The birth of a balsa bait

<p>Meet Phil Hunt, the "PH" behind PH Custom Lures. We'll be taking a look at his shop and three-man operation to give you an idea of just how much labor goes into handmade balsa plugs. First we'll look at his shop then see the tools of the trade then get into the process.</p>

Meet Phil Hunt, the “PH” behind PH Custom Lures. We’ll be taking a look at his shop and three-man operation to give you an idea of just how much labor goes into handmade balsa plugs. First we’ll look at his shop then see the tools of the trade then get into the process.

In his shop at any one time you might see as many as several hundred balsa baits in various forms of completion. Here he’s filling a tank with primer while some partially finished baits dry on racks.

Hunt’s bodies and styles aren’t mere guesses at what might work in a hardbait. Much of his inventory of master plugs (templates, if you will) are based on old Bagley’s lures. But he didn’t rip them off. He bought all the masters and equipment from Lee Sisson, who designed many of the most popular Bagley’s baits, including the DB-3, the first-ever deep-diving crankbait.

This bench is where he spends most of his time whether it’s painting or dipping lures in sealer or primer.

This rack houses his most often-used paints.

Hunt’s go-to paints are high-end craft and modeling paints.

Here’s the racks that house all of his masters.

Hunt works closely with several Elite Series pros to get actions and colors just right. Each one is carefully cataloged.

Here are some bodies of his topwater walking bait, the Walkin’ P.

Hunt has actions and bodies dialed in even for specific bodies of water, like the Coosa River Special.

More bodies…

…and even more.

Below his bench are bulk gallon cans of paint.

Here are his paintbrushes, so to speak.

Ever wonder how handmade baits get firetiger or craw marks? These handy stencils.

Here’s a close-up of a stencil.

On to the machines. This drill press is for putting rear hook hanger holes in baits. Once they’re clamped in securely, the press is lowered making a precise hole, consistent from bait to bait.

These are more drill presses for adding belly weight holes to different lure types. There’s one more machine to show, but we’ll delve into that during the process portion of the gallery, which is next.

Now for the process. You’ll see from left to right how PH Custom Lures are made. They start as a piece of balsa or jelutung wood, then are carved, tumbled, sealed, painted and sealed a few more times, then after the hardware is added, they’re boxed up and shipped out.

Here are some boxes of balsa wood.

Caleb Jones, who represents one-third of Hunt’s workforce, mans the duplicator. There are less than ten of these machines in the country. It takes two sticks of balsa at a time to make two plugs at a time.

Jones makes an adjustment.

This is the master body. As the wheels on either side of the master contact it, they cut the balsa blocks on either side.

For example, this cutter blade is connected to one of the wheels on either side of the master. As the master wheels move out and in, so do the cutters. As it moves in, tiny bits of wood are taken off until the blade no longer contacts the new plug. It can spit out two plugs in just over a minute.

Although it doesn’t look like it, this thing makes quite a bit of racket. After they are cut from the duplicator, the bodies go into a cement mixer which sands and smooths them. There’s also a sealer in the mixer. All told, they can crank out 300 to 500 bodies a day depending on the length and fatness.

Here, Hunt takes one of the newly born plugs fresh out of the mixer, secures it in a vice and prepares to make a belly weight hole.

The precision of the drill press combined with the custom-made vices ensure a precise and consistent hole every time.

After the belly weights are added and hook hanger secured, they’re sealed again. PH Custom Lures are sealed a total of seven times. These have Build Coat on them. They dry and cure for two days before progressing any further.

After the Build Coat is cured, they’re ready for primer.

Here they are in primer. What comes after primer?

You got it, paint. Hunt works the airbrush over some crankbaits.

After the base colors are applied, they hit the racks to dry.

Once they’re dry, they’re ready for detail. Ever wonder how handmade baits get scales? Wonder no more.

Now Hunt darkens the backs to full black.

After they’ve been painted to Hunt’s satisfaction, a lip slot is cut and the baits await bills.

Here is the third man on Hunt’s team, Josh Ford.

Ford brushes the clear coat on every single PH Custom Lure.

He’s gotten quite good at it.

After Ford applies the clear coat, they go on these wheels to dry. The constant rotation ensures that the clear coat dries evenly all over the bait.

It’s like a rotisserie for plugs.

Before the lip slot of cut, a hole is drilled for the rear hook hanger.

Squarebills dry in egg cartons.

These deep divers are drying.

An assortment of baits await lips. The last step in the process is the most labor-intensive. Every single bait in a PH Custom Lures box is tested by Hunt himself i his pool. We don’t have any images because temperatures in the teens had it frozen over during the photo shoot. Each bait is guaranteed to run true, and the squarebills are guaranteed to hunt.

You might recognize the Crazy Ace from Bassmaster Magazine.

Hunt’s prop Bait, the Squeaky P.

<p>This wall is usually much more full, but Hunt had just shipped an order of baits to Tackle Warehouse. The next few slides showcase the handiwork of Hunt and his crew. Find a full inventory at <a href=

This wall is usually much more full, but Hunt had just shipped an order of baits to Tackle Warehouse. The next few slides showcase the handiwork of Hunt and his crew. Find a full inventory at phcustomlures.com

This is the Walkin’ P.

This is the Flat P, a flat-sided bait.

This is Hunt’s bread-and-butter, the Huntin’ P.

This is a squarebill from Hunt’s Old School line of baits. They retail for roughly $10. They’re not hand tuned and don’t have all the sealing that the PH line does, but they’re the same bodies.