Unknown Brands? \ 2025
Weld's Largemouth reply :
I've wondered for the longest time... what is EXCALIBUR?
I usually find these lures in the clearance bins.. and Excalibur has no website or official affiliation. And I know that there is an XCalibur brand.. are these the same brand? They definitely have a different label and different quality- Xcalibur lures are much better quality and more expensive than Excalbiur.
Anyone have any info on Excalbiur?
Excalibur Shallow Fingerling
Excalibur Pop'N Image Jr.. (is there any relation to the Heddon Pop'N Image Jr.?) Is this a spin off brand...? so mysterious...
Ozark_Basser reply :
I'm pretty sure Excalibur and Bomber are one in the same. Excalibur is (or was maybe?) a little more expensive and seemed to be the same as Bomber but with some upgrades.
fishballer06 reply :
I normally see them in all the big box stores.
Maxximus Redneckus reply :
I bought ever pop n image and spook they had at dicks 2.96 a no brainer made in usa also
Maxximus Redneckus reply :
Heddon,arbogast,bomber,etc all the same company now
EvanT123 reply :
Don't buy those. They don't work. You need a lucky craft or megabass. Just leave those Excaliburs on the rack 
bigbill reply :
Checkout www.lurenet.com it's a few companies own by lurenet.
adam32 reply :
The image line of baits first came out from Excalibur then switched to heddon if i remember right. They used to make a spit n image jr which was a great little wtd bait! The older Excalibur versions had rotating black nickel trebles.
primetime reply :
The Original Xcalibur lures were top grade lures and the zara spook from Heddon and super spook used to be under this label in the 80's and the one's you see in these packages today are not the same lures.
Kind of like the bait bonanza lures that have cotton cordell name on them but are not the same in quality. I have alot of the older xcalibur swim n image crankbaits, spooks, ghost minnows, even the Mark Sossen Long a which I just sold on Ebay for $22 since it was in original packaging....collectors item, new Xcalibur lures are the Hi tek versions and much better...These are special big box retail store lures, so are pretty much value brands....
Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston, Kvd, Timmy Horton and many other pro's had Xcalibur lures under their names before Pradco seperated Heddon, Bomber, Smithwick, Cordell, Lindy, Arbogast, and the rest...
The older xcal's are hard to find but if you can find the ghost minnows they are one of the best topwater jerkbaits to this day...
I think people feel Cotton Cordell, Heddon, and Bomber are cheap due to the xcalibur value line, they are not the same at all....A real Spit N Image is made by Heddon on the pradco site and is $6.99 and worth every penny, the 2.99 lures are good, but are 2.99 lures....Rebel and bomber have value series and then the real deal...big difference...
primetime reply :
On 12/1/2014 at 8:39 AM, Weld said:I've wondered for the longest time... what is EXCALIBUR?
I usually find these lures in the clearance bins.. and Excalibur has no website or official affiliation. And I know that there is an XCalibur brand.. are these the same brand? They definitely have a different label and different quality- Xcalibur lures are much better quality and more expensive than Excalbiur.
Anyone have any info on Excalbiur?
Excalibur Shallow Fingerling
these are the value brand xcalibur lures for walmart and dicks and big box stores. You will find the real spit n image on the Pradco site under Heddon, and it is a 6.99 lure and much better quality. that crankbait that says fingerling is the value series of the Bomber Fat free series and are much more expensive..In the 80's the Zara spook and super spook as well as many other lures from Bomber, Heddon and Cordell were under the xcalibur label and were good quality, these are seperate from Pradco....Same as Bait Bonanza lures...Pradco site is where all the legit Bomber, Heddon stuff is listed...This is probably why you thought the Bomber cranksbaits sucked, I would think so as well....The Fat Free shad is rated the #5 crankbait of all time by Bassmaster magazine because it is such a good crank, and I am not a crankbait expert...I do however collect old lures, and the old xcalibur lures from the 80's marketed by Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston like the super spook are top quality and better than some of the new ones in my opinion as they have a different sound.
If you ever see older xcalibur packaging which looks the same, look for a lure called the ghost Minnow, it is a thin floater that is awesome and in my opinion one of the best floaters made..The Yo-zuri Pins minnow reminds me of the ghost minnow but not as good.
