Berkley Bedell

Berkley Bedell (1921—2019) Berkley “Berk” Bedell, a pioneer in the fishing tackle industry and founder of Berkley and Company — now known as Pure Fishing — was born in Spirit Lake, Iowa, on March 5, 1921, as a third generation resident of that city. He never forgot his beginnings, even after he became a worldwide force in both the fishing industry and in politics. He founded his tackle business as the Berkley Fly Company in 1937 while still in high school, as Depression era economics forced him to find ways to bolster the family income. Staring with fifty dollars of hard-earned paper route money for supplies, he took hair from the family dog Stubby and feathers from backyard chickens to craft flies to sell to local tackle shops.

While still in high school, he employed several of his fellow students in tying flies and manufacturing wire leaders and from those modest beginnings he grew the company exponentially until it became a global tackle behemoth.

After attending Iowa State University, Bedell served in the Army Air Corps from 1942 through 1945, when World War II ended. He returned home to Spirit Lake to start Berkley and Company, which mainly produced cable wire leaders. He created Steelon nylon-coated wire leaders, and that led to experimentation in extruding nylon monofilament fishing line. Berkley introduced the game-changing Trilene monofilament fishing line in 1959. His company began manufacturing fishing rods in the 1960s and soon expanded into international markets in the 1970s.

In 1964, Bedell was the first recipient of the National Small Businessman of the Year Award, which he received from President Lyndon B. Johnson on the White House steps.

In addition to his significant and long-lasting contributions to the fishing industry, Bedell also made a substantial mark on the political landscape. As a Democrat, he was elected as a U.S. Representative from Iowa in 1974 and served five terms in Congress. In 1986 he decided not to seek a sixth term after contracting Lyme Disease from a tick bite. Although he had never been a farmer, he was highly aware that much of his constituency was deeply concerned with issues related to farming, and he served as Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee.

“He embraced responsibility for the challenges to humanity from nuclear annihilation to climate change to disparity in affluence to the economic greed in medicine over the natural pathic solutions to human health,” Tom Bedell wrote in a social media post announcing his father’s death.

Even after leaving politics formally, Bedell continued to advocate in areas that interested him. In 1998, he founded the National Foundation for Alternative Medicine, which in 2009 was renamed the Foundation for Alternative and Integrative Medicine, to explore and work on behalf of therapies overlooked by mainstream medicine.

After Bedell went to Washington, his son, Tom Bedell, took over the company and led a major expansion into other areas of fishing tackle manufacturing. Certain products became household names and longstanding brands unto themselves, including the PowerBait line of soft plastics and FireLine braided superline. The company became Outdoor Technologies Group in 1988 and changed its name to Pure Fishing in 2000. Through several ownership changes, Pure Fishing has remained one of the most impactful, influential and globally popular umbrella brands with the fishing industry.

Bedell served as the President of the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturing Association and the Iowa Manufacturing Association, as well on the Board of Trustees of Morningside College, American University and Claremont School of Theology.

Bedell was preceded in death in 2017 by his wife, Elinor, whom he met at Iowa State. The couple had been married 73 years and had three children, Kenneth, Thomas and Joanne

Berkley Bedell was inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame in 2018 in ceremonies at the Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. At his induction, in which the nonagenarian walked to the stage alone and delivered an impassioned speech about the importance of protecting and preserving our sporting culture and venues, he challenged any audience member who’d caught a fish before him to identify themselves – none could do so. In addition to his membership in the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, he was also a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and the Iowa Business Hall of Fame.

Bedell died December 7, 2019, at age 98, in Naples, Florida.