Vintage Bagley Lure Collections

    These Bagley salesman sample rings span five decades; from the mid 1960's, when production began in Winter Haven Florida, to the mid 2000's, when production had been moved to the Dominican Republic. True salesman samples are actually pretty hard to come by. Although the Prizm line of baits were made in the Dominican Republic, their design and intial production originated in Winter Haven.

    Bill Whitesell has acquired these amazing jig guides (mandrels) that were used in Winter Haven on a duplicator to make many of Bagley's most poplular models including the B Flat, Rat Fink, 007JR, Divng Killer B 1, Fat Cat, DB3, Small Fry Crayfish, Small Fry Shad, Hustle Bug, Bang-O-Lure, and many more. There are also several prototype lures and novelty items including the eagle and a ball point pen.

    This one-of-a-kind portable salesman's worm display is a folding 6 panel carry-all that is only 3 3/4" X 13" X 17 3/4" when completely closed, while being an impressive 6' 6" when fully open. This display is from a gentleman that used to own a tackle store in North Alabama where he acquired the display over 40 years ago. Be sure to click on the pictures until each panel completely fills the page so you can fully enjoy this amazing Bagley find.

    Jim Bagley's good friend, Tom Mann, had such great success with his metal bait "Little George", that he decided to design his own long casting metal bait hoping to ride Tom's coattails a little bit. The lure wasn't a big success with fisherman during it's production years of 1972-1977, but nowadays collectors are starting to take a shine to them. I foresee a time when these little guys will find their way into many of today's top Bagley collections!

    The idea behind this master collection was to have two of every model in each series that Bagley made. In only a couple of instances does the same color occur twice, and where possible, the color represented is a tough color for that particular model. For example, BSOT (Black on Silver Foil/Orange Throat) is a very common color, but in an all brass BB4 it is almost impossible to find.

    This collection was a present to my daughter Amy for graduating from The University of Alabama with honors. ROLL TIDE!!

    In a very short time Gregg Watts has managed to put together a "World Class" Bagley master collection. Greg caught the Bagley collecting bug from his brother Bryan while listening to him wheel and deal during many of their long distance trips to tournaments and tackle shows where they represented the Power Pole company. Greg's collection is jamb packed with "10" rated color/models and prototypes.

        Designed exclusively for the Japanese market, the Bagley Shimano Extreme model has some of the most interesting colors and profiles ever made by the Bagley Bait Co.. Pictured here is every model and color made in this series including a couple of undocumented colors, and a prototype. This is one of the more difficult collections to assemble because of cost and availability. A source in Japan is a must if you want to attempt to put your own complete collection together.

        This is the second complete set of Shimano Extremes I've been able to put together since I began collecting Bagley's. Since these are all transition brass baits we know they were made sometime between 1979 and 1980.

    I'm certain this is the most comprehensive 2" Small Fry collection in the world. Many of these colors were acquired when Bagley cleared out their warehouse of every lure that was laying around and brought them to Springfield, MO to Bass Pro Shop for that company's first World's Fair.

    The Small Fry series were some of the most realistic lures ever made. They were always some of my favorite lures when I was fishing full time.

    I never threw this size Small Fry at all. For one thing, there weren't many 5" Small Frys sold in the South as it is considered a muskie sized lure. The more I think about it now, this would be a great size to drag through fallen trees on the Coosa river system because it is actually small compared to the gizzard shads that are common down here.

    In a relatively short periond of time Bryan Watts has put together what is likely the most comprehensive all brass 5" Bang-O-Lure collection in the world. His all brass two hooker 7" Bang-O-Lures are "World Class" also!

        This often overlooked Bagley jewel, which was designed to run in 18 inches of water or less, could really catch 'em, given the right circumstances. I'm guessing these lures were most popular in Florida, where there was a lot of "skinny" water, because they were rarely seen in my part of the country.

    Dan Grulke's collection is a fair representation of all brass, transition brass, and stainless KB1's, DKB1's, and DDKB1's. Though there are larger collections out there, Dan has put together an impressive group of round bib (sorry, no squarebills included) Kill'R B 1's, which include True Lifes, Flashes, Foils, Dazzles, Firetails, and many other sub sets which focus on "7" to "10" rated colors as the starting point. Dan's favorite colors will always be the ones he first bought and fell in love with; 11 (Red on Red) and TLGF (True Life Goldfish), undoubtedly his favorite fish catchers!

    Gary Neely began fishing Jim Bagley's Balsa B 1's in the early 70's, but only started putting together a collection of them in early 2020. He's come a long way in such a short time having put together this "World Class" all brass Balsa B 1 collection. Gary currently has 44 loose, and 33 on card BB1's.

    This Kill'R B 2 collection is a solid representation of many of the colors Bagley had to offer. There are over 340 unique colors, and with variations and pattern differences, the total lures in this collection comes to 388.

    The suspending Kill'R B 2's were pretty much "a flash in the pan" for the Bagley Bait Co.. The amount of weight it took to cause a lure to suspend was directly dependent on water temperature and salinity. Once you trimmed the lead weight, called the SAB {Suspending Adjustment Button}, the first time, it was only going to suspend properly in water temperature, and or, salinity, that was the same as when you initially achieved successful neutral bouyancy.

    The Sinking Bang-O-Lures apparently never really took off as they were only featured in the 1987 Bagley catalog. These special countdown baits were fitted with a rounded diving lip and came in 2" and 4" sizes. They are very difficult to locate. In particular, the 2" Sinkers are known to be "as scarce as hen's teeth".

    The 1" Bang-O-Lure is the smallest balsa bait manufactured by Bagley's and were intended for fly fishing aficionados. There were never many colors made in this model. I would say there are only a handful of colors not pictured here.

    The 3" Bang-O-Lure was only made for a brief period during the time Bill Stuart owned the company. Like the 1" Bang-O-Lure, these were not made in many colors. When you add the BLS, 834, and Z4, which are in my Master collection, to this group, you have the largest collection assembled so far in this model.

    The Bagley Honey B was originally made famous with Rick Clunn's Bassmaster Classic win fishing with this mini marvel! The earlier Honey B's, and recently, the late model Bitty B's, are fast becoming one of the most popular models sought after by Bagley collectors. This photo features Jason Metcalf's out of package Honey/Bitty B's, which he has put together in record time.

    I've focused more on the different models and colors made by Bagley in my Honey/Bitty B collection; many of which were made exclusively for the Japanese market. What I lack in "high dollar" baits, I tried to make up with a little more diversity. At no time did Bagley make a Honey/Bitty B that I didn't think was worth collecting!

    This Hustle Bug collection includes all of the colors I know of in the 1" model. There are several other colors, mostly undocumented, in the protype 2" size, but I only have the one 2" model at the center of this picture, which is the fairly common color 6C9 (Green Crayfish on Chartreuse).