The Original Artificial Intelligence

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the ability of artificial intelligence (AI) to imitate life using inanimate materials. 

These special powers have been labelled “groundbreaking,” “revolutionary,” and even “unprecedented.” 

We hate to break it to the AI bros out there, but the ability to imitate life has been around for decades. 

Since 1936, to be exact, when Lauri Rapala perfected the very first Rapala® lure: The Original Floating® Rapala. 

Made with cork, tinfoil, and melted photo negatives and carved into shape with a knife, this prototype lure mimicked the signature wobble of an injured minnow. The metallic shimmer from the tinfoil looked just like scales. From the eyes of a hungry bass, it looked like the real deal–the perfect prey. 

It was the first time anyone had ever tried to capture the action of a wounded minnow and accomplished it so successfully. The Rapala’s ability to play real and vulnerable while concealing a sharp hook and inedible body made the lure spread like wildfire. This lure that a hungry fisherman made in his home in Finland so that he could do the simple thing he loved to do–catch more and bigger fish–became a household name. 

Today, Rapala makes lures that are somehow even more life-like, complete with even more specific postures of wounded minnows. Take the new PXR Mavrik™ 110, for example, whose suspending, head-down posture mimics an injured baitfish. Or the Twitchin’ Rap®, which mimics a gentle searching action, slowly sinks in a flutter when paused, and can even glide and hang like a real mullet. 

The magic is in the soft plastics, too. Baits such as the Pigstick™ shimmy like a real worm, while The Mayor™ and the Mooch Minnow™ offer unique tail action that look just like a minnow on the run. 

The result? More fish in the boat, and more action on the line when throwing baits that have always brought Ai to the water. 

Can your computer program do that?