The Bait Artist

American Baitworks product designer continues chipping away at tradition

Andrew Gardner flunked his high school woodworking class. He knew the assignment, but more importantly, the future bait artist knew himself. 

“I carved a brown trout and we were supposed to build a box,” Gardner chuckles. “I grew up on Long Island, New York, and I fly fished a lot with my dad. He was a wood carver and he loved carving trout, so that’s probably why I did that.”

Bucking a school assignment wasn’t rebellion; rather, it was a young soul committed to planting the roots of what has blossomed into a brilliantly expressive and skillfully founded bait-making career. A naturally artistic type who first embraced drawing, Gardner quickly learned to love his father’s craft and eventually established Melosh Custom Baits.

Sixteen years after failing that East Islip High School woodworking class, Gardner won his first carving competition—the 2008 Great Lakes Fish Decoy Association (GLFDA) Best in Show Decorative Decoy and Best in Show Working Decoy. Like the hundreds of carvings since that day of personal triumph, Gardner’s first of many awards validated both his life’s course, and its deeply resonating meaning.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Since 2018, Gardner has parlayed his artistic talent and functional sensibilities into his role as the product designer for the Mississippi-based bait and tackle company, American Baitworks. Reflecting the artist’s practical prowess, many of Gardner’s creations and color ways make regular appearances in pro-level tournaments, including the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Chickamauga, which Texas pro Lee Livesay won with the Scum Frog Launch Frog.

With a keen eye for color ways and anatomical form, Gardner finds his carving business and the corporate gig balance nicely while keeping him in his zone. Specializing in what he terms the whimsical and the weird, Gardner said he enjoys blending the species-specific work with pure creative indulgence.

“Sometimes, my favorite pieces come from just grabbing a chunk of wood and carving into it,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a real fish species. What goes through my head is, ‘What can I carve out of this piece of wood that’s never been seen before?’ Those are the pieces that give you the most satisfaction. I think the copying of species is fairly easy, but my own style has taken many years to develop.”

Gardner traces his characteristic looks to a comic strip he created during the late ‘80s. The title character, “Melosh”—the namesake for his bait carving business— fished for various alien species on the planet “Anchovia.”

Today, from his home in Bayonet Point, Florida (about an hour north of Tampa Bay), Gardner brings forth his inner vision in a 20 by 30 workshop. The early years found him carving with knives, but as his productivity needs grew, Gardner moved into power carving with Dremel-style micro tools and Foredom tools.

“The type of wood I use is based on the type of lure and its intended function,” Gardner said. “Basswood and cedar are good for lures. I use tupelo for display pieces.”

IN DEMAND

Gardner makes a lot of collector-quality lures and ice spearing decoys that never see a drop of water. Others are straight-up bite getters and pike foolers with exquisite detail, vividly natural colors, and captivating eye work. Signing and dating each piece, Gardner spares no effort in turning wood into wonder.

“Most carvers use glass or stick-on eyes, but I hand paint my own eyes,” he said. “I also make my eyes slightly larger than they are on a natural fish to add more personality.

“The eye is generally the first thing a viewer checks out, so I ensure they’re unique. It worked for the Mona Lisa.”

A fishable swimbait, glidebait, or topwater might go for $50, while collectors pieces reach into the $2,000 range. Decoys go for $100 to a few thousand. More elaborate display pieces—typically commissioned works—with habitat elements requiring greater time and effort fetch higher prices.

Including the carving, painting, and curing, lure and decoy projects vary from 10 to 40 hours. Larger display projects may last several weeks.

“The most memorable piece I’ve carved was when a client commissioned me to carve a replica of George Perry’s world record 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass,” Gardner said. “I didn’t realize until I found the length and girth online how big that fish was; it was huge.”

While Gardner has carved just about everything that swims, with plenty of top-tier species from life size tarpon and peacock bass, he favors the more humble rough fish clan. It’s blue collar, nostalgic; these often marginalized fish of his youth.

“I like to carve the species that people don’t like to carve like the carp, the buffalo, the suckers,” he said. “When I was a kid, I used to fish for carp with my dad and it just brings back memories every time I carve one.”

A DEEP CONNECTION

While Gardner’s father mostly carved as a hobby, his skill garnered the attention that led to international media coverage, including covers of magazines like Field & Stream and Sports Afield. He also developed a niche that immortalized many a personal best.

“He captured people’s catches [as an alternative to] taxidermy,” Gardner said. “He would carve their memories into wood.”

This motivated an aspiring young carver who would enhance the father’s craft with a layer of his own.

“I like to relive people’s memories of catching fish in the decorative carvings I do, but I also like to create the lures that actually make the memories,” Gardner said.

In addition to domestic and international showings, Gardner has competed in several competitions, including the Bait Bash Championship, held in Karlstad, Sweden, which he’s twice won for most creative bait design. He has also won the National Fish Decoy Association title and notched seven wins at the GLFDA World Championship.

