Lauri Rapala

Lauri Rapala (1905–1974) was a Finnish fisherman, inventor and the founder of Rapala-Normark Group, the world's largest fishing lure and tackle producer.

The clergymen at the parish could not remember Mari's surname, Saarinen, and so he simply put it as Rapala, the village in Sysmä municipality from which they had moved.

Lauri and Elma had seven children; five sons (Reino, Risto, Ensio, Esko, and Kauko) and two daughters (Marja and Irja).

Rapala thought that an artificial lure could bring in more fish, and therefore more money, in addition to eliminating time needed to bait hooks.

After a lot of trial and error, and with the help of a hermit-fisherman, Toivo Pylväläinen, who lived on an island of Lake Päijänne,[2] and Rapala's friend Akseli Soramäki, he created a lure with the right wobble to imitate an injured bait fish.

It was made of cork, with tinfoil around it and melted photograph negatives as a coating instead of lacquer, which Rapala could not afford.

Pike and perch attacked it voraciously, and his sons, who were young at the time, claim he would often bring in 270 kilograms (600 lb) a day.

When the World War II broke out in Europe in 1939, shortages arose, and Rapala began making his lures from tree bark.