A fishing line changed everything.
In the spring of 2022, the sea breeze in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, was still salty and wet.
The first fishing rod in the founder's home — with a red handle and a golden electric reel — has a very confident color scheme. The boy started fishing with his father at the age of six. That red rod with golden wheels was his earliest memory of the sea and also the starting point of his aesthetic deviation. The father is a seasoned fishing enthusiast and his main occupation is in the field of non-standard automation. He has an almost obsessive dedication to studying mechanics and circuits — that kind of dissatisfaction with "why is this thing not working well" is probably a shared family trait between the father and the son.
From a young age, the boy was unconsciously influenced by what he constantly saw and heard around him — as every gadget at home went crack-and-build — he took them apart, put them back together, took them apart again, and put them back again. Though many repairs succeeded, others ended in irreversible failure — the neighbor’s remote control, the home’s electric fan, and his aunt’s induction cooker — all of them once went through a “back-to-the-furnace-for-remaking” in his hands. But every single disassembly planted a seed in his heart: he had to know how everything worked — how each device operated, why it failed, and how it could be meaningfully improved.
Yet one persistent anomaly eluded explanation.
Every time Father returns from offshore fishing, that costly set of fishing reels always looks utterly haggard and lifeless — rusted, corroded, tangled with fishing lines, and the gears produce a harsh squeal worse than an old sewing machine. The boy feels pity. Equipment worth ten thousand yuan is being eaten away little by little by seawater. He asks his father why he does not maintain them, and Father sighs:
“Every time after fishing at sea, I have to clean. But each reel contains thousands of meters of fishing line. How can I get all of them out?”
This question, like a fishing hook, was firmly stuck in the boy's mind.He visited all the fishing supply stores in the market and finally found something called "Fishing Wheel Line Retractor".He visited every local tackle shop until identifying a niche product: the “Fishing line reel.” Its price was disproportionately high; its functionality, rudimentary.
“We cannot purchase an adequate solution—so we will build one,” he proposed to his father. After a moment of reflection, his father replied: “Agreed. I’ll draft the engineering schematics.”
That was the beginning of countless sleepless nights.
The father was responsible for the design drawings and the circuitry — his over two decades of experience in non-standard automation told him that this device was similar in principle to the winding structure on an assembly line, but with higher precision requirements. The founder was responsible for purchasing raw materials, assembling them by hand, and conducting repeated tests. No ready-made molds available? Then go for 3D printing. There is no ready-made solution? Just try one parameter at a time, and if it doesn't work, start over.
"Working around the clock" — It took a year to go from the first sketch to the first functional prototype.
That machine really doesn't look very attractive. There are even 3D-printed layer lines on the plastic casing, and the button arrangement is not very well thought out. Saying it's a "prototype" is already a great compliment when presenting it to others, but it works. The fishing line smoothly came out, and there was no need to keep shaking it in circles until your hands were sore; the fishing reel could finally be thoroughly cleaned, and the nightmare of seawater corrosion finally had its first decent solution.
The first generation of "electric fishing line reel" was born in the factory workshop of our own company in Zhuhai.
No formal launch event marked its debut—no champagne, no ribbon-cutting ceremony. The father and son looked at that ugly machine and smiled at each other: "All set."
A person who doesn't like fishing turned out to be the most steadfast supporter.
"I'm his girlfriend."
This sentence comes from a girl who doesn't like fishing and has little feeling for the sea. But she saw the light in his eyes — the look of gritted teeth when talking about the breakdown of the fishing boat, and the shining eyes when discussing the solution.
From the day she decided to create the product, she began to learn graphic design, packaging design, short video shooting and editing. Gearing ratio and braking force? She didn't understand. But she knew how to make the product look good and how to tell the story clearly. She was responsible for recruiting assembly workers, participating in research and development discussions, and posing probing questions from the "user perspective" - she transformed from an outsider to the most indispensable person in the team.
“I don’t fish—but I believe his work enhances the angling experience.”
Sometimes she herself finds this completely absurd: a person who is not a fishing enthusiast, still browsing the pages of fishing equipment and making optimizations for the fishing gear e-commerce website after 2 a.m. When asked about the reason, she thought for a moment and replied: "I think it's the belief of this job that attracts me - not because of the sea, but because of the persistence behind it."
