Lessons in Success from a Christian Businessman and Angler

Al and Ron Lindner – source: target walleye

Al and Ron Lindner have been among some of the most noted names in the angling or freshwater fishing world, and deservedly so, as not only where they masters of their chosen craft, but were inventors, businessmen and marketers that drew back the curtain on the secrets of success in the industry, building a media empire in the process.

For them it all started with becoming expert fisherman, and from there they built a fishing tackle company, launched the In Fisherman magazine, and finally, they started a TV show, leverage their prior success to build the media empire I mentioned.

What’s significant about this is both Al and his older brother Ron became Christians while building out the business, and that led them to many changes that included applying the Bible to the business and their lives in general.

Al Lindner is one of the few Christians I know of that went through every stage of his chosen discipline and mastered it. Once he became a believer, he worked on applying the Bible to all areas of his business, and was a major figure and influence in developing laws associated with freshwater fishing. Those included laws related to protecting fish when they spawned, to size limits on specific lakes that had heavy fishing pressure; that was related to ensuring the big females were released and the smaller males used for home cooking. The purpose was to maintain continuity of the different species within the lakes, reservoirs or rivers.

He learned his craft to the point he is considered by many as the best all-around fisherman that has ever lived; meaning he could successfully catch numerous species of fish in different bodies of water under various weather conditions.

Once he was highly skilled in his chosen field, he launched a fishing tackle company, started a popular fishing magazine called In-Fisherman, and eventually leveraged that into a television show and media empire. He was so good at what he did that he competed in the Bassmaster Classic for a few years, and one year he won it all.

Of interest is he was willing to display his faith by including a cross in the visuals of his TV show at times, and in the latter years he had a short talk after the airing of the fishing portion of the show about something from the Bible.

I think it was at the age of 71 that he launched a new career called Angling Edge.

Not only was he very accomplished in what he did, he was also a great teacher and communicator. He was the public face of the company, and his love for fishing shown through in a natural way that made him an extraordinary marketer as well.

The point of all of this is this is an area of life where a man of God became excellent, and in some cases, grudgingly respected after the news got out he became a Christian. He is an example of a Christian applying his faith and the Bible to the area of life he chose to work in.

I think many people believing in the victory of Jesus Christ in all areas of life struggle to envision how it looks outside of the usual Christian works of sharing the faith, writing doctrinal books, or building churches.

He may not be aware of the terminology used on this website or that there are people dedicated to a similar vision of competence, influence and victory in all areas of life. Even so, here’s an example of someone that successfully navigated the waters and has had an impact on his chosen field that will last long past his time on this earth.

Did he have a weakness? Sure. I talked to a former CEO of the company that was brought in for the business side of things when it was struggling. Al was more of a doer, teacher, and marketer, but not as inclined to engage in the daily operations of the business. And it showed.

That was important because it means he was willing to admit his limitations and bring in someone that knew how to run the business side of things. I think Al could, to a degree, even do that, but his many days fishing on bodies of water for the TV show, and his marketing appearances became too much when he realized he needed to spend more time at home.

Anyway, this is one of the few practical examples I know of concerning a man of God successfully applying God’s word to his chosen field, and becoming one of the foundational men in unveiling the secrets to successfully catching fish, influencing fisherman to be responsible in what they keep, and finally, in being a major influence in the laws that were incorporated for the purpose of protecting the fisheries.

Here is a man that accomplished all of that in the time allotted him on the earth.

The video is a short clip where he talks about applying the Bible to business.

In the past I’ve thought about writing Al’s story as encapsulated above. Is this something some of you think would be of interest? This isn’t an advertisement. Even if I did it it probably wouldn’t be for several years.

My main concern would be to possibly contact Al and see if he would be willing to fill in some of the blanks to give a more complete and detailed picture of his struggles and victories.

If you want to pursue some of that straight from their mouths, Al and Ron wrote Reflections at First Light: A Fisherman’s Devotional. Don’t misunderstand what the book is about. While it labels itself as a devotional, in fact it is probably more of a autobiography, as it reveals a lot of what the brothers went through in their journey through life.