The man who developed Banjo Minnow, Wayne Hockmeyer, has always loved the outdoors. He developed his love for fishing and hunting as a boy during summers spent in the mountains of western Maine.

In the late 70s, Hockmeyer founded Northern Outdoors, a company that provided guided outdoor adventures in Maine. Over the next 30 years the company became one of the largest and best-known wilderness outfitters in the world.

Hockmeyer began entering tournament bass fishing contests in Maine and Eastern Canada in the early 90s. Looking for an edge against other competitors, he began experimenting with a new concept for a fishing lure, a lure that looked exactly like a real minnow, swam like a real minnow and died with the spastic action of a real minnow. The final creation was the Banjo Minnow, that led to his great success as a winning tournament fisherman and eventually to a very successful world-wide TV infomercial.