The family owned company (TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group) kicked off the promotion with a huge birthday cake at the ICAST tackle show.

 While the Tru-Turn Hook was invented in 1959 by John Campbell, it wasn’t incorporated until 1960. Two of Campbell’s sons Wes and Steve still run the company today.

 About the promotion…

An angler simply purchases up to five packs of Tru-Turn hooks and visits the special website (www.truturn50th.com ) for the coupon. The angler prints the completed coupon and returns it with the receipt(s) and the UPC codes via U.S. Mail. Tru-Turn will send up to five packs of hooks, free. That’s up to $10.00 worth of hooks!

“This is a no bull promotion. The angler doesn’t have to wait for specially marked packages to hit the shelves. We really want anglers to know how much we appreciate their support these past 50-years.”

-Steve Campbell, VP Tru-Turn Hooks

The Tru-Turn story…

John W. Campbell was born the son of an Alabama sharecropper, 1914.

He often fished near his grandfather’s gristmill as a child. After getting his hook hung in the mill; he carefully bent the hook back. Even though this hook had a kink in it, it was his favorite.

Years later; stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base, he worked with the then infant computers. These computers used IBM punch cards that had to be sorted and John devised a bent paperclip to sort them faster.

You tend to “fiddle” with things on your desk and John noticed the bent clips rotated towards pressure. It was these bent paperclips that led to the invention of the Tru-Turn hook.

In spring of 1959, while fishing a south Montgomery pond he hooked a nice fish. As it neared the boat, the fish made a final effort and got away. John began to think and the idea struck him. So he bent his hook with a bend that was perpendicular to the point. It rotated towards pressure, just like his paperclips and that favorite hook he used as a young boy. After more extensive testing on Lake Martin, John knew he had a great hook. 

He began bending hooks for Air Force Generals, Majors, and Corporals. Then a local tackle shop wanted them, then two, then a distributor wanted the “bent” hook and the Tru-Turn hook was born. “Tru-Turn Hooks” was incorporated in 1960.

John left this world for better fishing waters in 1991. But millions of his hooks are catching fish the world over.

In addition to Tru-Turn; John’s sons Wes and Steve added the Daiichi, XPoint, StandOUT, Mr Crappie and Team Catfish hook brands. The Blakemore Lure Company was purchased in 2004 adding the famous Road Runner and Real Magic products to the line up.

Today; the TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group is still a family business that ships great fishing products all over the world. The Campbell’s haven’t forgotten where they started. The “TTI” portion of the name stands for “Tru-Turn Incorporated”.