In 1973, Al Kalin met Patti Faulk and after several years of giving her fishing advice and then courting her, they married in 1976. After their fishing hobby “ran amuck,” as he put it, Al and Patti started a fishing lure manufacturing company together in their home that grew so large they had to move it to a warehouse at the feedlot. He was well known and respected in the tournament bass fishing industry and Kalin Lures had market penetration nationwide.