what company made excalibur fishing lures that were eventually bought by rapala?

Excalibur or Xcalibur?  They two different things entirely.

Back in the day these were like the JDM baits now......incredible finishes, super sticky hooks, just top of the line baits.    

 

The Bill Dance Fat Free Shad in the suspending and floating models are big fish magnets, the Spit N Image is still one of my favorite big fish topwaters.  

 

I'm pretty sure they were under Bomber back then.  

I thought Heddon made them

9 minutes ago, MAN said:

I thought Heddon made them

I think you are right. I think some were Jimmy Houston and Bill Dance models, also. 

Excalibur were Pradco, which includes Heddon, Bomber, Bandit, Rebel, YUM, Boo-yah, and many others. 

Now that we have that documentation, we can move on. XCalibur we're also Pradco, but their higher end line meant to compete with the likes of Spro or Lucky Craft. Some of the more popular baits are now in the Boo-Yah catalog. 

BTW, those Bill Dance topwaters are still killer for smallies. I still have two I take on every outing.  

Excalibur and Xcalibur were both under the parent company of Pradco.

 

Excalibur offered better finishes as well as upgraded Excalibur rotating treble hooks on baits from the Pradco family ie Bomber, Heddon, Cotton Cordell, etc. For instance you could buy a Fat Free Shad in either line, and the bait itself was the same. 

 

Xcalibur may have been the rebranded version of Excalibur to refresh the line. I'm not positive on that, but they offered higher end baits. The baits were exclusive to the Xcalibur line. For example, they made a walking topwater, but it wasn't the same as the spook, the body style looked more like a LC Sammy. The two most popular baits in the line were the XCS squarebills and the XR lipless crankbaits. Both have been brought back under the Booyah brand. 

2 hours ago, WIGuide said:

Excalibur and Xcalibur were both under the parent company of Pradco.

 

Excalibur offered better finishes as well as upgraded Excalibur rotating treble hooks on baits from the Pradco family ie Bomber, Heddon, Cotton Cordell, etc. For instance you could buy a Fat Free Shad in either line, and the bait itself was the same. 

 

Xcalibur may have been the rebranded version of Excalibur to refresh the line. I'm not positive on that, but they offered higher end baits. The baits were exclusive to the Xcalibur line. For example, they made a walking topwater, but it wasn't the same as the spook, the body style looked more like a LC Sammy. The two most popular baits in the line were the XCS squarebills and the XR lipless crankbaits. Both have been brought back under the Booyah brand. 

It's called a spit n image and the new Heddon ones are no where near as good. The o.g. spit n image is fire.

On 4/28/2023 at 5:43 PM, JediAmoeba said:

It's called a spit n image and the new Heddon ones are no where near as good. The o.g. spit n image is fire.

I was referring to the Xj4 Jimmy

Always liked Xcalibur lures, they work and ya the Jimmy top water was a Jimmy Houston lure.

I have always liked the Excalibur lures. I have an original Spin N imagine I take with me all the time. I can’t say it’s much different than the new spot n imagine but I seem to have more confidence in it.

 

I like the old fat free shad and the new fat free fingerlings and guppy too. I don’t have any more of the old ones.

On 4/26/2023 at 6:44 PM, Tom Orr said:

I think you are right. I think some were Jimmy Houston and Bill Dance models, also. 

I've got a few of the Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston signed ones in my boxes.