What started as a hobby quickly became a staple of the bass fishing industry.
For guy that used his own money, designed and built a square-billed crankbait that kept breaking, and ended up squarely behind the eight-ball, Casey Sobczak has come a long way. The founder of the 6th Sense Lure Company has had his share of success and failure, but now 6th Sense Fishing is a well-respected name in the industry.
Bass Fan reported that Sobczak and his team partner had come away after winning the Smash Mouth College B.A.S.S. national title for Stephen F. Austin University in 2005 with a smile and a Paasche airbrush kit of all things. His team partner Jonathan Garrie wanted nothing to do with it.
"I took it back to the dorm and started painting baits for friends in the college bass club, then I started painting for their friends of friends," Sobczak said.
Starting 6th Sense Lures
It didn't take long for Casey Sobczak to realize how good he was with the airbrush kit, selling his first redone lure for $20 on eBay. Within just a few months, he had quit his job and begun refurbishing used lures with custom paint jobs that became known for their detail and color layering.
For two years, he sold lures on his self-built e-commerce website through eBay called PaintYourBait.com largely to some degree of success. Things got dicey for the Stephen F. Austin University grad after he tried to design and build a square-billed crankbait that would've been one of the first to market from a U.S.-based company.
The trouble was that the lip of the lure kept breaking off, and no angler wants to pay for that.
The future 6th Sense founder had virtually exhausted his life savings to fund his lure making experiment, but he wasn't giving up. He started making custom-painted lures again, and before long, he had enough saved to start making his own crankbaits. Subsequently, he was fortunate enough to introduce them at ICAST 2012 and garner a surprising amount of attention for his work, namely the Crush 50X Square-Bill.
Some of his baits have since played a role in several tournament wins, including the 2014 BFL All-American.
What started as a three-person operation ultimately grew into one of the iconic names in fishing gear.
The 6th Sense Fishing brand branched out from Sobczak's custom-painted hardbaits, as it now sells terminal tackle, jigs, soft plastics, rods, apparel, the amazing Vega frog and, of course, shallow-, medium- and deep- crankbaits.
6th Sense Lures
Without listing every single one product of 6th Sense's diverse lineup of tackle, let's put the spotlight on a few that have done well to keep the brand in the limelight.
6th Sense Pro angler and Florida resident Mikey Keyso recently notched a 2nd-place finish in the MLF Toyota Series event on Lake Toho partly by using the Quake 70 in the Gold Reactor pattern and claimed a $20,000 paycheck.
Similarly, 6th Sense Pro Samuel Whitmire did well at the same tourney by throwing both the Divine Shakey Worm and a 6th Sense Provoke 106x Jerkbait in Ghost Threadfin Shad, which he used to target fish residing in isolated hydrilla clumps.
The Vega Frog is one of those baits that we as anglers just can't get enough of, and with a name like Pickle Breath, how can you go wrong? It comes in 15 different color patterns and a 5/0 black nickel braid hook that will pierce the mouth of any lunker out there.
The Future of 6th Sense Fishing
The 6th Sense motto is plain and it's a good one:
"At 6th Sense, our primary goal is satisfy you, the customer. We understand the importance of quality and that if you are happy with your product, we've done our job correctly. We are a family run business and work hard to make the customer our number one priority as we continue to grow 6th Sense into a leading fishing tackle supplier and lifestyle brand."
With continued sales in swimbaits, squarebill crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, topwater baits, and finesse worms, this high quality fishing lure company will continue to take bass fishing to the next level.
With freshwater fishing accessibility at an all-time high, the clout of this brand will keep right on growing. What started in southeast Texas has now grown into a juggernaut of fishing excellence for those of us around the nation.
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