Backwater Bandits Lure Company was born in the salty creeks of coastal North Carolina—where cattails line the banks, oyster shells crunch under the hull, and the fish fight dirty. Stephen Hamilton and Patrick Morris weren’t out to build a brand. They were just two buddies chasing speckled trout and redfish through the marsh, tired of flashy store-bought lures that didn’t deliver. So they did what real anglers do—they got their hands dirty.

They started crafting lures from scratch—experimenting with shapes, dialing in colors, and testing each one and the same waters they fished every week. The first bait to prove itself was a pearl-colored prototype—subtle, clean, and full of flash in the water. Stephen tied it on during an early morning trip to East Lake. First cast, that pearl bait got smoked by a hungry speckled trout. That strike wasn’t just a win—it was the spark. They named the lure the BudderCup™, and Backwater Bandits was born.

Since that day, every lure has been hand made with purpose and tested in the same coastal waters that inspired them. No gimmicks. No shortcuts. Just proven baits for inshore anglers who know the grind.

Backwater Bandits Lure Co.

Hand Made. Field-Proven. Built for the Bite.