Around 1936, Finnish angler Lauri Rapala created a lure that resembled a wobbling minnow, after noticing that fish always went after erratically swimming minnows. A few American fisherman and distributors got their hands on some Rapala lures around 1960, and U.S. demand surged. Later in the 1960s, Rapala began making fishing and filet knives, and in the 1970s, saltwater lures.