XCalibur dropped off the planet

[David Whitaker]

I've had a lot of people asking me if I know what happened to the lure brand XCalibur. They were popular for their hard baits such as the Xr50 rattle bait, Zell Pop, and the XCS Square Bill. Personally, the Xr50 is the best trap to ever be made. More specifically in the Pearl Melon color. The reason for their disappearance is not because they went out of business. The manufacturer of XCalibur baits, Pradco, is also the manufacturer of BOOYAH. Much like Pure Fishing is the manufacturer of Abu, Berkley, and other companies. They simply took the most popular baits and reincarnated them under BOOYAH. The previously known Xr50 is now the Hard Knocker. Likewise, the Zell Pop is now the Boss Pop. I wouldn't be surprised if they come out with a reincarnation of the XCS. The baits still catch fish.. And big ones. Try them out if you have not yet!

[buzzed bait]

for what it's worth, pradco and pure fishing do not manufacture the baits.  they are the parent companies whose sole interest is money.  Pure Fishing is actually a subsidiary of Jarden Corp brands which was recently purchased by Newell Rubbermaid.  Pradco is also a subsidiary owned by EBSCO, a major conglomerate, that does not manufacture the baits themselves.

in retail, almost nothing is what it seems!

[0119]

3 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

in retail, almost nothing is what it seems!

I understand due to recent changes in Japans laws, Made in Japan doesn't have to mean it was produced on island anymore.  Only partially assembled there.

[Bluebasser86]

The colors the the new Booyah baits that were Xcaliber aren't quite the same. I have plenty of the XR50 and XRK50 in the colors I need so I'll be fine for awhile.

[Haze]

1 hour ago, buzzed bait said:

for what it's worth, pradco and pure fishing do not manufacture the baits.  they are the parent companies whose sole interest is money.  Pure Fishing is actually a subsidiary of Jarden Corp brands which was recently purchased by Newell Rubbermaid.  Pradco is also a subsidiary owned by EBSCO, a major conglomerate, that does not manufacture the baits themselves.

in retail, almost nothing is what it seems!

Not quite correct on pradco, they mold yum themselves in the usa.

[David Whitaker]

20 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The colors the the new Booyah baits that were Xcaliber aren't quite the same. I have plenty of the XR50 and XRK50 in the colors I need so I'll be fine for awhile.

Same here! I like some of the colors in the BOOYAH line just as well as the XR's. I love the Gold and the Foxy Momma colors. Catch Giants!

[zell_pop1]

Not sure if they are exactly the same, I was catching em on a xr one knocker and my friend was casting the boo yah one knocker that took its place and was getting skunked. 

[Incheon Basser]

On March 25, 2016 at 3:22 PM, buzzed bait said:

for what it's worth, pradco and pure fishing do not manufacture the baits.  they are the parent companies whose sole interest is money.  Pure Fishing is actually a subsidiary of Jarden Corp brands which was recently purchased by Newell Rubbermaid.  Pradco is also a subsidiary owned by EBSCO, a major conglomerate, that does not manufacture the baits themselves.

in retail, almost nothing is what it seems!

What do you mean Pure Fishing doesn't manufacture their own baits? They have a factory in Spirit Lake Iowa and 90% of PowerBait and Havoc is made there. 100% of Gulp and all fishing line. Stren, Trilene FireLine and Spiderwire. All of their products are designed in house by their product managers and some products are made in sub factories which is normal. News flash 80% of fishing tackle manufacturing is outsourced. 

On March 26, 2016 at 7:15 PM, 0119 said:

I understand due to recent changes in Japans laws, Made in Japan doesn't have to mean it was produced on island anymore.  Only partially assembled there.

Correct! Only the one part needs to be made there. 99% of Made in Japan tackle is actually produced in China. 

[Bluebasser86]

7 hours ago, David Whitaker said:

Same here! I like some of the colors in the BOOYAH line just as well as the XR's. I love the Gold and the Foxy Momma colors. Catch Giants!

