In May of 1999, Bailey began getting dissatisfied with the quality and performance of the lures that he had been using. Although they were “the best” that were available, they weren’t nearly good enough in his opinion. After years of using skirts and lures that were available in most tackle shops, Bailey decided to put his degree in Industrial Technology to work at improving the products that he had grown accustomed to regularly using. Originally, these lures were for his personal use but once people started seeing his creations, they wanted him to make skirts and lures for them as well. In the beginning, it was merely a hobby but when seasoned tournament anglers like Capts. Stan Jarusinski, Bob Townsend, Richard Chapman and many other area fishing teams started taking note of his work, a new tackle company was born.

Bailey’s first mission was to make the products that he was the most familiar with and make them better than anyone else had ever considered making them. Although he had already been producing some very high quality lures, there was plenty of room for refinement both for performance as well as production purposes. With the constructive suggestions and destructive testing assistance provided by Capt. Stan Jarusinski and Greg Holley, the core product lines of the Smokers Only and Screamers series of skirts and dusters was refined and readied for full production.

The product lines that followed the Smokers Only Dusters have undergone the same rigorous testing and refinement processes. Bailey and his staff at Cape Lookout Lures are firm believers in performing their own destructive testing under worse than “battle condition” situations. Cape Lookout’s philosophy is simple “Make the lures as bullet-proof as possible and the rest will take care of itself”. All of Cape Lookout’s product lines are continually tested and refined under intense fishing conditions like those found on tournament trails such as the Southern Kingfish Association tours, the FLW Saltwater Tour, and the IFA Redfish Tour. We are constantly soliciting feedback from our tournament teams, charter captains, and recreational anglers for constructive criticism and suggestions on how we can better serve the fishermen who use our products. It is with this mindset that Cape Lookout Lures has grown to where they are today and continues to push them forward and ahead of the pack. Give Cape Lookout Lures a try and they’ll make a believer out of you as well.