Two Legends, One Direction: Livingston Lures Builds Around Clunn and Rago

Rick Clunn and Jerry Rago are not names you attach to a lure package just to make it look better on a retail peg. They represent two very different but equally important sides of modern bass fishing. Clunn represents tournament history, mental discipline, and a lifetime of understanding what makes bass react. Rago represents West Coast innovation, big bait thinking, and the kind of lure design that has changed how anglers approach pressured fish.

Rick Clunn is undeniably one of bass fishing’s true legends, and for West Coast bass anglers, Jerry Rago holds that same kind of weight. That is why their connection to Livingston Lures matters. This is not a nostalgia play. It is not about dusting off old names and hoping anglers remember. It is about putting proven fishing minds back into the product development process at a time when lure companies need more than paint jobs and recycled shapes.

Clunn’s relationship with Livingston has always made sense because Rick has never looked at fishing as a simple game of casting and retrieving. He has spent his career studying behavior, rhythm, sound, pressure, timing, and the mental side of angling. Before becoming one of the most accomplished professional bass anglers of all time, he worked as a computer programmer. That background helps explain why a partnership with a technology-minded lure company like Livingston was not random. It was natural.

Livingston’s EBS™ technology aligns with Clunn’s analytical approach. Electronic Baitfish Sound was built around the idea that sound is not just noise. It is part of the underwater environment. Bass do not live in a silent world. They feel, hear, track, and react to vibration and biological sound. For an angler like Clunn, who built a career around understanding the full picture of what causes fish to strike, that concept fits.

The Rick Clunn Collection is not about adding another signature series to a crowded market. It is about connecting one of the most thoughtful anglers in bass fishing history with a lure company built around a different kind of trigger. Clunn brings credibility because he has earned it over decades. Livingston brings a platform that allows those ideas to show up in a physical product.

Then there is Jerry Rago.

Rago’s return to Livingston is significant for a different reason. He is one of the most respected lure designers in the industry, especially among anglers who understand the influence of West Coast bait design. His work helped shape some of Livingston’s most successful bass products, including the Howeller Series, Walking Boss Series, and Deep Impact Series. Those lures did not just sit in tackle boxes. They contributed to real tournament success, including wins at the Bassmaster Classic and across Bassmaster Elite Series and Open competition.

Rago’s strength has always been his ability to see what a bait can become before the market knows it needs it. That is what separates a true lure designer from someone who simply changes a profile or adds a new color. Rago understands shape, action, balance, and attitude. He understands how a bait should look in the water, not just on a shelf.

That skill matters even more in today’s fishing market, where anglers are more educated, fish are more pressured, and forward-facing sonar has made lure behavior impossible to fake. His return brings decades of hands-on design experience back into Livingston’s development team. That kind of experience cannot be replaced by trend watching. It comes from years of testing, failing, adjusting, and learning how fish respond in real conditions.

Together, Clunn and Rago give Livingston something rare. One brings the mind of a champion who has spent a lifetime decoding bass behavior. The other brings the eye and hands of a designer who has spent a lifetime building tools that make fish react. One is rooted in tournament history. The other is rooted in design innovation. Both are rooted in results.

For retailers, that combination matters because it gives Livingston a stronger story at the counter. These are not anonymous lures built around generic claims. These are products connected to people who have shaped the sport. For anglers, it matters because the baits carry more than a name. They carry the influence of people who understand why fish bite.

The fishing industry does not need more empty hype. It needs products with a reason to exist. It needs lures built from real experience, real testing, and real fishing knowledge.

That is what makes the Clunn and Rago connection important.

Not for the likes. Not for the reposts. Not for another marketing campaign.

For the water.