"The invention-development field is loaded with con men, rip-off artists and downright crooks. At any given time, a number of them are being prosecuted for gross misrepresentation and fraud." -Invention-development company brochure.

So you invent miracle lures and must-have accessories. Wanna make a million, you say? Step right this way, there's a bridge in Brooklyn you simply must see.

Want us to look at your invention? Leave a card. We'll call you. Not that we mean to be brusk, but we've seen 'em all. Dispensers attached to lures that release scent products "only as needed." Combination hook remover, bottle opener, fish finder, barometer, scalers. Lures that set hooks for you. Hooks that remove fish for you. (I've been using those for years.) Tackle boxes that weigh 'em, scale 'em, debone 'em, and phone home. "Bassomatic" fish scalers. Lighted bobbers with back-up lighting systems. The "Aerodynamically Reusable Sinker." It goes on and on and on.

Our wobbling desks are overburdened with plans for everything from jigs that tie themselves on your line to a carrying case for tip-ups. Someone sent us blueprints for a tip-up that fires flares. Should you buy it or fireproof your ice house in case somebody else does?

We're on this invention-development house hit list, supplying us not only with fishing gadget "breakthroughs," but lots of other things. Unbelievable things. "Brain Bran," for instance, increases your IQ by "50 points per bowl." If you have any IQ to begin with, 4 bowls of Brain Bran and you're smarter than Einstein -- from Archie Comics to quantum physics before lunch, and regularity as a bonus.

It's hilarious until you realize someone invested a portion of his life and his life savings inventing, testing, patenting, and attempting to market these things. For every successful invention there are 200 tales of misery.

Apparently the medicine-show era just never died. P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute." Some companies are busy proving him right. And like the Dr. Cure Ails and their amazing snake oils of earlier times, they deserve a fond tar-and-feather farewell.

A few of these companies tried to tar and feather me, companies willing to take money for ideas already patented or ideas so incredibly backward they couldn't possibly succeed. Their insistence on having prospective clients check them with regulatory agencies like the Better Business Bureau made it hard to tell the bad guys from the truly rotten ones.

Even so, all is not doom and gloom for inventors. A modern fishing Edison pops up every so often. We mean to enlighten, not discourage. It's not our fault that the system creates a long, hard road between idea and profit.

If you have an idea you think will revolutionize fishing, go for it. Good ideas are worth time and effort. But even the brightest ideas won't survive a trip down the inventiondevelopment road for someone unaware of the pitfalls.

Take me for instance.

FRAUD
Worthwhile inventions reach the market through many doors. You can get a patent. You can get a trademark. Or you can skip the usual process and put all your time, effort, and money into production, sales, and distribution.

If you go the patent route, you start with a patent search, best accomplished with the help of a patent attorney. You can find your own or go through one of many invention development firms. You might find them advertising their services in the back pages of certain outdoor magazines: "Inventors: Free Information!"

Ideally, these firms would make money through careful screening. They would pick the best ideas, help inventors market them, and keep a small percentage of the royalties in perpetuity.

But the Practical Inventor's Handbook, by Orville Greene and Frank Durr with John Berseth, says that, "only a small part of a patent-promotion group's profits come from royalties. The mainstay of the businesses are fees received from inventors . . . be wary of those who fuel your fantasies."

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