Musky market history in the making --- 1979 marked the beginning of a new age in the musky wire leader business when Joe Bucher 1st introduced his new concept of weaving stranded wire to attach components. And, for the very first time the highest quality components were utilized on both the swivel and the snap end of that wire leader. The result was the very first premium quality leader ever marketed commercially, Joe Bucher's Premium 7-Strand Wire Leader. It's original retail price was an astounding $2.00 each.
Prior to this time, inexperienced musky anglers were "use to" paying $ 0.25 for a wire leader, and had no idea what a real quality leader was really all about. Experienced anglers usually made their own or were forced to buy cheaply made, faulty construction wire leaders that featured crimped sleeves, split ringed swivels, flimsy snaps, and shiny finishes. These cheaply constructed leaders usually retailed for $0.25 to $0.50 a piece, and were often packaged by the dozen. Lacking any consistency in construction, nor containing the basic components necessary to effectively hunt big muskies, these weakly constructed leaders resulted in a lot of lost muskies due to some kind of leader component failure. This all changed when Bucher 1st marketed his premium wire leader line.
The original Premium 7-Strand Leader featured all low-glare, non-reflective black or bronze colored components such as: a solid welded ring Sampo ball bearing swivel, and a black Coastlock snap system, and bronze coated 7-strand wire. Reluctant sport shop owners stocked a few Premium 7-Strand Leaders initially but refused to believe that anyone would actually spend $2.00 for one single wire leader. Boy, were they wrong. Guides demanded them and insisted that their customers use them. Writers and speakers preached Joe Bucher's new wire leader as part of musky gospel, In no time at all, the high $, premium quality leader market was spawned. In short order, retailers became the biggest ally of the premium leader market since profits were also a premium.
"It was Joe Bucher, and Joe Bucher alone that started the premium wire leader business", states Jim Bennett, one time owner of Bennett's Sport Shop in Minocqua, Wisconsin. All of the other brands you now see on the market followed suit, but it was Joe who opened the door and made this business happen. I was one of his very 1st customers. I'll never forget it.
It didn't take long for the entire market to catch-on to the idea. Several other premium leader manufacturers quickly showed up on the scene. Eventually, an entire wall of premium leader products could be found in all of the best sporting goods stores throughout the midwest. Some guides were making their own leaders with top quality components, but no one offered them commercially. If you wanted a good wire leader, you had to make it yourself. That all changed when Joe Bucher came along.
Since Joe's introduction of the 1st premium quality wire leader product, more pioneering wire leader innovation has occurred such as: 1st in marketing a large 12/0 sized sucker hook/leader, 1st in offering a weighted hook sucker leader, 1st in offering a weighted casting leader, 1st in offering a full line of European style Quick Set Sucker Rigs, and more recently, 1st in offering a premium Pike Leader. All in all, fifteen different premium wire leader products are now available from the original premium wire leader manufacturer, Joe Bucher Tackle Company.