Pro-Cure Bait Scents & Cures Case Study
Client: Pro-Cure Bait Scents & Cures | Location: Salem, Oregon | Year: 2026
Category: Fishing · Consumer Packaged Goods · Shopify
Scope: Full Shopify theme rebuild, brand system, product taxonomy, cornerstone content, interactive product finder
The Problem
Pro-Cure has been making real-bait scents and cures out of Salem, Oregon since 1984. Founder Phil Pirone built the brand around a simple wedge — they were the only major scent brand made from real, whole, fresh bait instead of lab chemistry. Forty-plus years in, that wedge still works. The website didn’t.
The store was running on a legacy Shopify Dawn build. Product pages were tiny. The catalog was 335 SKUs deep with no filtering hierarchy — a walleye angler couldn’t find the walleye products without scrolling through everything. Species collections existed but rendered as bare white grids with no visual signal. Retailer relationships (Bass Pro, Cabela’s, Walmart, Scheels, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Dick’s, Tackle Warehouse and a dozen more) were nowhere on the site. The About page mentioned the 1984 founding date but told none of the story. There was no way for a first-time visitor to figure out which of 335 bottles was right for their species and water.
For a brand with real heritage, a real wedge and a real retailer network, the site was doing none of that work.
The Solution
Modern Outdoor Media rebuilt the entire storefront on a new Shopify theme — Pro-Cure 2026 — built around a bone-and-teal cut-card brand system that reads like a modern outdoor brand instead of a mid-2010s ecommerce template.
Nine site sections, rebuilt from scratch:
- Homepage — brand hero, best-sellers row, inshore section, shop-by-species grid, three-pillars strip (real bait / made in the USA / proven results), origin story block, “Meet the Stack” of Pro-Cure ambassadors, Pro Picks curated by Keith Archer and Addicted Fishing, Field Reports link block, “Stocked Worldwide” retailer strip, an interactive stack-quiz callout, a Denis Isbister video, and a full brand footer
- Product taxonomy — 335 SKUs re-tagged across four axes (species, use case, format, feature), auto-populating 12 species collections through OR-rule Smart Collections. A salmon fisherman finds every salmon scent in the catalog on one page
- Product detail pages — brand PDP with cut-card gallery, “Works For” species chips pulled from tags, trust strip, “Stack this with…” cross-sells, a “Pair this bottle with a pro tip” callout linking each product to a matching Field Report, sticky mobile add-to-cart, and product schema JSON-LD for search
- About — nine-section brand story covering the 1984 origin, mission verbatim, three pillars, ambassador roster (Keith Archer / Addicted Fishing), retailer network, tradeshow presence, and a dealer sign-up path
- Contact — two-column brand layout with a full contact form (six-category “what’s this about” routing) plus a petrol teal info card
- FAQ — 14 real Q&As across four category tabs in a brand cut-card accordion
- Field Reports — the blog, rebranded as a content hub with six cornerstone articles (~14,300 words total, all cross-linked and internally optimized) covering brining bait, curing salmon eggs, best scent for salmon / steelhead / walleye
- Find Your Stack quiz (new) — a three-step interactive flow (species → water → stack recommendation) that adds three products to cart with a single click, live from the Shopify collections
The Result
Pro-Cure now has a storefront that finally matches the brand:
- Every one of 335 SKUs lands in the right species collection automatically through the tagging rules — no manual curation, and new products self-file the moment they get tagged
- The homepage does actual selling: best-sellers row + species navigation + retailer proof + a quiz that turns first-time visitors into three-product carts
- Retailer relationships are showcased on the homepage and About page — Bass Pro, Cabela’s, Walmart, Scheels, Sportsman’s Warehouse, Dick’s, Tackle Warehouse, BI-MART, Fisherman’s Warehouse, Fisherman’s Marine & Outdoor, Sportco, Bob’s Sporting Goods, Holiday Sports and Amazon
- The 1984 founding story, the “real bait vs. lab chemistry” wedge and the ambassador program (Keith Archer’s Ultimate Egg/Shrimp Cure line and the Addicted Fishing salmon/steelhead co-brand) all live on the site now
- Six cornerstone Field Reports (~14,300 words) plug the site into “best scent for [species]” search queries that were previously invisible to Pro-Cure
Before / After
Every page rebuilt, side by side. All screenshots captured at the same viewport, same URL, same time — the theme is the only variable.
Homepage
Before
After
Homepage — Before: dark hero, single tagline, cluttered stacked JPG blocks with no brand system. After: brand hero, best-sellers row, species grid, three-pillars strip, origin story, ambassador program, Field Reports, retailer strip, and an interactive stack quiz.
Scents Collection
Before
After
Scents Collection — Before: 335 SKUs dumped into a bare white grid with no filtering or hierarchy. After: brand-styled collection page with clear species navigation, sort/filter controls, and consistent product cards.
Salmon Species Collection
Before
After
Salmon Species Collection — Before: a bare white product grid with no visual signal that this is a salmon-specific page. After: a species-hero landing page that auto-populates every salmon SKU via smart-collection tagging rules.
Product Page — Trophy Walleye Super Gel
Before
After
Product Page — Trophy Walleye Super Gel — Before: a tiny product image, minimal copy, no cross-sell, no cross-species trust signals. After: a full brand PDP with cut-card gallery, “Works For” species chips, trust strip, “Stack this with…” cross-sells, and a matching Field Report callout.
About
Before
After
About — Before: the 1984 founding date was mentioned but none of the story, wedge or ambassador program was told. After: a nine-section brand story covering the origin, mission, three pillars, ambassador roster, retailer network, tradeshows and dealer sign-up.
FAQs
Before
After
FAQs — Before: no FAQ page at all, so common questions had to be answered one email at a time. After: 14 real Q&As across four category tabs in a brand cut-card accordion.
Contact
Before
After
Contact — Before: a stock form with no brand system and no routing beyond “message received”. After: a two-column brand layout with a six-category routing form and a petrol-teal info card.
Field Reports
Before
After
Field Reports — Before: the blog was buried in the footer with no cornerstone content and no SEO strategy. After: a rebranded content hub with six cornerstone articles (~14,300 words) targeting “best scent for [species]” search queries.
Find Your Stack Quiz (new)
After
Find Your Stack Quiz (new) — Before: did not exist. After: a three-step interactive flow (species → water → recommendation) that adds three products to cart with a single click, live from the Shopify collections.