Article by Larry Jock
Readers of the Coastal Fisherman have seen the results produced by Squidnation tackle for the past 11 years and we had an opportunity to interview founder Bill Pino, a resident of Tyaskin, MD (just west of Salisbury), to talk about the company’s past, present and future. It’s an interesting story about a successful local company and one that everyone will hopefully enjoy.
What year did you start Squidnation.com?
The idea started in June of 2004. The website went live in July 2005 and the company was officially incorporated on March 27, 2006
Why did you start Squidnation.com?
One day, I got outfished by the “Marli” and the “Marlin Magic” on the Washington Canyon lumps. They were using spreader bars. I had never used one. I went to buy a spreader bar at the store, and at the time they wanted like $200 for a shell squid bar. I almost had a heart attack. I got drunk that night and was searching the web for squids. I found a website overseas. Since I was drunk I called them around midnight. They answered. I asked them if they would sell to me. They said yes, but they had a $1,000 minimum order that had to be prepaid. So I paid. I blacked out that night and forgot I had done it. About a month later, I got a call from a Warehouse in Baltimore saying they had 37 boxes of merchandise for a Bill Pino. They said I had to go to US Customs and clear it through customs and pay the duty. I don't drink anymore!
How did you come up with the name Squidnation?
We were in the living room counting all the new squids. Something on TV came on about the famous Janet Jackson Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction. My son Nicholas, who was 12 years old at the time, asked who was Janet Jackson. I told him she was one of the Jacksons, sister of Michael Jackson. She had a famous album when I was growing up called Rhythm Nation. He said, “Dad, you should make a T-shirt with a girl and call the company Squidnation.” We named it Squidnation that night.
Was there a turning point where you knew Squidnation was going to make it and become a solid business almost 11 years later?
I think we had an idea from the first time we trolled the Rasta Bar. It really was a game changer for our fishing personally. On October 5th, we caught 4 bigeyes on a quadruple header and they all came on Rasta Bars. We took those pictures to the message forums and it went crazy. That is when I knew I could at least pay for my fishing with Squidnation profits. We really knew we had something after we used the Squidnation dredges on Donnie Moore and Jul Airey's “Predator” for an entire season. We ended up winning the private boat most marlin category for the Ocean City White Marlin Club. We edged out the “DA Sea” who were using mullet and ballyhoo dredges all season. We knew that at least we could compete with artificial dredges before, but now we knew we could compete against the best while solely using artificial dredges. Truthfully speaking though it sure helped to have Howard Lynch at the helm. He can really sniff out marlin in a big ocean. So the dredges were just a part of the equation. Donnie and Jul being excellent anglers didn't hurt either. It just all came together for that season. Nobody believed us that we were using Squid dredges. That was the funny part. All of us were getting calls from friends asking us what we were really using.
How did you get anglers to start using your squids? Was it a challenge?
I think the biggest thing that got us to succeed early was successful fishing, good friends, the internet and cooperative local retailers. Had our squids not worked I would never be allowed to use them on friend’s boats, but it seemed that everywhere we took them they worked. We always had to leave some behind. I also love photography, so I took tons of photos and made sure at least one Squidnation squid was in every picture. I splashed them all over the internet on forums like Sportfisherman.com, Tidalfish.com and Bass Barn. I also took out an ad in the Coastal Fisherman. I made sure to always be walking on the dock holding a rasta bar. It didn't matter if I was going to take the boat out to dinner with the family. I made sure I was always carrying a Rasta Bar to and from the boat so people would ask me about them. We have lots of friends in the Ocean City fishing community. For some reason, my friends didn't mind sharing information with others about the success of the Rasta Bars. They would even tell you at the Coastal Fisherman that they caught their tuna on Rasta Bars. So the bar got a lot of attention in the paper and on the chat forums. When we started marketing them to stores they had at least heard of them. Sunset Provisions said they would gladly take them in because people were asking for them. I remember Jimmy Krall stopping me in the parking lot to tell me that they sold 20 Rasta Bars that day and if they had 100 they would have sold 100. Keith Fraser at Alltackle was another retailer who understood the power of social media and he gladly accepted them in his store because he knew I had a big mouth and would do most of the marketing.
Where are your squids manufactured?
The squids are manufactured in China. But everything is assembled in the USA.
What material are they made from? Is it different from the material used by other squid manufacturers?
The orginal Squidnation squids were made of some stock material that we chose out of a catalog. Now they are made of a proprietary formula.
Did you have experience with getting things manufactured in China? How did you go about setting it up?
