6th Sense lures started with hand-painted crankbaits while founder Casey Sobczak was a student/fisherman at Stephen F. Austin State University, but has grown to offer fishing gear across a wide spectrum.

From unique and humble beginnings Texas’ 6th Sense Fishing has grown into a multi-faceted fishing industry competitor.

In a roundabout way 6th Sense began after Casey Sobczak was on the winning Stephen F. Austin State University fishing team at the first ESPN College Smash-Mouth Bass Championship in 2005.

That win earned him a spot on ESPN2’s Bass Tech where Sobczak learned how to airbrush crankbaits and was given a painting setup to take back to Nacogdoches.

Majoring in marketing, Sobczak went to SFA primarily to bass fish.

“I had never seen the campus. I knew nothing about it. I was actually playing soccer at Texas State University in San Marcos, but I hurt my ankle and my soccer career was over,” Sobczak explained.

A buddy told him SFA had a bass fishing team so the two decided to transfer to fish … and attend school.

For the ESPN made-for-TV event on Arkansas’ Lake Monticello, Sobczak was paired with Jonathan Garrie against teams from Texas A&M, Illinois, Purdue, Kentucky and Iowa. While most of the fishermen sought small fish for daily limits on the slot-limit lake, Sobczak pulled out a Carolina rig on the final day trying to land big bass. Fifteen minutes into the day he hooked a 6.6-pounder leading the team to a tournament total of 17.8 and a 5.4-pound win over second-place Illinois.

With the championship trophy came the invite to learn how to paint baits. Afterwards Sobczak returned to Nacogdoches and began repainting lures and blanks for himself and teammates to their liking. For someone who considers himself not very artistic, Sobczak did not expect to go much farther with the airbrush than being a hobby.

However, in 2009 he graduated and after unsuccessfully sending out about 50 resumes to oil companies in search of a job he shifted gears and began looking at selling lures. However, he had to overcome two obstacles, making a niche in a crowded fishing tackle industry and more dauntingly building a business on not a shoe-string budget, but really no budget.

“I reached out to a friend who had connections in China. I sold my bass boat to get molds,” Sobczak said.

Still hand-painting the lures one at a time Sobczak was selling lures at prices running from $30-$75. Then they took off and he learned he could have the lures custom hand-painted to his specification overseas and do better selling more for less.

“Everyone started buying them at $7.95. It was better for me because I was not having to smell paint all day, and instead of making 15 to 20 at a time I was ordering hundreds at a time,” he said.

Even then Sobczak had to sell inventory to raise money to order more and then wait several months for the newest stock to arrive.

“I kept turning and burning with the cash I had, still flipping it,” he added.

The break-over came in 2018 when cash-flow was no longer an issue. 6th Sense not only had enough products, but it also had the demand making it easier to get into stores along with online sales. Today the company not only offers crankbaits, but also has soft plastics, swim baits, frogs, spinners, umbrella rigs, jigs, terminal tackle, rods and other accessories. All or parts of its line can be found in about 300 retailers nationwide from small tackle shops to big box stores, as well as being available in Japan, Spain and Austria.

Although the product line has grown past the point Sobczak can do it all, he still is hands-on and never expects to completely leave the paint booth.

“I am still the lead designer, but I get ideas from our pros. (BASS pro) Ben Milliken has been a big help,” he explained.

One of the most recent examples is the company’s rod line. Sobczak designed the looks and colors of the rods, but left the final decision on actions and testing up to others.

And there are big plans for the rods in the future for the company now based in Willis, north of Houston.

“We are focusing on rods. We want to bring all of the rods stateside and make them here in Texas except for the blanks,” Sobczak said.

The plan is the same for the soft bait line.

“That is our biggest goal and our hardest goal, bringing everything back,” he said, adding he proudly wants to be able to say Texas-made about his products.

While starting as a crankbait company, Sobczak said it did not take long to realize he needed other baits.

“When it hits March and April and everyone is in the bushes flipping or throwing soft baits, I knew we had to come up with something or we were not going to be in business,” Sobczak said.

He is currently working on a life-like looking swim bait line called Panorama that will be fished like a drop-shot or Carolina rig instead of a worm. A saltwater soft plastic is also in the plans.

6th Sense is not at the low end when it comes to pricing, but its quality from hooks to paint that holds up on its crankbaits makes them worth the cost.

“We are selling to guys that like to fish, not to the rich. They bust their butt for a paycheck and they want to go out and catch fish and get their money’s worth. If it cost a little more, we say let’s do it. We are looking at the long term,” Sobczak said.

As for the company’s unusual name, the founder said it just fit.

“It took me a long time to come up with a name that I thought was perfect. When it popped into my head, I immediately knew it was the one that fit with the outdoors. I wish I had a better answer, but truly think it was just a little luck mixed with my calling,” he said.