Every Bait Has a Story™: The Making of the Bruiser Series Instinct
When you see a finished fishing bait sitting on a shelf or packaged and ready to ship, it's easy to only see the final product.
But there's a lot that happens before a new bait ever gets there.
The development of the Bruiser Series Instinct is a great example. What started as an idea turned into a process involving mold selection, sizing, materials, rigging options, packaging, color development, production testing, photography and ultimately deciding when the bait was actually ready to launch.
And like a lot of things at CDA Custom Tackle, not everything worked perfectly the first time.
Starting With the Bait
One of the first decisions was determining what we actually wanted the Instinct to be.
That meant researching mold options and deciding what sizes made the most sense. Ultimately, we chose to build the Instinct in both 2.5-inch and 4-inch versions.
Having two sizes gave anglers different options while keeping the same basic bait concept. But it also created another challenge: just because two baits share the same design doesn't mean they necessarily behave the same during production.
That became part of the development process.
Trial, Error and a Lot of Testing
Selecting a mold was only the beginning.
We needed to determine the right plastisol and hardness for each size while still getting the action and durability we wanted from the finished bait.
Injection temperature and cooling presented their own challenges as well. Small changes in the production process could change how the finished bait came out of the mold.
So we tested.
Then tested again.
When something didn't come out the way we wanted, we changed the process and tried again.
That's one of the things I enjoy about producing our baits in-house. It gives us the ability to experiment, make adjustments and learn from each batch instead of simply accepting whatever comes out of the mold.
Building the Instinct Color Lineup
Then came one of the most enjoyable—and probably most time-consuming—parts of the process: color development.
We didn't want to simply make every color we could think of. We wanted an initial lineup that gave anglers a useful range of options.
That meant experimenting with transparent colors, natural presentations, brighter colors, glow options, different flakes, pearls and highlights.
Some prototypes looked great immediately.
Others looked completely different once they came out of the mold.
And some ideas simply didn't make the cut.
Colors were adjusted by changing colorant levels, flake combinations and other small details until we reached versions we were comfortable putting the CDA Custom Tackle name on.
That trial-and-error eventually developed into the initial Instinct lineup.
A Bait Isn't Finished When It Leaves the Mold
Another decision we had to make was packaging.
Traditional soft-plastic bags work well for many of our products, but we wanted a different presentation for the Instinct. After looking at different options, we decided on clear round jars.
The jars protect the baits while also allowing you to immediately see the color you're buying.
Then came the labeling and overall presentation.
Those details may seem small compared with designing the bait itself, but they're part of creating a finished product. The packaging needs to protect the bait, work practically for the angler and represent CDA Custom Tackle when it reaches someone's hands.
Making the Instinct Easy to Fish
There was another idea behind the Instinct that was important to us.
We didn't want anglers to feel like buying a new style of bait meant they also needed to buy a completely new collection of specialized terminal tackle just to fish it.
The Instinct can be approached with several different rigging styles using tackle many anglers may already have in their tackle box.
That versatility leaves room for anglers to experiment with the bait and determine how they want to fish it.
After all, part of fishing is figuring out what works for you.
From an Idea to a Finished Product
By launch day, the Instinct had gone through far more decisions than someone might ever see by looking at the finished bait.
A mold had to be selected.
Sizes had to be chosen.
Plastisol and production methods had to be tested.
Colors had to be developed, rejected, adjusted and finalized.
Packaging and labeling had to be figured out.
Product photos had to be created.
And eventually we had to make the final decision that every new product reaches:
Is it ready?
Eventually, the answer was yes.
The Bruiser Series Instinct officially became part of the CDA Custom Tackle lineup.
But development doesn't necessarily stop at launch. We'll continue experimenting, listening to anglers, developing new colors and learning more about what this bait can do on the water.
That's part of what makes building tackle enjoyable.
The finished bait may be what you see in the tackle box—but the process of getting it there is part of its story.
Every Bait Has a Story™