On the other side of competition, Gardner has created one-of-a-kind awards plaques. Example: Prior to the 2022 Bassmaster Classic, Gardner hand-carved a spotted bass and mounted it to a plaque for the event’s top-finishing American Baitworks angler.

Gardner’s father passed away in May 2023, four months before his son’s seventh GLFDA title. Gardner’s winning entry was a black buffalo, a somewhat rough fish species reminiscent of those youthful fishing trips with the man who helped fuel the bait artist’s career—and life—fulfillment.

“I dedicated the win to my dad,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to win with something that he would have thought was cool.”

Modern equipment and materials, along with the Internet age, broadened a son’s horizons, but Gardner remains rooted in the family bond that inspired an ill-fated, yet life-shaping brown trout.  

Kinda reminds you of Dan Fogelberg’s 1981 hit, The Leader of the Band, in which the artist pays tribute to the musical legacy passed from father to son. 

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band

Gardner agrees the stories relate. 

The gift of music, as with wood carving, came with the charge to take it farther, make it bigger; but never lose the passion for creation.

“I’m trying to carry on what my dad started,” Gardner said. “I want each piece to be better than the last.”

To this end, Gardner refuses to place any of his work in his home. In his view, the next piece will always be his best, so keeping past works on display would only anchor him to a previous level of his ongoing development.

“I enjoy creating every piece and getting better with every one.”

CARVING FOR THE CLASSIC

The Ray Scott Trophy: It’s the symbol of Bassmaster Classic victory, the elusive king-of-the-hill crown, and unquestionably the sport’s most coveted prize. 

But while Justin Hamner’s wire-to-wire victory on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees made him the newest member of a prestigious club with only 42 other members, his dominant performance also earned him a truly unique prize. So unique, in fact, there’s only one other like it—and Hamner owns that one, too.

Starting with the present, woodworking wizard Gardner honored the fourth-year Elite’s Classic win by creating an amazingly detailed award plaque featuring a hand-carved largemouth bass made from Mississippi Tupelo. Two years prior, Gardner created a similar carving for the highest-finishing Classic angler aligned with American Baitworks, where Gardner serves as product designer.

In his Classic debut at that 2022 event on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell, Hamner made his presence known with a fourth-place finish that topped the ABW pro staff. Missing the 2023 Classic lit a fire that would see him comfortably coast into qualification for the 2024 championship by finishing 21st in Angler of the Year points. 

Coming off an eight-place finish at the 2023 season’s final event at the St. Lawrence River, Hamner preceded the Classic with strong finishes at the new season’s first two events (14th at Toledo Bend, third at Lake Fork). 

He walked in confident and walked out a champion.

Dedicated Space: Of his second ABW plaque’s destination, Hamner references the first one’s immediate popularity.

“The plaque from 2022 is the only thing my wife let me hang in our living room,” he chuckled. “Andrew’s work is phenomenal. It’s amazing to see some of the stuff he’s crafted.

“I already have a spot picked out for the new plaque.”

Apparently, an owl painting has been demoted.

Perspective and Appreciation: For a couple of years now, Hamner has tinkered with wooden lure design—mostly rough ideas of suggested bait designs he offers to ABW. But just as Hamner’s probably the superior angler, the Classic champ admittedly poses no threat to Gardner in the bait carving competitions.

“There’s so much more than just making a mold and carving it out,” Hamner said. “He really goes into detail of what it takes to make a lure swim right—where the line tie is, where the hook hangers are, how it’s weighted.”

As someone who’s seen a whole lot of bass in his 33 years, Hamner tipped his hat to Gardner’s masterful representation of his perpetual target.

“It’s scary how accurate it is—down to the gill plate,” Hamner said. “It’s the little details you wouldn’t think about. Every fish you catch is different and I think he captured something unique.”

Making the Connection: Hamner and Gardner equip themselves with different tools, they work in different settings, and they employ different techniques. Still, the reigning Classic champ says he gets what makes Gardner tick: his drive, his motivation.

“I see it as in both of us are trying to be the best at what we do,” Hamner said. “Looking at his work, it’s so good. I’ve always loved—whether it’s in football, golf, or something else—guys who master their craft. That’s what I’m going to do.”

The Start of a Streak?: Small is the number of talented, dedicated anglers who will ever own the Ray Scott trophy. Smaller still, the count of those who’ll adorn their wall with an Andrew Gardner carving.

“I gotta keep this streak going,” Hamner said. “It’s so special. I guess I’m just gonna keep doing well in Classics.”

The Final Cut: At the time of his Classic win, Hamner was less than a year removed from the lawn care business that previously had supported his tournament fishing dream.

So, a guy who used to cut grass wins a hand-carved plaque made by a guy named Gardner. 

Life writes its own tales.