Addilures, a small South Carolina company made up of anglers (that is, people who fish) and engineers with a background in wind energy production, have developed and launched a new kind of fishing lure (the little fish-shaped bait designed to attract the fish’s attention) by using 3D printing technology. 3DP has enabled the company to create a custom, niche lure market for both saltwater and freshwater applications while also opening up new forms of “jets” cavitation technology to mainstream freshwater lures.
The Jet action lure will use Addilures’ proprietary Superhydrophobic materials and superior biomimetics. The proposition is that fish will see and hear the unique wake signature and “waggle” of the Addilures baits, this is because 3D printing allows unique flow contours and ventures to be produced that cannot be easily (if at all) achieved with injection moulding manufacturing techniques. What this basically means is that, just like humans with cloned statuettes, fish are also attracted to 3D printed replicas of themselves. In fact quite a few popular fishing “sayings” emphasize that the two “beings” at each end of the fishing line are not all that different after all.
I have never been a fishing person personally, although I love to grill it, but I know from friends that are keen anglers that there are few things in life that they enjoy more than a day of recreational fishing. Many people feel this way; so many, in fact, that it is estimated that US anglers are generating over $100 billion (that’s roughly 30 times the current size of the global 3D printing industry) in economic impact and creating 800,000 jobs. If 3D printed lures grow to represent 2% of that, it translates to $2 billion: that is quite a growth potential for Addilures. If their Kickstarter campaign allowed for direct investment, I would definitely go for it.
