We’ve written a lot about Jim Bagley and his “Better Baits” here at the Bass Fishing Archives in the past. Well, today in Bagley’s 1975 to 1984, we’re going to continue down that path with seven more ads you may or may not have seen back in the day. The ads cover a wide range of years, 10 to be exact, and several different lures.
The BROK’N B
First off the lead-in ad provides a rare look at the Bagley’s Brok’N B, a bait that was designed off the BB1 and BB2 body but fitted with a chunk of plastic worm ahead of the rear treble hook. Why this bait designed marketed is a funny story in itself.
Prior to Bagley getting into the squarebill crankbait market in 1973, one of his biggest baits was the plastic worm. Of course, he sold the Bang-O Lure starting in the early 1960s but by 1974 he realized that there was more business in the alphabet lure craze. Still, Bagley had a ton of plastics that weren’t selling. How to get rid of them? Put a chunk on the back of a BB1 or BB2 and sell it as the Brok’N B.
The bait didn’t sell too well and was only sold for a few years, making this bait in new condition in the box a rarity. If you find one, hold it with kid gloves. You might also want to insure it.
Muskie Baits
Next on the list are some muskie baits designed by Lee Sisson around the 1978/9 timeframe. Jim Bagley, always looking for another market, tasked Sisson with making a bait that would sell to the northern tier muskie and pike anglers. Sisson went to work and what he came up with was the Bang-O B and the B-Flat, both in 6- and 8-inch models.
The Bang-O B was a diving lure and when first produced was fitted with the Bagley Tuning Lip, as seen in the first ad. It had through-wire construction and was originally constructed out of balsa wood, like all the other baits.
Next was the B-Flat, which was considered a lipless “jerkbait” that would sink but would stay in the 2- to 3-foot zone when retrieved. The bait was weighted to sit horizontal in the water and walk while being worked back to the boat. It was essentially an underwater spook.
As mentioned above, in the early days, the both baits were made from balsa wood but in 1982, construction turned to hardwood.
And how did they work? Well, Lee Sisson decided on a whim to head north and try them the first time in a muskie tournament. The outcome of that event was Sisson won. He’d never caught a muskie before that event and ended up winning his first time out.
Small Fry Shad
Jim Bagley and Lee Sisson debuted the Small Fry series in 1979 and with that gave anglers one of his best baits of all time, the Small Fry Shad. Here are two ads for variations of the Small Fry Shad from 1980 and 1981, the diving and the Deep Lip.
These baits came in several colors but most popular were the foiled finished baits shown in the ads. It also came in a shallow runner and sizes from 2 3/8-inch to 5 inches in length.
Divin’ B III and Kill’r-B III
Without a doubt the Divin’ B II will go down as the most popular, fish-catchingest crankbait of all time for Bagley. The DBII was designed by Lee Sisson before he even set foot in Winter Haven, and before Jim Bagley knew who that painter kid from Louisiana was.
I have interviewed Lee Sisson a few times and never get tired of hearing this story.
Sisson was just finishing college at LSU and was fishing local events at the time. He knew if he could get a little deeper in the bayous of the delta, he’d be a winner. So Sisson started taking Bagley DBIIs and DBIIIs and tinkering with them. He pulled lips and inserted new ones, he added weight, and eventually had a winner. So much so he started selling his doctored Balsa Bs to his friends.
Then Jim Bagley heard about a kid in Louisiana that could paint like no other. On a business trip down to the Delta, Bagley arranged a meeting with Sisson and hired him on the spot. Two weeks later Sisson was in Winter Haven working his dream job.
About 30 days into his time at Bagley’s Better Baits, the phone rang. Jim Bagley answered the call, and it was John Fox on the other end wanting to speak with Lee. Bagley called for Lee to pick up the phone, but curiosity got to him, and he stayed on the line.
What did pro angler John Fox want with Lee?
Sisson gets on the line and Fox immediately asked, “When are you going to turn out the deep diving bait? I’m almost out and have some tournaments to fish.”
At that point Bagley pipped up and asked what bait Fox was asking about. By the end of the week, the DBII and DBIII were in production.
The original bait had a thin plexiglass lip that had a lead tuning tab in it. The bait worked like no other, got deep, and caught fish by the bucket full. The problem with it was the lips broke at the slightest knock. In 1980 Bagley changed the lip design from the thin plexiglass to a thicker Lexan. Gone were broken lips but the action had changed. The Divin’ B still caught fish, but nothing like its predecessor.
Bass’N Shad
The final ad we have today is Bagley’s response to the Rapala Shad Rap. This bait was thinner than the Small Fry and had a profile very close to the Shad Rap. While interviewing Lee Sisson earlier this year, we talked about this bait and the need for Bagley to come out with the bait to compete with Rapala.
Sisson recalled the 1982 ad campaign for the Shad Rap, noting that it was the only ad he’d ever seen that was just a blank page with a single bait on it. He couldn’t believe the money Rapala had paid for the two-page spread in Bassmaster and thought the folks at Rapala had gone mad. Little did he know that within a year, he’d be designing a bait to compete with it. Evidently Rapala hadn’t gone mad and knew what they had.
The Bass’N Shad lasted at least until the early 1990s when it was released from production. I never tried one and I can’t say I knew anyone who tried one. Why when there was the proven Shad Rap.
That’s about all I have for this round of Bagley’s ads. As we come across more, we’ll be sure to put them up. In the meantime, be waiting for tomorrow’s piece, and from the last section here, you might be able to guess what we’ll be posting.