LIEKUN: Pursue the Ultimate Catch
In 2023, GUANGDONG LIEKUN OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT CO., LTD. was officially established in Zhuhai.
"LIEKUN" —
"LIE" means pursuit, exploration, and the resolve to never settle for mediocrity;
"KUN" refers to the ancient giant beast described in the "Zhuangzi" (an ancient Chinese poem), "There is a fish in the boundless north, named Kun." It is also the fish that every angler dreams of chasing, always just one step away from being caught.
"LIEKUN" means to pursue that huge creature in one's heart.
It's not for conquest, but to get closer to that sea, to that fish, to the self that becomes clearer the longer one stays in the wind and waves.
Start with the product, then talk about the brand.
Many brands come up with the name first, and then create the product.
"LIEKUN" is exactly the opposite.
"First comes the product, then comes the brand." This is the fundamental principle of LIEKUN. It is also the core characteristic of our company - if something is not good to use, no matter what name we give it, it won't work.
After the first generation of electric fishing line reel was launched onto the market, the response was unexpectedly positive - it sold 800 units in just half a year. For a new brand with no advertising budget at all, this was already the best self-introduction possible.
But this is far from the end.
The team carefully analyzed every piece of user feedback: Could the structure be more stable? Could the operation be simpler? What functions still need to be optimized? - All the jokes and suggestions were thrown into the improvement lists for the second and third generations.
Nowadays, the total sales volume of the LIEKUN reel-winding machine series has exceeded 2,000 units. From 1 to 2,000, each unit represents a vote of trust placed in the wallet by a fishing enthusiast.
Later, the team tinkered with and developed smart fishing lures. During the research and development phase, prototypes were tossed into seas, rivers and all kinds of waters for repeated harsh testing. The test results turned out great: its fish-attracting effect is tangible, and it can withstand water pressure at a depth of 200 meters.
Compared with similar products on the market, its performance is improved by around 20% while the price is only half. These are not empty fancy slogans written on PPT slides, but achievements forged through over a year of trial and error, countless late nights working overtime, and piles upon piles of discarded defective parts.
What delights the team even more is that top Chinese fishing content creators have begun using LIEKUN products privately. We didn't spend a penny on promotion. It's simply because great gear cannot stay unnoticed.
Make fishing easier. We handle the difficult part.
As of now, LIEKUN has obtained several invention and design patents.
The electric fishing line reel can complete a roll of several hundred meters of fishing line in just 5 minutes - in the past, this task would take at least half an hour when done manually, and one would also have to endure additional surprises such as tangled lines and uneven tension.
"Make fishing easier and more enjoyable - we handle the difficult parts, and you enjoy the process."This is the promise of the LIEKUN brand, and it is the sole reason for the existence of this brand.
Tech geeks? - They are meticulous about every parameter, ranging from gear ratio to water resistance depth, from material strength to circuit stability.
Commoner Heroes? — They believe that good fishing equipment shouldn't be reserved for a select few. Enhance its performance and lower its price — it's not that complicated.
Children of Nature? — They come from the sea and will eventually return to the sea. Every time they see the fishing boats corroded by the sea water, it makes them even more determined: to create more durable and reliable products, reduce waste, and ensure that each piece of equipment can accompany the anglers for a longer time.
Because of love, I am meticulous.
Someone asked: Your family doesn't lack any means of livelihood or jobs, so why do you insist on making fishing gear?
The answer is so simplistic that it doesn't resemble a business plan at all:
Because of ardent passion.
The father has been engaged in non-standard automation all his life. Zhuhai has its own factories and production lines. Making fishing gear was never because there was no alternative, but because that boy, who started fishing at the age of six, had always had a strong desire in his heart: Fishing gear could definitely be made better.
LIEKUN is a passion that grows naturally in the industrial soil. There are no grand, elaborate stories behind it. It was simply the moment father and son stood grinning at an unsightly prototype in the workshop, knowing this cause was worth sticking to.
From the factory workshop in Zhuhai to the present situation where 2,000 winding machines are distributed all over the world; from a fishing line corroded by seawater to the independently developed products with multiple patents - the story of LIEKUN has just begun.
We handle all the tricky issues, letting you fully relish the joy of fishing.
— LIEKUN, an outdoor fishing brand founded in Zhuhai, Guangdong in 2023