Southern Outdoors America was founded in May of 2003, however, the concept behind The Longshank Spinnerbait began several decades earlier. Frank E. Smith was a devoted husband and father of three sons. He was also master lure maker and, despite being a simple man, a very deep and innovative thinker. Working his garden, fishing, and eating a mess of fried squirrel (with biscuits and gravy) from time to time were truly his heaven on earth. Over the years he had developed several different baits and would usually make them for the family to use but, from time to time, he would sell a few to help pay for the materials to make them.

As a little kid, I remember pulling a chair up next to him and was just in awe of how he could take some wire, lead, paint, and a few hooks to create, in my opinion, what was literally a piece of art! He would always let me sit close and watch him make the baits, often showing his Grandson the little "secrets" along the way. It was about 50 years ago, in a little bait shack up on the hill behind his house, that Frank E. Smith redesigned one of his homemade spinnerbaits. By doing so, he created one of the simplest, yet incredibly effective changes, that I have ever seen on a spinnerbait. After several years of strictly making them for the family, word started getting around about "Daddy Frank's" spinnerbaits and, by the early 1970's, he started getting calls from tournament fishermen, local bait shops and even the casual weekend angler.

Things started getting pretty hectic for him, and he was getting tons of calls for his spinnerbaits. But he was a down to Earth person, with simple needs. Frank E. Smith was not a businessman, nor did he have any desire to be. As a matter of fact, all of the attention and phone calls he was getting "took too much time away from the important things, " he said. I can only imagine that what he meant was his garden, fishing, and those fried squirrels! It was for this reason that he stopped making the baits to sell, and only made them for us to use.

Grandpa kept us well supplied with these particular spinnerbaits, later adding a buzzbait, until literally the day he died back in 1991. Soon the baits were gone and, for years after, the idea he had was lost as well. The old shack became weathered and dusty, but everything remained just the way he left it.

It was during a trip to their old home place in 2001 that the tradition was reborn. Walking back into that little bait shack up on the hill, it became clear to me that it was time to share "Daddy Frank's" creation with the rest of the world. The Longshank Spinnerbaits are built just like Grandpa used to make them and even he would have been proud of their quality. Things have changed a lot since those days, but our dedication to carry on the tradition that began over five decades ago remains the same. We appreciate the opportunity to share "Daddy Frank's" legacy with you.