No I knew nothing about it. It is a challenge and a risk. I have been told by quite a few people that they tried and got burned. You have to prepay, you don't know the people, many don't speak English and there was a period of time that a lot of the small factories were going out of business, so you'd prepay and then never see any product. I got lucky. I received my first couple of orders, but they were small. I started getting nervous when the orders got big. So I went to China and met the manufacturer. When I met them, I knew I made a good decision. It was a family run operation. I had to laugh though. I am a big guy with a hearty appetite and love to try new foods. We went out to dinner every night with the boss and the entire family. The boss didn't speak any English and neither did his wife. They ordered their favorite dish, which was duck head stew. I tried it and loved it. I remember the boss saying something and everybody started laughing. I learned from my translator that he said “you will be a good, honest business partner because you ate with us. Not many of our customers will eat with us. The all bring granola bars and nuts and go home hungry.” Dining together is a big part of gaining their trust.
What separates Squidnation squids from the competition?
I think our exposure, our relentless testing and publicly documenting our results. Even the failures are documented, although not as diligently. We started this venture to pay for our fishing. The idea that it would completely support the family was never even a thought. I never sat in an office for long and not until recently really tried to build a company. Instead I went fishing as much as I could and to as many places as I could. I always walked the docks and always fished with different captains. I always left product behind, always handed out my personal phone number and to this day, I still answer every call personally if I am in town. I try to return every call. People remember you when they get a return call and you say I just got off the boat in Australia, but I saw that you called and wanted to make sure I returned the call. We end up talking about fishing and the country we are in and eventually get to the reason they called. Really, it’s doing what I would always want to be doing, fishing or talking about fishing.
Did you get any push-back from some of the large, national companies who are in the artificial squid business?
In the beginning we got a small push back. We were accused of copying their squids, but really our material was different. It was a more pliable squid. The squids were brilliantly colored. The shape was similar but not exact and our insert maulers were nothing like theirs so it was not really an issue. We started getting copied by some smaller companies but they were mostly local to a particular market and didn't last. It was kind of obvious that we hit a nerve when we excelled internationally and came out with the Flippy Floppy Thing. One company came out with Squirtnation and recently copied the Flippy Floppy Thing and called it the Floppy Flippy. It’s actually a bit of an honor to be copied. We try not to worry about those things. We just work (go fishing and talk about fishing) more and we have been blessed. We keep growing.
How many countries are Squidnation products sold in?
I thought it was 20, but my wife brought home a map of the world last week and we broke out the push pins and started dotted all the countries. It is 28, but we have shipped to almost 40. Some of the countries that were a bit of a surprise were Ireland, Dubai, Egypt, Seychelles, Japan and New Caledonia.
What was the first product introduced in the Squidnation line-up?
The Rasta Bar was the first popular product. I still use the original one sometimes. It’s in pretty bad shape, but it keeps catching so I don't want to change a thing. I should probably replace a couple of spots where there is just a float left.
What is your most popular item today?
That Flippy Floppy Thing has gone "viral". Man does it work. We were astounded by how well it worked and how fast it took off.
What is the most popular squid color?
Pink has overtaken Electric blue. For a while the Electric blue dredge was the most popular product.
How do you pick colors?
Captains, mates and anglers pick our colors. We try to talk to as many folks as we can. Some colors make it and some colors don't.
Can anglers get squids in custom colors?
Yes, if they are willing to wait and purchase enough. It’s usually about 100 squids. Bomboy Llanes from Hawaii called one day and asked for a natural brown squid. I told him we had The Natural. He wanted it to be ALL brown, not with clear tentacles. We made it and he called back and said it needs to be 10% darker. Really dude, 10%? But he was adamant. We made it 10% darker. A week after we got it to him he sent me a video of a 275 lb. yellowfin tuna airing out on his greenstick. He said, “That’s why ya needed it to be 10% darker, bro”. That fish was a beast!
How do you stay on top of current trends in size, shape and color?
Honestly we don't. We go fishing a lot and we get calls from captains and mates that say I bet this would work, can you try it? And we do. It either works or it doesn't. Not many folks used full body squids on spreader bars before us. No one sold squid dredges before us and the Flippy Floppy was a completely new idea to the industry. So we try to be innovative, but honestly they are not our innovations. They are a combination of requests from Captains, mates and anglers.
Have anglers starting using them in fisheries you didn’t consider when you first started out?
