Weighing almost 26,000 pounds and measuring about 40 feet in length, the latest lure to come out of the Thompson-Pallister Bait Company here in Lacombe won't be suitable for any standard rod, but will instead be put on display at the Len Thompson Fish Pond to celebrate the companies 90th year in business.

The lure was crafted by Comet Welding in partnership with Echo Energy, the City of Lacombe, and the Lacombe Fish and Game Association, and revealed during a special sneak peek on Friday, May 24th, with special guests that included MP Blaine Calkins, and Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon.

The idea came from the President of Thompson-Pallister Bait Co. Brad Pallister, who's great grandfather Len Thompson invented the lure that's become a staple of angler's word wide.

Wanting to celebrate their 90th year in business, Pallister approached the guys at Comet Welding here in Lacombe with the idea, and as Comet General Manager Devon Hulsman says, the biggest challenge was trying to figure out how to manipulate steel to make the large, flat lure.

“There was lots of different aspects that we would have never considered. Being a one-off piece of art, you never know what you’re going to get yourself into. So it took some stages, we did a lot of bending and pushing and forming and stretching and cutting, and welding it all back together, that’s what it came to. [The most challenging part] was figuring out what the steel would actually do.”

Ryan Riopel was the lead welder on the project, and he says they faced some unique challenges on this project during the 8 months from conception to completion.

The welder, who also has Bachelors in Fine Arts, says he jumped at the chance to create this unique piece of art which combined two of his passions.

“Forming the spoon and keeping the shape was the hardest part. Just asking plated steel to do a lot of things it’s not supposed to do. And then once we had it formed, keeping it formed was quite challenging. Very much a team effort, at one point in time I think we had every single person in the shop standing on the spoon just to push the steel right to the right spot just to get that last tack.”

Len Thompson began selling his now world-famous lures in Saskatchewan back in 1929, and then moved to Lacombe in 58’, selling an estimated 55 million lures since.

The oversized 5 of diamonds will be evaluated by the Guinness Book of World Records this week to see if it qualifies as the world’s largest, competing with another lure located down in Florida.

It will be put on display this Saturday, June 1st, during the Kids Can Catch event at the Len Thompson Fish Pond.

( L-R- Comet General Manager Devon Hulsman, main journeyman welder behind this project Ryan Riopel, and owner Gaylord Hulsman)