.

Super Slayer Tackle Co. sponsors various musky clubs throughout the Midwest. We are also a major sponsor for the Eagle River Nationals which is held every year in August.