Pakula

Pakula Lures have been designed and produced in Australia by Peter Pakula since 1969, when his first invention was a downrigger for trout fishing, and he crafted his first lure — the Witchdoctor — out of a block of wood. Based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Pakula built his company into a full-time business by 1987, and is widely regarded as Australia's best-known manufacturer of skirted big-game lures.

His lures first gained a reputation through Hawaiian shops in the early 1980s, and the brand's global breakthrough came at the 1988 Australian Bicentennial Tournament, where a Pakula Original Sprocket accounted for a then-Australian-record 540-pound blue marlin. Pakula lures went on to win the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament twice, and in 1997 Peter Pakula became the first lure manufacturer to make lures from super tough, super clear Polyurethane. He was inducted into the Australian Lure, Fly and Outdoors Expo Hall of Fame in 2018.

View the full history and identification guide for Pakula in our Digital Archive