Sort of. The Fat Daddy squid was made for a group of New Jersey flounder fishermen. It’s very popular with them but it is now one of our top sellers because it is part of the Floppy and Dredge. We have a small group of fisherman who love to use our squids in Alaska for Ling and Halibut. Another small group of anglers use them deep dropping for grouper in the Gulf and some Atlantic guys use them for tilefish. I went out on the headboat, “Morning Star” one day and used my mini Fat Daddys tipped with squid strips. I was the only one on the boat using them and limited out on sea bass in half the time that anyone else did. That was pretty cool. My wife also makes earrings out of the mini fat daddy's. So I guess I never imagined we would be marketing the little squids to women at tournaments!
Do you have any tips on getting the most out of your Squidnation squids? I would suggest that people dry their squids in a dry place. Some guys store the electric blues in the freezer. They say it holds the color.
I know your squids have caught quite a few tournament-winning fish? What have been some of the biggest wins?
I think the first was a bluefin caught on the “Marlin Magic” by Capt. Marty Moran and my nephew, mate Anthony Pino. They caught it on a Squidnation Pink Tip Big Heavy. The funny thing is that Anthony was on the way to the rod to change it out for something else when it got hit. The “Tranquilo” team has been on a tear. They won $2.9 million in two tournaments in Cabo last year using our dredges and chains. We've also won a leg of the Los Suenos Triple Crown Series and came in 2nd in another. This year, Capt. Jon Duffie on the “Agitator” won the series and last year, Capt. John Bayliss won the event using some of our products. In North Carolina, the 2nd place Big Rock Blue Marlin was caught by Van Pierce. It mauled a blue and white Flippy Floppy teaser. I think the Alabama state record for bigeye was set on a pink Flippy Floppy. I like to try and keep track of these things but I surely don't know all of them. I think one of the coolest catches was right here in Ocean City on the “Dawg Haus” when a 268 lb. swordfish ate a rasta Flippy Floppy at the Washington lumps last summer.
After starting out with spreader bars, what made you move into the dredge market?
Sylvain Cote of the “Espadon” walked by our booth at the White Marlin Open. He said that natural colored squids would look great on a dredge, so I made one for him and it worked. The next season we pulled it all season on the “Predator” and finished with 103 white marlin, good enough for the Most Billfish Caught on a Private Boat award at the Ocean City Marlin Club and only second to the “Billfisher” who won for Most Billfish Caught on a Charter boat.
That Flippy Floppy Thing really took the fishing community by storm a couple of years ago. What is it and why is it so effective?
It’s a daisy chain with a bar going through it and two squids attached to the end of the bar. So really it’s a vertical spreader bar. It is effective because it truly depicts a scene that is a formula for success. It looks like a predatory fish crashing a small school of bait and the bait is showering out of the way. It is extremely effective.
The Big Heavy was another early winner. How did it get it’s name and how have anglers used this lure effectively? I know wahoo seem to really like it?
Jody Gay from North Carolina's Blue Water Candy makes it. He makes an identical product called the JAG 3. I asked him for permission to sell it as my lure so long as I gave him credit on the label. He said absolutely. He said what are you gonna call it. I said no idea, It’s big and heavy. Lets call it the Big Heavy. It stuck. It works all over the spread but best on a planer for wahoo and bluefin or way back on the long riggers for bluefin and Big Eyes.
Do you have any new products coming down the pipeline?
Tons. But they all don't make it on the shelves. That’s the fun part of my job. Testing out which ones work and which ones need help.
If I were a new boat owner looking to set-up an effective spread, what would you recommend?
Well it depends on the target. But I like a naked ballyhoo on the right flat and a pink mini heavy/ballyhoo combo on the left flat. Flippy Floppys on the shorts tipped with Squidnation Heavy Speed Machine on one side and maybe a white squid on the other. Medium Ballyhoo with a blue/white mini heavy on the left long, Pakula Sprocket probably a medium Brad J color on the right long and a black and purple Big Heavy on a horse ballyhoo way down the middle.
Do you see new products coming out to target inshore species like striped bass and bluefish? Would a slower troll hinder the effectiveness?
We are working on some flounder stuff and my brother has had good luck with chartreuse squids for rockfish. Maybe you could help with that endeavor.
Where do you see Squidnation heading in the next 5-10 years? What are your plans?
We are working on lots of stuff. Some really cool interactive marketing stuff. Some really cool dredge stuff - I mean really, really cool. I sure hope it works. We partnered with Pakula Australia, so we are now the exclusive US and Central American distributor of Pakula Lures and Products. Peter Pakula is the distributor for Squidnation products in Australia. That was a big win for both of our companies. At Squidnation, we learned quickly that we are not lure makers. That is an all-together different skill set so we partnered with the best so we could offer the best.
