Photos: Chris Emeott
Throwback Baits carves out a unique niche in Maple Grove.
For eight years, wedding photography paid the bills and kept a roof over Kyle Buchholz’s head. Together with his wife, Nicholette West, Buchholz ran Stills ‘N’ Motion as a photographer/videographer team. Then came COVID-19. “Everything came to a halt,” Buchholz says. “There were zero weddings, and most of my income was gone. Everything was up in the air.”
Buchholz was determined to figure out an alternative source of income to support his growing family, so he took on some freelance video work. In the meantime, he began to toy with the idea of carving his own fishing lure, just for fun. “It was very innocent-minded,” he says.
Kyle Buchholz sporting the “Boot’ Scoot’ Bassin” Corduroy Shirt.
“In August of 2020, I bought a block of wood off of Amazon,” Buchholz says. He wanted to make his own swimbait, a specialized fishing lure that mimics the appearance and movement of a bait fish. So, Buchholz headed to his garage and started carving, launching the Instagram page @throwbackbaits to chart his progress along the way. He posted a picture of his work every day, declaring successes while also noting his failures.
When Buchholz finished, he dubbed the lure the Wake Walker. After watching his process come to fruition, Buchholz had amassed a healthy following of fans who were hooked and couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. “People were messaging me and asking me when it would be available,” he says.
The one that started it all. Kyle Buchholz carved his first swimbait by hand.
Buchholz decided to give the people what they wanted and got to work on that first drop. He says it was only eight or 10 lures, but, even priced at $140 a pop, they were gone in minutes. The second drop was twice as big and went twice as fast. “By the third drop, I started to think we could make a business out of this,” he says.
Buchholz set up shop in his Monticello garage, continuing to refine the designs and test the components until he was happy with each lure. Hours were spent dragging the lures back and forth in the bathtub and even in the swimming pool at his alma mater, Becker High School. Once his designs passed muster, he created silicone molds that could be filled with epoxy resin to make the lures. “I only carved that first one out of wood,” he says.
The 5-inch Cheat Code has a wake and crank swim style akin to a chatterbait.
Creating Collectables
These days, Buchholz has brought his two best friends—Billy Giles and Doug Stuart—on as business partners and moved out of his garage and into a warehouse in Maple Grove. There, the team has 10 lures in production at any given time, from the Flee Shad to the Minne Glide and the Mob Walker to his biggest success, the Metro Glide. Current prices for each lure range from $100 to $200. Buchholz regularly offers the lures in different colors and styles, causing a frenzy with each drop. “There’re a lot of collectors,” he says.
With 10 molds for every type of bait, Throwback Baits’ 10 employees can make up to 70 lures a day. But Buchholz isn’t content with selling just lures. “I want this to be a cohesive brand,” he says. “We have tons of cool offerings outside of baits.” The merch section on the Throwback Baits website offers branded apparel including hats, hoodies and T-shirts. “We also have a line of rods coming,” Buchholz says.
Throwback Baits’ merch mirrors the retro aesthetics of its swimbaits. Buchholz says a line of rods is also in the works.
The growth has been so explosive that Buchholz is planning to build a new Throwback Baits facility in Rogers next year.
Lured In
Has turning a hobby into his livelihood diminished any of the enjoyment of fishing for Buchholz? Not at all. “I dedicate one day a week to fishing now,” he says. “There’s always excitement to use a [new] lure.”
And seeing others have success with something that he’s created is the ultimate source of pride and satisfaction, Buchholz says. He regularly gets pictures from anglers who have caught some impressively large fish with his baits. “They’re designed for largemouth bass,” he says. “But we have people catching barramundi off the coast of Australia and snook and tarpon in Florida.”
A mini version of the Metro Glide, the Minne Glide is 5 inches and designed to chop and burn.
Designing lures has now become an obsession for Buchholz. “Every time I come up with a new lure, it’s all I think about for like two weeks,” he says. Luckily for him, swimbait fans are always anxiously waiting for his next drop. “I was lucky to get into the industry when it was very hot,” Buchholz says.
Throwback Baits
Instagram: @throwbackbaits
