I love my kvd 1.5s but I'm looking to purchase some balsa baits. I mainly fish murky shallower waters. I know of bagleys, ph customs and black lable so I'm looking at those. I would appreciate it if anyone can inform me what size and some good colors for these applications thank you! 

 

Rapala #6 Shad Rap - helsinki shad

 

Roger

 

  Good luck with your balsa lures.

 

  

 

  In general, I don't like them just for the reason illustrated above.      jj

I use a Black Canoe balsa which is a local builder. The guy isn't fast making baits, but he makes each one by hand in his garage and test every one to make sure it's right. His River Shad pattern just kills them for me when they're up shallow eating shad. No idea how many fish I've caught on this one bait, but it's a lot. Don't smack them on the water to clean grass off of them, and don't bang them into obstacles on the cast and they last just fine, at least these ones do.

Jawjacker j1, wec e1,  black label wreck, and super bee jr are the ones i throw the most as far as balsa squarebills go

If you want to dabble in the world of balsa I think the Black Labels are a great place to start. 

 Cliff Pace bought the old duplicators used to make the Wec's after Ed Chambers passed and his Wreck model is really good . For $18 bucks your not going to beat it.

 

 

For some reason, I just started to get the strong urge to try balsa so I grabbed a few Black Label Hicksters to start.

 

Now I’m staring at the 5-6 different square bill offerings from BL trying to determine which to try.  Analysis paralysis!

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to try some black label and ph custom balsas and take it from there. 

I like the old Bagleys Honey B's and balsa B's   . The problem with them though were they were not very sturdy and the bass and I {with poor casting}would tear them up rather quickly . Though not a square bill I still throw the Rapala Fat Raps considerably . 

On 1/14/2021 at 2:44 PM, rangerjockey said:

If you want to dabble in the world of balsa I think the Black Labels are a great place to start. 

 Cliff Pace bought the old duplicators used to make the Wec's after Ed Chambers passed and his Wreck model is really good . For $18 bucks your not going to beat it.

 

 

Didn't know Pace purchased Ed Chambers old machines.  I did read many years back that Lee Sisson built those duplicators for the WEC baits. I'll admit I am rarely throwing my WEC's now that they are so collectable.  John Hott is making WEC copies that are amazing....I'll post a pic shortly.

I have some Lee Sissions new in package .I opened one and tried it and didnt care for the wide , slow action much .

Big M crankbaits. If I throw Balsa they are it. 

The old Bagleys can be like old Wiggle Warts. People sell them for a reason and sometimes it's because they won't run..

 Dave's custom baits makes one that is as good as a good Bagley . They are 50 bucks a copy but it's going to run right.

 

 

Not a true square bill but I really like the rapala dt-4 in olive green shad.  

On 1/15/2021 at 9:17 AM, Chris at Tech said:

For some reason, I just started to get the strong urge to try balsa so I grabbed a few Black Label Hicksters to start.

 

Now I’m staring at the 5-6 different square bill offerings from BL trying to determine which to try.  Analysis paralysis!

Start and end /w his "Wreck" model. it isn't a direct copy of the WEC E1 but it's very close and the action is spot on. I absolutely hated black label up until last year when cliff really turned things around buying the duplicators and making new models. His baits are absolutely top notch now and on par /w the mutt, hickey, and E1 I throw on a regular basis. His Wreck, peanut, hickster, and potbelly are a steal at the price he sells them for. 

] 

My 1st square Bill was Bagley Balsa B’s and perfect running B’s in the Flea Market.

Tom

Take a look at the Rapala Brat. Balsa interior and plastic coated. Makes it a little more bullet proof. Best of both worlds. They have a 3’ and 6’ dive to models and about 15 color selections for $10.

Thank you all!

On 1/16/2021 at 10:01 AM, KP Duty said:

Didn't know Pace purchased Ed Chambers old machines.  I did read many years back that Lee Sisson built those duplicators for the WEC baits. I'll admit I am rarely throwing my WEC's now that they are so collectable.  John Hott is making WEC copies that are amazing....I'll post a pic shortly.

 

I'd love to see some pics. 

Here are some Hott baits (literally and metaphorically).

On 1/18/2021 at 2:55 PM, KP Duty said:

Here are some Hott baits (literally and metaphorically).

Wow those look awesome!