About

A New Breed of Tackle Company

What happens when several of the world’s top bass fishing pros come together to create the perfect fishing lures? What happens when those same top bass pros join forces with two highly regarded fisheries biologists who extensively studied crawfish and baitfish behavior? And, what happens when this unique group of individuals team up with a powerful marketing genius and successful sales team?

Well…besides an uncontrollable ball of energy and excitement…a new kind of tackle company is born.

TABU Tackle stands for “Tournament Approved By Us.” Who is the “Us” you ask? The fishermen include Dave Lefebre, Anthony Gagliardi, Matt Herren, Kelly Jordan, rookie sensation Michael Murphy, and Fred Roumbanis; a pretty stout list of the sport’s top ranked professionals, who together, have earned over $3 million in just the last 5 years, including 150 top ten finishes and 12 pro level wins.

I’ve always loved tinkering with tackle and creating things, said Kellogg’s pro, Dave Lefebre. “I’ve honestly been thinking about forming a lure company since as long as I can remember. But it wasn’t until recently, I’d say the last year or so, that I actually started to think it was possible. I figured I could get a solid group of anglers together who shared the same ideas, but without knowing how to effectively get the lures we designed to the fishermen, I knew we would be spinning our wheels.”

A long time went by while Lefebre passively tried to find the right person, or people to help him get his idea off the ground. “One day, I was talking to my friend and former boss at Yamaha, David Simmons, about my idea. I simply told him that I was interested in starting a company that was basically owned and operated by pro fishermen. All the baits would be designed by them and approved by all before being made available to the public.”

Simmons knew right away who Lefebre needed to talk to. He had heard this story before. Only before, it was from a young, industry insider named Michael Murphy.

Murphy had an excellent track record as a marketing/sales person for several big, well known fishing companies, but for years had also been thinking along the same lines as Lefebre.

“Our first time talking on the phone was like we’d known each for years,” Murphy said. “I had been involved with three different companies in my short career, and was currently working for Shakespeare. I always wanted to start a lure company, but figured I could never gather up the right pro staff to endorse products, so you can imagine my excitement when I was initially approached by Dave.”

After several months of planning, the duo came up with a serious business plan and decided to put the wheels in motion. “It was all systems go at that point”, said Lefebre. “We felt like we could pull together the right anglers, but with Michael being so busy talking to manufacturing companies and handling the marketing side of things, we both knew we needed to add someone to the mix, someone who could not only handle the sales side, but most importantly who would also share our vision and enthusiasm.”

Dan Davidson would be that guy.

“I met Dan at Purdue. We actually joined and fished together in the Purdue bass fishing club”, Murphy said. “Dan and I were both Fisheries and Aquatic Science majors. He’s a Purdue graduate who is industry savvy, with a wealth of advertising and sales experience. The timing was perfect and we were very fortunate to be able to get a hold of Dan”, Murphy added. “He’s very good at what he does and is exactly who we needed to fill the gap. Plus, he’s a fisherman”.

“We are all fairly young, excited, and motivated, and we all take pride in helping other people catch more fish”, Lefebre said. “We definitely feel like our company is going to have a positive impact on this industry, and we didn’t want to wait until we were “old timers” before we decided it was time to do this. We all get along great and want to produce the best lures money can buy.”

“We are an extremely unique group”, said Folgers’ Pro, and 2006 FLW Tour Angler of the Year, Anthony Gagliardi. “We are unquestionably treading new water by doing something that has never been done before. No one is even getting paid right now to do this. We all simply share a passion for the sport and at the same time have a desire to design and create fishing lures. It’s fun. Sure, we all hope to eventually make some cash, but honestly, that is not why this company was created. That’s the beauty of it all.”

“Our goal is to someday be one of the biggest tackle companies out there”, added Murphy. “It might take a while, but with this assembly of talent working together, only the sky’s the limit.”

TABU Tackle is committed to bringing fishermen the highest quality products at an affordable, competitive price. All TABU baits are designed by the top ranked bass pros in the world, and carry their own stamped approval. Our goal is to make fishing with anything else…well…TABU, of course!