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Reelin' in the cheers

It’s a proven fact fish are attracted to particular colours, so what do you do if you run a home-based venture turning out one-of-a-kind, hand-painted fishing lures, and it just so happens that you’re colour blind?

Civil engineering technologist turns creative bait-paint side hustle into successful full-time haul

Winnipeg Free Press ·
Mike Harris, owner of Element Custom Baits, works on his fishing lures in his basement workshop at his home in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Utilizing his artistic chops, Harris paints each lure using a compressor and airbrush kit he bought at a local hardware store. (John Woods/Winnipeg Free Press)

It's a proven fact fish are attracted to particular colours, so what do you do if you run a home-based venture turning out one-of-a-kind, hand-painted fishing lures, and it just so happens that you're colour blind?

That was one of the challenges facing Mike Harris four years ago, when the longtime fishing enthusiast founded Element Custom Baits in a downstairs corner of the Transcona abode he shares with his wife Kelsey and, as of May 13, their newborn son Kiptyn.

To read more on this story from the Winnipeg Free Press, click here.

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