Later on in my teens I took up fly fishing, which eventually led to flytying. For years I was almost exclusively a fly fisherman, fishing mainly for trout and salmon. Then one day in the mid 1980's I caught a 2½ lb. smallie while fishing for salmon. That was all it took to get me hooked on smallmouth bass.

I started Nova Lures in 1989 as a manufacturing/wholesale business. The reason being I couldn't get spinnerbaits or buzzbaits in the right sizes locally, so I started building my own.

The local guys saw some of them and tried to buy them from me (I gave away more than I sold at this point).Then in 1992 I opened a retail shop and began selling a full line of tackle, including a wide variety of hard and soft baits, rods, reels, and line, etc. As time went on, I became more interested in handpouring and devoted more of my time and energy to it. The shop is now closed so I can put all of my time into developing baits and pouring techniques.

I am also one of the founding members of Lakeside Smallmouth Bass Club which was formed in the late 1980's.