Thursday, July 20, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.
Are fish into conspicuous consumption?
Would you tempt one with a 3-pound, solid-gold fishing lure? Throw it into the sea? One covered with nearly 5,000 gemstones, most of them diamonds, and valued at $1 million?
Such a thing exists, and the guy who owns it swears he will go marlin fishing with it.
Why, in the name of Hemingway, why?
Why, for the publicity. Mac- Daddys Fishing Lures Inc. (We Put the Bling on Your String!) also sells the more affordable $11,000 gold, diamond- encrusted lures and actually affordable $20 goldplated fl y pins, all of which are on display at the American Sport Fishings convention today at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Let him know if you want to be one of his distributors. Or if youd like to just buy one, head on down to the jewelry department of the local Bass Pro shop.
But back to the big boy: Its modeled on a Hi5 lure, one that sells for about $30. Its about a foot long, counting the necklacelike, diamond-dripping chains and the large steel hooks (they may later be plated with gold).
The squid-esque head of the beast is white gold and about the size of a womans fist. About midline down its side, the lure shines with platinum and rose gold disks set in the shape of an eye. It then sports a skin of diamonds and rubies.
Its heavy. Feels heavier than 3 pounds. Maybe its the density. Maybe its the decadence, the queasy profl igacy of the thing. If the Romonovs or the Bourbons had fished, this is what they would have used.
Mac McBurney designed it and says hes going to throw it into the sea off of Cabo San Lucas in a fishing tournament in October. Hell drag it behind a 144-foot boat and hope it gets attacked by a mean-tempered fish, preferably one weighing more than 500 pounds. Hes going to hope he tied a good knot. And maybe 1,000-pound test line.
(In the meantime, hes hoping that Lloyds of London will insure it, at a premium to be negotiated.)
Even if he gets his lure back, what kind of shape will it be in after being towed through chop for a few hours? How many carats will remain stuck to it?
Thats the million-dollar question, McBurney says.
He says hell eventually have 25 of the million-dollar absurdities made, and he expects to sell them all. The first one, he says, already has a (undisclosed) buyer, one who was supposed to purchase it at the convention but begged off at the last minute for a (unspeci- fied) family emergency.
MacDaddys is sort of a family company. Theres Mac, who has spent 28 years designing jewelry. Hes a midsize tan man, a hyperactive salesman with twinkling blue eyes. Theres Teri Conrad, the company co-founder and Macs signifi cant other, who used to be in public relations. Shes a willowy woman who wears a lot of jewelry, including an $11,000 Diamond Lil lure around her neck she says shes caught three trout with it. Also manning the booth at the convention were John McBurney, Macs retired jeweler father, and Ken McBurney, Macs jeweler cousin.
Were a very close family, John McBurney says.
The bejeweled fishing lure business is all about family, Mac says. His father taught him to fish and imparted wisdom during many a piscine killing spree. He made his first golden lures for his father and his fathers friend.
But gold-and-diamond lures are also for the children, Mac says. Its to teach them to revere fishing, to spend time with their fathers.
Pater McBurney, John, the elderly raconteur, sees another use for the diamond-covered fl ashers. Mermaid bait, he says. Jewelry for the women, fishing for the men.
Brendan Buhler can be reached at 259-8817 or at [email protected].
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