Weld's Largemouth reply :
On 12/4/2014 at 11:07 AM, primetime said:these are the value brand xcalibur lures for walmart and dicks and big box stores. You will find the real spit n image on the Pradco site under Heddon, and it is a 6.99 lure and much better quality. that crankbait that says fingerling is the value series of the Bomber Fat free series and are much more expensive..In the 80's the Zara spook and super spook as well as many other lures from Bomber, Heddon and Cordell were under the xcalibur label and were good quality, these are seperate from Pradco....Same as Bait Bonanza lures...Pradco site is where all the legit Bomber, Heddon stuff is listed...This is probably why you thought the Bomber cranksbaits sucked, I would think so as well....The Fat Free shad is rated the #5 crankbait of all time by Bassmaster magazine because it is such a good crank, and I am not a crankbait expert...I do however collect old lures, and the old xcalibur lures from the 80's marketed by Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston like the super spook are top quality and better than some of the new ones in my opinion as they have a different sound.
If you ever see older xcalibur packaging which looks the same, look for a lure called the ghost Minnow, it is a thin floater that is awesome and in my opinion one of the best floaters made..The Yo-zuri Pins minnow reminds me of the ghost minnow but not as good.
YES! The bomber crankbaits i have claimed to be "Bomber brand" and were on clearance and probably lacked the quality of real Bomber crankbaits. I found the suspending ghost minnow but can't find the floater anywhere... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hard-to-Find-Excalibur-Bomber-Suspending-Minnow-Long-A-15A-Blue-Clown-/191411662370?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c91062e22
Megastink reply :
PRADCO is the parent company.
adam32 reply :
I have old spit n image jr baits still in the package from when they first came out, before they were made by heddon. They say excalibur on the package. Never seen one that says Xcaliber.On 12/4/2014 at 11:01 AM, primetime said:The Original Xcalibur lures were top grade lures and the zara spook from Heddon and super spook used to be under this label in the 80's and the one's you see in these packages today are not the same lures.
Kind of like the bait bonanza lures that have cotton cordell name on them but are not the same in quality. I have alot of the older xcalibur swim n image crankbaits, spooks, ghost minnows, even the Mark Sossen Long a which I just sold on Ebay for $22 since it was in original packaging....collectors item, new Xcalibur lures are the Hi tek versions and much better...These are special big box retail store lures, so are pretty much value brands....
Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston, Kvd, Timmy Horton and many other pro's had Xcalibur lures under their names before Pradco seperated Heddon, Bomber, Smithwick, Cordell, Lindy, Arbogast, and the rest...
The older xcal's are hard to find but if you can find the ghost minnows they are one of the best topwater jerkbaits to this day...
I think people feel Cotton Cordell, Heddon, and Bomber are cheap due to the xcalibur value line, they are not the same at all....A real Spit N Image is made by Heddon on the pradco site and is $6.99 and worth every penny, the 2.99 lures are good, but are 2.99 lures....Rebel and bomber have value series and then the real deal...big difference...
smalljaw67 reply :
I can say with some certainty that the Excalibur brand is the same as Xcalibur, the difference is Pradco became the parent company and in order to separate the brand from Heddon and Bomber they changed the name slightly to Xcalibur and added the Hi-Tek Tackle to sort of let everyone know that this was their premium brand now and with it came higher prices but better quality lures. What gets me a little angry with Xacalibur is they have some great stuff that they discontinued, like the Xt3 Twitch Bait, the XS4 Jimmy and the EEratic Shad, the jerkbaits are still awesome and the Xt3 rivaled the Pointer 78. Oh well, at least I still have some of those baits and I still have the 1 knockers and square bills.
J Francho reply :
Excalibur are baits sold in bulk packs to fill up an end cap with affordable baits. Many are similar to other brands, such as Bomber and Heddon.
Xcalibur are a mid to high end line of baits to compete with the likes of Spro, LC, etc.
Both are made by Pradco. They are not the same.
Raul reply :
Excalibur "unknown" brand ..... not quite, you´re simply too young to have known it, back in the 90´s it was a big name, the Spit N´Image was one of the most powerful walk the dog style baits ever, affordable, good finish and very easy to operate ( not like the original Zara Spook ), that was until PRADCO decided to slowly kill the brand ( just as they did with other brands ).
FunkJishing reply :
i was in the same position you're in, I didn't know much about Xcalibur either. thanks to this thread i do 
and im gald i got the Xcalibur xcs100 and 200 and not the lower quality brand. 3$ at dick's on black friday.
smalljaw67 reply :
On 12/4/2014 at 10:37 PM, J Francho said:Excalibur are baits sold in bulk packs to fill up an end cap with affordable baits. Many are similar to other brands, such as Bomber and Heddon.
Xcalibur are a mid to high end line of baits to compete with the likes of Spro, LC, etc.
