It all started decades ago when Wes and Steve Campbell’s father was fishing near his grandfather’s gristmill. The hook got caught in the mill.
After releasing it, John W. Campbell carefully bent the hook back and even added a small kink to it.
That soon became John’s favorite, because few if any fish ever fell off the newly configured hook.
Years later while stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base, Campbell worked with early version IBM punch cards, which had to be sorted. Using the same technique he used to fashion his fishing hook years prior, he bent paperclips to help in sorting the cards.
Then in the spring of 1959, he again used the technique to avoid having fish fall off his hook.
He began to share his bent hooks with Air Force officers, and before long, a local tackle shop requested them.
By 1960, Tru-Turn Hook was incorporated.
Wes and Steve joined their dad, making the hooks in their home when they were just tall enough to sit at the dinner table by themselves.
“I remember sitting there with Mom and Dad at the dinner table packaging hooks when I was 8 years old,” Steve Campbell said.
It wasn’t long before Tru-Turn hooks were found in Walmart stores.
“I remember we had pizza boxes stacked to the ceiling filled with hook displays,” Steve’s brother Wes said.
In addition to Tru-Turn, the Campbell brothers added Daiichi, XPoint, StandOUT, Mr Crappie and Team Catfish hook brands to their line.
They purchased the Blakemore Lure Company in 2004 to add Road Runner and Real Magic products. Now, the Wetumpka-based company of 45 employees produces up to 2 million fishing lures and 10 million hooks a year.
“And we’re still a small fish in the big pond,” Wes said.
Maybe so, but there aren’t any “small fish” that can say their hooks are now in every military survival kit.
Given the turning action of the hook to ensure a solid catch, the U.S. military saw the Tru-Turn hook as a must-have for U.S. servicemen and women to have in their survival kits.
In addition to the U.S. Military’s stamp of approval, Bassmaster Magazine did a feature article in 1981 to test a certain number of hooks.
Anglers and scientists alike said Tru-Turn was the overwhelming favorite.
“Our sales went up from $80,000 to $1 million in five years,” Wes said.
Despite their success, the two remain humble even to this day, so humble that most people don’t know where their business is located in Wetumpka; it doesn’t even have a sign on the front of the building or on the mailbox.
Wes and Steve moved the company from Montgomery to Wetumpka in 1984.
“We wanted to get away from the hustle and bustle and could not turn down such a great deal where we are now,” Wes said.
Seven years after moving to Elmore County, Tru-Turn’s founder, John W. Campbell, passed away.
Even many years removed from the business, Wes and Steve’s father continues to influence the company.
“If Dad was alive today, he’d be sitting at his desk telling us we need to do better,” Wes said. “I think he’d be proud of what we’ve accomplished to grow the company and be a supporter in the community by donating hooks for children’s charities and fishing events.
“Yea, he’d be proud, but he’d also look to the future and tell us there are plenty of opportunities and challenges ahead.”
