by Colby Sorrells
Tackle Time
BOMBER’S
JERK BAIT
B
omber lures are well known to most anglers. Whether
it’s the classic wood Bomber preferred by today’s
tournament anglers or the more modern Bomber A
crankbait, Bomber lures have been used by anglers for over 70
years.
Bomber Bait Company of Gainesville, Texas was started
when fishing friends Ike Walker and Turby Turbeville wanted a
lure that would consistently dive deeper than anything else on
the market. They regularly fished the deep waters of several
new impoundments located on both sides of the Texas-Oklahoma
border including Lake Texoma. That was just before World
War II and the fishing buddies were experimenting with different
lures on the market.
One of their favorite lures, Creek Chub Bait Company’s
Crawdad, worked well but even it did not give the anglers the
desired depth they wanted. Walker and Turbeville took Creek
Chub Crawdads and changed out the lip replacing the factory
metal piece with a metal lip hand-crafted from a coffee can.
The modified lure dove even deeper than the original Garrett,
Indiana product. Soon their first lure, the Bomber, was made
and business took
off. At first the
partners gave a few
lures to other
fishermen
they
knew. Before long
the lure’s reputation
spread and soon
everyone wanted a
Bomber.
While Bomber
lures were busy
conquering freshwater lakes, the inventive fishing buddies
Walker and Turbeville were turning their attention to other things
and they soon found themselves fishing the shallow flats of
inshore Florida.
They often caught snook, a fish known to be tough on lures
due to their explosive strike. The Bomber guys needed a lure
that would hold up to repeated stri