Balsa Baits

I'm having a hard time justifying the money to buy a quality balsa CB. What makes balsa baits better?

bouyancy.

Tore them up one year during the spawn with a balsa.would hardly touch a 2.5 in the same areas

They are also not made from uniform material. Each bait will be more unique, some with more erratic action.

^^^ there is a way to tell which ones will hunt better just by comparing them in the package.

How do you do that? What do you look for?

Wooden baits of all kinds are FAr SUPERIOR in their actions over plastics. They normally have their won little oddities that will catch fish. They are easier to get out of ost situations than regular plastics, they are Very easy to fsh they catch a LOT of bass, and the list goes on and on. I have about 24 or 25 wooden baits that I protect for tournament days. Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

If you want something that hunts, pick up a black label balsa, the wreck.

Also, worth every penny. Theres a reason guys go to them when they need to get a bite.

Please explain

Please educate me as well. I look at them like old Wiggle Warts. Some of them are good and some of them are [censored]! I'd like to know the nuances between the baits in the packages as well so i quit wasting time and money! Just because a bait is made of balsa does not mean it will "hunt" nor does it make that particular bait good. Some of them aren't worth the high price they cost just because they are balsa. Typically Japanese produced balsa baits do not work as good as domestically produced baits either because they tend to try to produce perfection whereas the US baits have the irregularities that are desired in these baits.

There are several Facebook groups dedicated to wooden baits. Although they aren't as popular as a whole in Texas, there are regions of the country where they have a serious cult following such as East Tennessee and the Carolinas. You will hear the term "Tennessee Flat Sides" talked about a lot more than you will see guys talk about balsa squarebills. This is also the area where most of the really good balsa crankbaits are built by hand individually which makes them more expensive as well. These craftsmen were also some of the first to make the circuit board lips popular. I'm sure Thad Rains can chime in on the significance of this type of lip.

this ought to be good

I couldn’t pay 25$ for one. But I did buy a 13$ medium diver in a craw pattern.

I don't remember the name but I had a couple buddies that used to buy a particular brand that killed fish on Rayburn in pre spawn and spawn. The sides were foiled pattern.

To echo what others have said, balsa baits are more buoyant, have unique action, and come through wood cover better than most plastic baits. It is worth buying a couple to experiment. I recommend the Black Label baits because they cost a little less than some of the close competitors. I still prefer plastic baits on rip rap so I wouldn't buy them to try on the dam at Ray Roberts (with the exception of the Rapala Brats). I've never had a bait break on me but there is something about wood v. rock that I can't get over.

Manufacturing balsa baits is labor intensive and the duplicators are custom built to make the bodies. There are 40 to 50 something steps between a stick of wood to a finished bait. Balsa demand is high too because it's used in conjunction with fiberglass to make all of the windmill blades for wind farms.

One word of caution, wood baits are addicting. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Addicting lures...

https://www.outdoorlife.com/secret-world-custom-balsa-wood-crankbaits/

My In the 80's and 90's Bagley made a tin foil shad crank bait that was killer. It was the first bait to cost over $5 and they couldn't keep them on the shelf. They also made a top water balsa wood Bang o lure that was killer. Strangely they quit making both in the 90's.

All of my Balsa Wood baits are from the '70's and the '80's!

hit me up face to face at the Billy Dyson Memorial tournament if any of yall would like to discuss it. i'm not going to post it on a public forum out of respect to the ones that taught me.


what oughta be good frank?

You might want to visit Bagley's website ........ Bang-O-Lures are still available. I just bought some a couple of weeks ago.

Hair jig you are correct on Bagley still making the Bang o lure. My bad. I sure wish they would come back with the tin foil shad series in shallow, medium, and deep models.

The DB1 and DB2 are still mainstays in my box also.

Here is a pic of the old Bagleys Super Shallow Shad I found in a retired tackle box. We used to catch a ton of bass on these rippin them through the hydrilla in the 1980s on Fayette. Always had to change the hooks, & they didn't last very long, but man could they catch fish !

Google Bill Lowen, he has some great articles about them.

I can respect that. Wanting to keep proprietary info private. Kudos to you.

What were you anticipating frank?

Rapala DT series are also balsa and not too expensive

I was looking forward to your answer or whether you would share. That’s a pretty special skill.

Frank, are you that plain ignorant? Cant wait till the RedSkeeter memorial face to face???? Already explained myself. You sound like that big old Florida guy

Or just another off topic troll

I was surprised you said you could do that on a public forum. I was seriously trying to give you a compliment. I’m done man. No winning with you.

Agree, enjoy the off topic frank.

Explain exactly what I said

Geez man.... you'll never get it at your rate... sorry man, truth.

