Balsa Lures

[MK49]

IMO, there's something about balsa, mostly for topwater, floating jerkbait and crankbaits. They are very buoyant, and most plastic baits can't do the same thing. Almost every time I use them, just because plastic hardbaits don't get bites, I catch fish. The reason why I don't use them all time is just because most of them are hand made, and no longer available I'm just afraid of losing them. Yeah, I don't mind you call me chicken, but think about it. If you have a Spook style hand made balsa lure and you have a regular $6 Heddon Zera Spook (plastic), which one would you mind losing?

Anyway, please leave a comment, if you have something to say about balsa.

[Slazmo]

Halco Australia who bought out Tilsan lures a while back just recently dropped the use of Balsa, the overall cost and the issue of buoyancy, were the main contributor to going to plastic across the line.

While Balsa is a nice throwback to the good old days it's use is becoming scarce in today's plastic world.

Plastic molding and the capacity to put countless shells together over CNC routing of the wood - money talks.

[SSS]

I like balsa squarebills, but they're always craking.

[Drakestar]

Balsa baits still have their place, but they also have obvious drawbacks: no translucent paint schemes, no rattling, paint cracks.

[godshippy]

I still have a few balsa lures, but had better success with plastic shell lures and just never really went back.

[MK49]

As I said in the 1st post, I love balsa lures, but there are a few exceptions. For example, the original Lucy Craft Sammy (wasn't called Sammy) was a hand made balsa lure by a Japanese guy. Sam Yamamoto or something. I guess Sammy was named after the original guy. I think Lucky Craft has some kind of contract with the guy, and made the plastic version with a few modifications. Then, years later, Lucky Craft made a balsa version of Sammy for a short while. I have all of them, and I like the plastic one the most.

That said, for the last few weeks, the best topwater lure for me is a balsa walking bait, made by someone in Tennessee. He's no longer in business. I have two that I bought about 20 to 25 years ago. I want to buy more, but I can't find them.

[bronzefly]

The Ichiban Balsa Pro has always been a good producer for me. I picked up a few many years back and still use a couple of them from time to time. Etters Custom Baits made some really great crank baits but alas, Jimmie has stopped making baits too. My favorite recent balsa bait is the CAST Fishing Co. OG. Both the new smaller 20G and the 30G have been far more productive than I would have imagined at first glance. It's a unique bait with a unique action and has a learning curve to use, but it has proven itself to me already.

[Drakestar]

As I said in the 1st post, I love balsa lures, but there is a few exceptions. For example, the original Lucy Craft Sammy (wasn't called Sammy) was a hand made balsa lure by a Japanese guy. Sam Yamamoto or something. I guess Sammy was named after the original guy. I think Lucky Craft has some kind of contract with the guy, and made the plastic version with a few modifications. Then, years later, Lucky Craft made a balsa version of Sammy for a short while. I have all of them, and I like the plastic one the most.

I knew that Seiji Kato (of Daiwa TD Minnow, Lucky Craft LV500/Pointer and finally Jackall fame) had popularized the Sammy, but googling this, Isao Yamaoka (who calls himself “Sam” or “Sum”) did indeed make the original Sammy out of balsa wood: https://www.ichibantackle.com/c/sammy/

Balsa is easy to work with. I remember shaving “stuff” out of balsa in high school art classes. The last commercial balsa bait I remember is Ott DeFoe’s garage bait (a flatside). They brought that to market. That’s on top of everything Rapalla has done for decades and that’s still available.

[jmb27]

The reason why I don't use them all time is just because most of them are hand made, and no longer available I'm just afraid of losing them. Yeah, I don't mind you call me chicken, but think about it.

Of course, a good lure retriever/knocker will pay for itself many times over. But yes, it's painful to lose a balsa lure that you cannot replace or at least not easily--I lost one that felt like it was darn near magic on some days while I have others in the same model, that one seemed to hunt just slightly better and that made all the difference on many days.

As @bronzefly and @Drakestar posted, the Ichiban Balsa Pro is a fantastic topwater lure, the original Sammy (more or less). Of course, it's Japanese name--the Dairitsu Explode Pencil is such a great name for a lure.

Black Label balsa has many lures that are replicas of some of the old Zoom WEC favorites, without the ebay price tags. It's my understanding that Black Label uses some of the same equipment that the late Ed Chambers used for the Zoom WEC's.

[MK49]

Balsa is easy to work with. I remember shaving “stuff” out of balsa in high school art classes. The last commercial balsa bait I remember is Ott DeFoe’s garage bait (a flatside). They brought that to market. That’s on top of everything Rapalla has done for decades and that’s still available.

Thanks for bringing back my childhood memory. I and my little brother tried to make lures with balsa. I was around 10yrs old, over 40yrs ago. I was satisfied with the shape of the bait, but I just couldn't paint it. It looked REALLY bad. I made a couple more with the same result. I just didn't have any idea (still, don't) how to paint/finish them. They just didn't look good at all. I just gave up.

Of course, Rapala was (still is?) known for lures made of balsa. My all time favorite was the floating jerkbait, F11. I caught my PB with it, when I was 21. I still use some of the Rapala lures that I bought in the 80s and the early 90s. In fact, I just lost a 35 years old Fat Rap crankbait on Sunday. It sucked to lose something that I owned for many years. My all time favorite crankbait is Rapala DT16. I think it's balsa. Fortunately, it's still available everywhere. So, I don't mind losing them.

[Smalleyez]

The #5 Shad Rap was and still is deadly!

[MK49]

The #5 Shad Rap was and still is deadly!

I still have some Shad Raps from the early 90s. I remember they weren't as good as the F11, the Original Floater, but I caught plenty of bass with them. I should try them again.

[MK49]

I found a new (to me) balsa topwater walking bait, PH Custom Walkin P. I just received it last week, have fished three times, and it caught more bass than any other baits that I used in the 3 trips. I'll have to buy some more, before they stop making it. It's really cool to find something good that's still in production, because I don't need to use my 20 years old favorite balsa waling lure, which is no longer available, as long as this new one keeps getting bites.

[MK49]

I knew that Seiji Kato (of Daiwa TD Minnow, Lucky Craft LV500/Pointer and finally Jackall fame) had popularized the Sammy, but googling this, Isao Yamaoka (who calls himself “Sam” or “Sum”) did indeed make the original Sammy out of balsa wood: https://www.ichibantackle.com/c/sammy/

You know what? Speaking of Seiji Kato, out of all the great lures he designed, my top two would be Lucky Craft S8 Popper, which have been great for the last 25years and Daiwa TD Pencil (I think it was designed by him), which I've been using for over 30 years.

For some reason, I don't like Jackall topwater baits.

[MK49]

I found a new (to me) balsa topwater walking bait, PH Custom Walkin P. I just received it last week, have fished three times, and it caught more bass than any other baits that I used in the 3 trips. I'll have to buy some more, before they stop making it. It's really cool to find something good that's still in production, because I don't need to use my 20 years old favorite balsa waling lure, which is no longer available, as long as this new one keeps getting bites.

Guess what happened this morning. After hooking a fish, the snap broke, and lost PH Custom Walkin P, which had worked very well in the last few week. I ordered another one, when I got home. I didn't like losing it, but at least, I didn't lose my 20yrs old walker that I can't get anymore.