Rippertail Outdoors LLC is a family owned and operated business located just outside Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 2007 by professional guide fisherman Larry Vaughn. While guiding on Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri, Larry was in need of a durable lure that still provided plenty of “minnow-like” action. The first Rippertail Lures were a solid body with a corrugated tapered tail poured right out of Larry’s garage for guiding customers and personal use. In 2010, after numerous requests, Larry decided to work with Gene Larew (creator of Bobby Garland) and make his lure in mass production and available to the public, distributing them to local Lake of the Ozarks bait shops! After a few subtle improvements, we have the sleek, effective, tangle-free Rippertail Lure we offer today!
In 2014, cousins Mike and Bryan purchased Rippertail Lures in an effort to take what Larry had started to the next level; offering Rippertail Lures nationwide, both online and through our many reputable dealers. Under their ownership, Rippertail Lures expanded their offerings to add five additional products that we’ve grown to know and love: Minna, Fat Boy, Triple Threat, Rigger, and Chunk. Mike and Bryan set the precedence to everything they did was with their customer’s best interest or better known, “with the fisherman in mind”. In 2019, the cousins’ lives took them in different directions and collectively decided to sell the business to John Nance of Blue Springs, Missouri. John added to the Rippertail product line by adding a Snagless appenditure to help users fish brushy areas without the trouble of snagging.
In 2022, John sold Rippertail Outdoors to Dustin Hall, Holden, Mo. Dustin and his family currently own and operate Rippertail today.
Rippertail baits are still produced with the finest soft-plastics packaged right here in the USA and will always keep it that way. Rippertail Lures holds a high regard for innovative and high-quality products, designed to make you a better angler and produce successful harvests time and time again. We know in today’s market our products must be ever evolving and constantly growing into what we know to be the best fishing lures for our anglers! As a company we humbly do our best to understand where we came from and more importantly where we are going, striving to do the right things for the right reasons both on and off the water! Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Rippertail Lures! We look forward to you using our products, as everything we do is with you, the fisherman, in mind.