I don't like the new gold/black back, it's a way lighter gold color. It's the same thing with Rayburn Red, almost orange instead of red. I do like the looks of the Copper Shiner and Bling though. I'm thinking those will both be winners. Now if they'd just bring back both the jerkbaits 

[buzzed bait]

8 hours ago, Incheon Basser said:

What do you mean Pure Fishing doesn't manufacture their own baits? They have a factory in Spirit Lake Iowa and 90% of PowerBait and Havoc is made there. 100% of Gulp and all fishing line. Stren, Trilene FireLine and Spiderwire. All of their products are designed in house by their product managers and some products are made in sub factories which is normal. News flash 80% of fishing tackle manufacturing is outsourced. 

Correct! Only the one part needs to be made there. 99% of Made in Japan tackle is actually produced in China. 

you know what they say about statistics.....   “There are three types of lies -- lies, d**n lies, and statistics.”  - Mark Twain

but you're right on the spirit lake, ia factory.  while i believe most development is done in columbia, sc.  many of the child companies (berkley, stren, etc.) license their products to the parent company of pure fishing.  

they're just a huge company made bigger and bigger due to one acquisition after another...

http://purefishing.com/our-story/

as i said, almost nothing is what it seems!

[Incheon Basser]

2 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

you know what they say about statistics.....   “There are three types of lies -- lies, d**n lies, and statistics.”  - Mark Twain

but you're right on the spirit lake, ia factory.  while i believe most development is done in columbia, sc.  many of the child companies (berkley, stren, etc.) license their products to the parent company of pure fishing.  

they're just a huge company made bigger and bigger due to one acquisition after another...

http://purefishing.com/our-story/

as i said, almost nothing is what it seems!

No one licenses anything to anyone. The Company is Pure Fishing. Pure Fishing's Brands are  Berkley, Fenwick, Abu, Stren, and so on and so on. Pure Fishing is split into two sections. 

Consumables. Baits, Line, Terminal Tackle, 90% made at Spirit Lake Iowa. 10% made in China

Durables. Rods, Reels. 100% made overseas. 30% made in the Pure Fishing owned and operated factory in southern China, Shakespeare and Pfluegar mostly. The rest outsourced. Office in Columbia 

100% of the products are designed and developed by Pure Fishing Product Development Managers. Outsourcing of manufacturing is the number one most common business practice in the world.

Show me a company who says the produce 100% in house and I'll show you a lying company. 

How do I know all this? I was a PF PDM from 2011 to 2015

Edited March 27, 2016 by Incheon Basser
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[buzzed bait]

i'll concede that you must know "100%" what you're talking about.... although every roll of stren i own says on it "produced under license from Stren Company"  

[Incheon Basser]

42 minutes ago, buzzed bait said:

i'll concede that you must know "100%" what you're talking about.... although every roll of stren i own says on it "produced under license from Stren Company"  

Stren,Berkley and Spiderwire Monofilament line comes off the same machine. Packed in the same machine and is developed by the same Product Inivation team. Who's email Address are all @purefishing.com. No one works for Stren. Stren is a brand nothing more.  It's a fact. I do know 100% of what I am talking about. What's on the labels is marketing. Each Brand has a Brand Manager, But it is one company. I do not understand why you think you know more about it than a guy who worked there for 4 years. But hey I did what I could to educate. 

[HookdUP]

The colors that they kept from xcalibur aren't the same now . I've got a few but would like a few more of both the xr50 and xrk50 and the xcs baits . They're getting ridiculous in price now 

[Last_Cast]

You can always buy xcalibur stuff on ebay, a little overpriced IMO. According to the world of ebay, business is booming 

[JayKumar]

Both Pradco and Pure Fishing manufacture and market their own stuff. As with all major tackle companies, some is in the U.S., some isn't. Some China, Japan and European facilities manufacture multiple brands, but to the companies' individual specs, no different than any other kind of manufacturing.