Enjoy your evening David

his name is Jon w/o an H

enjoy your evening Douglas

Some of my old Bagleys... I've got a bunch of the shad in a box somewhere that I still use when I need a bite.
The sunfish and baby bass patterns caught me a ton of bass back in the day.

That bream looks awesome ^^^

If you watch one of David Dudley’s latest YouTube’s, he claims that balsa isn’t better and that plastic are more consistent.

I have some I'll loan you BC, see if you like them well enough to spend the money. I throw them in exactly the same places I throw a spinnerbait when I think the fish have seen every spinnerbait under the sun. You can't buy a plastic crankbait that comes through brush like a balsa.

Thanks Ron, I’ll have to take you up on that soon.

Why? The bouyancy?

Yes, the speed and the way they back up when they rise.

THIS ^ ^ ^ ^

I remember years ago I saw a video of a bass that followed a Bagley balsa back to the boat several times without taking it.

Then when the bait was suddenly stopped and it backed up, the fish sucked it right in.

That made me a believer in balsa baits.

Plastic can't come close to the buoyancy of Balsa unless someone has filled some with Helium?

As Clark Rheem mentioned, there are some baits that were built with the circuit material several years ago. I liked the bounce off of these baits, but they soon became too birital to throw for long. The more they were fished, the weaker the bill got and I even threw several away, as the lure came loose from the bill. NOT something you want to happen. I do not know if I bought faulty baits or if the water/time/abuse syndrome just made them fail for me. Someone else may have had different luck with them, but I retired the when they started falling apart. Tjey DID have a very unique wobble and wiggle, but woulnd-t last form me HOpe this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Good article. i loved the old Balsa Alphabet series baits. First started buying them way back when I was a youngster. Back then, it was hard to justify spending hard earned allowance money on baits that ran a whopping 3-4 dollars.

I believe it's the old WEC E-1. I haven't tried any yet, but every other bait he makes has been lights out for me.

Wasn't this one was it?

This is one baits I bought. Black Label Ricochet

Good looking bait BC. It is almost levitating already lol.

Some of the best paint jobs ever back in the day. One of those is a plastic Rebel bait.
The Bang O Lure is one I repainted myself.

Wasn't this one was it?

[img]https://blacklabeltackle.com/wp-con...T-STD-CITRUS-SHAD-FOIL-RICSF-570x380.jpg[/
That looks good. What is the name of that one ?

That's a Black Label Ricochet, Citrus Shad foil. It will catch!

Thanks bigfishtx that is awesome looking bait.

I repped Bagley back in the early 90s and knew Jim Bagley. He was a good man.
When Squaw Creek opened you would get tired of catching bass on that little Bagley Bream.
I had sample rings of original baits and probably 100 or so various originals and just quit using them. Don’t know why.
Sold the sample rings for a pretty penny and gave almost all of the complete baits away.
Still use bang o lures quite a bit.

The Bagley's paint jobs aint what they used to be. Still not bad though. A lot of times one big fish will chip the paint off and ruin the buoyancy but worth it every time.
Here's another one I had to repaint. Still not as good as their old ones but hopefully more durable.

Here's a couple of old Poes 400 series cedar crank baits. Sent them over to Carlos at "Rivera Tackle". He repainted them for me and they are fish catch'in motor scooters.

+1

I was told the other day by someone that works with Black label that Cliff Pace bought the tooling for the old WEC Zoom cranks from the Chambers family recently. The Wreck is the old WEC but retails for like $10 less. I have not personally thrown it yet however I do think the Black label Tease prop bait is 100% legit and am I the process of getting rid of my other bream style prop baits like Brian's Bs.

I bought 4 Wrecks and 4 P1s from PH Custom Lures. I don't own an E1s so I'd have to defer to others on the similarities. They both seem have good action and hunt. Definitely a different action in the P1s and the Wrecks. Not good or bad, just different. I will fish these a lot this year.

Not Balsa but have you tried out Catching Concepts crankbaits? Made out of Redwood.

Balsa's are no good. Just go ahead and send any to me for proper disposal. If you have WEC's, bonus points for you. I'll like you at least 2x the regular balsa's.

MOST OF THE TIME, when you view the luure almost straigt on, you will notice the balance of the lure is just a TAD bit different, STRA;IGHTER, HARDER, SOFTER. It is just a LOOK that I cannot descdribe, but when you see it, you will try that bait out and find it works better than others. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE BALANCE OF THE LURE How does it sit in the package? Is there an added angle anywhere on it? It normally has a difference look,that is good and it is sleeker. It took me years to develop this skill. But you CAN make it work. Sorry about all the miss spelled words. I guess I was tired when typing it or whatever was happening. It SHOULD be corrected now.

Hope this helps. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

Catching concepts are good baits. Ive got a handful of them and just started fishing them. Ive caught fish on them every trip so far.