THE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES WITH FOUR S

FOUR GENERATIONS WITH RECREATIONAL FISHING AS A HOBBY            

The Sundberg family's fishing traditions go back in time until 1891, when the first Sundberg in this story, was born in Mörlunda, Småland, Sweden. (S No 1).

Mr Sundberg was really a business man and provided goods of a greater range than the regular stores did at that time. However, the fishing interest was kept alive during the last years of the 19th Century, and in the 1900s the activities had increased so they acheived good experience in how to deal with crayfish catches. They cooked and cleaned the crayfish, and the crayfish tail meat was deal regularly sold at a price of 25 öre per liter to several intended purchasers, among them a district police superintendent. Fishing eventually came to include pike, eel, bream, roach and perch, which came to be a good addition to the Sundberg household. The tools used in the fishery were mostly home made. The very first crayfish cages were plaited from juniper twigs or wooden shingles.

The man in generation 2 (S 2), Berndt, was born in 1927 and his interest in crayfish was founded in his early years, when he for the first time as a four-year-old little boy attended an exciting crayfish catch. Berndt came, like his father, to work in business, while his spare time was devoted to fishing, and mainly to study crayfish life and living.

During the 1940s a large number of crayfish catching equipment and bait devices were tested and developed. Berndt has over the years been involved in organizing and starting fishing associations, from local to national level. In the town of Virserum he took the initiative to start the Virserum Angling Club together with a handful of other like-minded people. In a series of years Berndt was its chairman. Amateur Fishermen’s Association on a national level (Sw Amatörfiskarnas Riksförbund) was previously formed and became later Recreational Fishermen (Sw Fritidsfiskarnna). Kalmar County became a separate district with Berndt as its first chairman. During seven years Sundberg was the representative of Recreational Fishermen in the Fisheries Board of Sweden.

In the 1950s Berndt was busy with all-round fishing and the experience, which was won, resulted in the production of various fish baits and equipment. A business under the name HB BeSu in Virserum was started, with the assortment mainly in furniture and clothing, but included also a supply of fishing articles. Later Smålandsmjärden AB was started, with emphasis on crayfish catching equipment. Berndt Sundberg had for almost ten years been working on the development of an entirely new type of crayfish trap. 

1979 the result, the crayfish Trappy – in 2009 a 30-Year-Anniversary – was introduced in both  Swedish and foreign markets. Berndt now has children and grandchildren (S No 3 and S No 4) - with an interest in fishing - thus the four SSSS represent the 4 generations of Sundbergs.