C3 Baits was created 15 years ago when John Petroski a.k.a. Captain Castaic saw a need for something different and something local for the hard pressured waters of the Clearwater reservoirs like California's legendary Castaic Lake.

A ZLF BASS Nation Champion and Top Stick Tour angler with 45 years of fishing experience, John has been making high performance bass baits for decades. Each C3 Bait is impeccably hand crafted. You will notice the pride taken with every pour and quickly see why C3 Baits has its long record of proven year-round performance, not just as a Castaic Lake fishing bait but in just about any condition.

Currently C3 Baits produces several soft plastic bass baits, with the most popular five styles being The C3 Ice Pick, the C3 Jobu, the C3 Flukenstein, The C3 SlimPro, and the C3 Shimmy. These baits are which are 3”, 4”, and 5" and made in several proven C3 standard color blends that allow them to work year-round, nationwide, and in a variety of seasons and conditions.

Our lineup of C3 Baits also includes custom Bait Merchant designed soft plastics exclusively hand injected and sold under the C3 Baits brand label: The C3 Prototype 1, the C3 Caligator, The C3 Slim Fluke, and the C3 Magic Shad.

Bait Merchant's 4 seasonal-based baits were molded to imitate various annual stages of common lake baitfish and other native forrage targeted by bass.