Bait Merchant started in 2021 when I became obsessed with custom poured and unique shaped baits. Our home base of Castaic Lake in Southern California is a tough lake to learn to fish, one where getting snagged and losing tackle is common, and where inconsistent conditions and extremely high fishing pressure means constantly working to figure out what bait size, color and shape to use.

After wasting a ton of money on baits that didn't work, and not wanting to pay for higher quality tackle like tungsten weights due to how much tackle is lost, I searched for manufacturers. I began by selling discounted tungsten and through that, discovered the massive nationwide underground of anglers making their own baits - few of which are available at tackle shops.

Fascinated by how, when, why and what a fish will eat, once I realized how much better they perform, I became addicted to buying and testing custom baits hand-made by local anglers. Bait Merchant was born from my own desire to fish with top performing lake and condition-specific baits made by small garage-based custom bait makers. 

My friend and fishing partner Porter Hamilton joined me in the venture in 2022. Together we continued sourcing unique custom baits, experimenting with hundreds of custom and machined baits from the US and Asia, and made our own professional level machine injected bait with "Porter's Magic Shad".  Over three years, we fished with and tested hundreds of variations of styles, shapes, sizes, and colors of soft plastic bait from all over the world.

Every bait we sell is a personally-crafted creation. We are 100% dedicated to local business and angling community support.

In 2024, we took what we learned and had 4 custom aluminum bait molds made, the first being a Bait Merchant 100% original design with the the Prototype 1 power-finesse worm. All of our soft plastics are hand made exclusively by C3 Baits in Castaic, California.

The same year, we expanded our passion for custom baits to include custom hand-airbrushing of factory brand lures to deliver the performance of original authentic lures, with customized paint schemes that imitate natural bait fish more closely than anything in existence.

We love trying out new baits, testing things, talking to other anglers, hearing what works and getting input. New ideas, feedback and bait suggestions are always welcome!

If you see us on the water or at the dock please come say hi and we'll give you some sample baits to try and share whatever is working for us that day!

Andy Halio aka "The Bait Merchant" and Porter "First Cast" Hamilton.