Hello Christophe, could you first introduce yourself to our readers?
I've been fishing since I was very young, but with lures for the last twenty years or so. I started lure fishing for sea bass in Noirmoutier. First B freeze, staysee and sammy from lucky craft! And my first big bass was on a soft lure, a small blue GT Delalande, and I remember it like it was yesterday!
Then I became interested in other marine carnivores, such as pollack, meagre and pelagic, and then of course in exotic fishing, where my job at the time, in the spice trade, meant I could travel the world and go to Madagascar almost every year! I was lucky enough to have some really good fights there against GT jacks weighing over 50 kg! And above all, I was able to test all our equipment (lures, hooks, rings, etc.) before selling them on our website.
That's one of our particularities: we only sell products that we use, test and validate!
Then, after exotic fishing, I moved on to freshwater, pike, zander, perch... Where I'm in the midst of observing what people are looking for to customize their lures, sourcing it and offering it on our site.
We release over 50 new products a year!
How was Bricoleurre born?
I set up Bricoleurre in 2007, because I'd been making my own lures for a few years, and my fishing buddies, amazed by the results, were asking me more and more, "Can you get me some next time? Because they were imported from the USA, with exorbitant transport costs...
Then I wanted to do it properly, by officially importing the products with all the taxes and legal declarations and compositions, and we created the site with my friend Jean-Louis.
Then we started to spread the word about the concept, notably by taking part in trade shows, because we came up against a blockade from fishing magazines, which were threatened by some of their advertisers: if they talked about us, they'd stop advertising with them! They claimed we were going to "kill" the lure market in France!
15 years later, not only have we not killed any market (the lure market is doing well), we've also contributed to its development with many new products. The main brands that really develop products are all customers of ours. We also sponsor a large proportion of our competitors and guides. We take part in many successful competitions.
The main complaint levelled at us by certain brands was that we had opened consumers' eyes to the abusive prices of certain lures, and thus encouraged them to copy... For my part, like many customers, I continue to buy reasonably-priced lures in stores.
My partner Jean-Louis retired and was replaced by Manu, who now supports me and the dozen or so ambassadors we've recruited (and we're still looking for more, especially in freshwater!).
Over the past 15 years, we've become part of the French fishing landscape, to the point where we've even been copied by competitors!
And France isn't our only market, because we sell our products in 17 countries!
Bricoleurre offers a range of products to make lures. Can you tell us about them?
Our business is defined as "the development and marketing of materials and equipment for the manufacture and repair of decoys".
There are 4 main families
- Soft lures: moulds, plasticizers, colorants, etc.
- Lead heads and jigs: moulds, melting pots, lead paints, eyes, leaded hooks, etc.
- Hard lures: a range of more than 50 models to decorate in wood, metal and plastic (surface, bib, sinkers, vibrators, swimbaits, etc.), with all decoration materials.
- Essential accessories : everything you need to make all kinds of fixtures (steel braids, staples, broken and welded rings, clamps, etc.).
In addition, we market the lures of several well-known crafstmen who work with our products.
But what are the advantages of making your own lures?
There are many, but I see 5 main ones:
The first is the ability to play on each of a lure's characteristics:
- Size
- The weight
- The balance
- The shape
- The color
- Shine
- Density
- The texture
- The noise emitted
- Vibrations
- The scent
Just one example: a 12 cm lure has a rigidity adapted to a 15 gram lead head, for example. But if you put a 7-gram lead head on it, it won't swim (too stiff), or a 30-gram head, because it's too soft. With our concept, we can adapt the rigidity of a lure to the type of fishing practiced, because the reality is that you don't fish with the same weights in a reservoir and at sea with wind and 5 knots of current!
The second is ecological: all lures shredded by fish can be recycled by casting new lures. The same goes for damaged lead heads or hooks with rusty or dull prongs.
The third is economic: on average, costs are divided by 10! A 12 cm lure costs 0.15 ?... The same goes for lead heads or hard lures to decorate, sold for around ?2 when they cost ?20 or more in stores!
The fourth is emotional! What a joy to catch a fish with a lure you've created, dreamed up, imagined and made yourself! A real source of satisfaction, especially for young anglers. Not to mention the pleasure of fishing with a lure that others don't have!
The fifth is imagination: as soon as you start molding, casting and decorating, you're already fishing! You imagine the swim, the place, the species, as if you were already there! Even though you're standing at the back of your garage on a rainy winter's day.
How can Bricoleurre contribute to the protection of the environment?
Today, like most companies, we have a CSR approach.
In essence, our concept is a virtuous one, as it allows lures or lead heads to be remelted and recycled.
Lead is the least polluting of all heavy metals, because it is inert in water (it doesn't oxidize!). So it's a good idea to keep using it for as long as possible, as substitute products are either extremely polluting (nickel, zinc, mercury, etc.) or very energy-intensive, and therefore polluting to manufacture (tungsten has to be heated to 3400°C instead of 320°C for lead).
We recycle all our purchased product packaging to make cushioning for shipping cartons.
We package our products in single-material packaging for easy recycling.
We've been working for 10 years to develop a truly biodegradable recipe, not just plastic chains that can be split.
Any plans for Bricoleurre?
As the creator and leader of this "homemade" market, we've always been at the forefront of innovation, one step ahead of our competitors. So, yes, we've got lots of innovation projects, but we don't unveil them in advance to keep the surprise effect! And to be imitated less quickly...