Both are made by Pradco. They are not the same.
Do a search and see what comes up when you look for Excalibur lures or tackle. The Excalibur that you see filling end caps or in discount bins is all old stock, I remember seeing the same thing in tackle shops and saw it at my local Cabelas. I was a little confused and actually emailed both Xcalibur and Cabelas and the answer I got was that they are indeed one and the same. The response I got from Xcalibur was that they were under pradco ownership and the name was changed to allow them to be the premium tackle brand to compete with the higher priced Japanese tackle that was becoming popular. Excalibur no longer exist in the pradco line up, it was replaced by Xcalibur Hi-Tek Tackle and it is Pradco's premium lure brand.
J Francho reply :
You forget that Pradco was a site sponsor, no need for a search, lol.....I am well aware of their direction for "Xcalibur." Keep in mind any response you receive from them will contain their marketing angle.
But, I will tell you that Excalibur is still being refreshed on retailers' shelves. Obviously there's a TREMENDOUS amount of new-old stock of Excalibur that remains unsold, and I doubt it is gone from Pradco's inventory as well. Excalibur was NEVER a premium brand name, even way back in the late 90s. Though they did have better colors than the other brands. AFAIK, the only carry over from EX to X are the rotating trebles, which are stock hooks opn exactly NONE of the X baits. Lures like the Spittin Image were sold under the Bomber, Heddon, and Excalibur name. Finishes and hooks were different.
FunkJishing reply :
so Xcalibur is better than excalibur? ^
HoosierHawgs reply :
Yes. The Excalibur line is a value version of Bomber. The Xcalibur is higher end lures w/holographic finishes, premium Xcalibur hooks, lazer eyes and so on.
J Francho reply :
On 12/5/2014 at 3:50 AM, FunkJishing said:so Xcalibur is better than excalibur? ^
There isn't anything that crosses over from the old Excalibur line to the newer Xcalibur, other than the replacement packs of rotating hooks from the old line. The hooks that come stock on the Xcalibur baits are better than the rotating ones. Xcalibur is a premium line, on par with Spro, Sebile, Lucky Craft, Koppers, and other similarly priced baits. I really like their square bill baits and lipless. Their tungsten weights are pretty good too. Before I started pouring drop shot weights, I used theirs as well.
FunkJishing reply :
On 12/5/2014 at 4:00 AM, jakob1010 said:Yes. The Excalibur line is a value version of Bomber. The Xcalibur is higher end lures w/holographic finishes, premium Xcalibur hooks, lazer eyes and so on.
great haha 
i scored.
smalljaw67 reply :
On 12/5/2014 at 3:46 AM, J Francho said:You forget that Pradco was a site sponsor, no need for a search, lol.....I am well aware of their direction for "Xcalibur." Keep in mind any response you receive from them will contain their marketing angle.
But, I will tell you that Excalibur is still being refreshed on retailers' shelves. Obviously there's a TREMENDOUS amount of new-old stock of Excalibur that remains unsold, and I doubt it is gone from Pradco's inventory as well. Excalibur was NEVER a premium brand name, even way back in the late 90s. Though they did have better colors than the other brands. AFAIK, the only carry over from EX to X are the rotating trebles, which are stock hooks opn exactly NONE of the X baits. Lures like the Spittin Image were sold under the Bomber, Heddon, and Excalibur name. Finishes and hooks were different.
I agree with everything you said here but that is my point, Excalibur is the same company only it was revamped and changed to Xcalibur. Some here are asking is Exaclibur is a different brand and while the lures are different and the only thing remaining is the rotating trebles, it is basically the same company but I can see how you can differentiate. I guess it is like say Kentucky Fried Chicken is different from KFC, and that is what I'm saying, they changed the way the name is spelled and made it into a premium brand but it came from the old Excalbur brand, it isn't a brand new company that existed apart from Xcalibur.
J Francho reply :
Excalibur and Xcalibur are brands for Pradco. Some of their brands were companies way back. Think General Motors, Chevy, Saturn, Geo, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, et al, to make that comparison. I think that's your point, though. Some were separate companies, but now they're brands. It's like they are churning out Chevys, and didn't have a caddy, so they made a "Boldsmobile." Lol.
At any rate both brands have good baits, though you don't need to change out the hooks on the Xcalibur.
Jtrout reply :
I' go to dicks and buy all the xcaliber Xr 25s I can get. 3 bucks usually they are almost sold out so I get the rest of them they work good have caught many of bass on them the bluegill/ pumpkinseed ones have caught me a lot of bass
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