When Arel Brown got out of the US Navy after World War II, he chose to leave his Alabama home for the Charleston, SC area. You could not readily buy fishing lures immediately after the war, so Brown began making them. For a period of only about eighteen months in 1947-1948, he was making fishing lures as The Santee Bait Company. With the help of a cousin, he made the lures in the basement of the home owned by his aunt and uncle. Mr. Brown estimates that only about 1,500 baits were ever made. The lures were turned on a small lathe and hand painted in a variety of colorful patterns. The Santee Bait Company produced some of the finest wooden lures ever made in South Carolina. Santee Baits were turned on this small lathe Paperwork for The Santee Bait Company describes four lures made by the company. They were called The Dolly Jumper, Gumpy, Snoopy, and The Santee Special. There were some subtle variations within lure types and several lures have also been found that are different from the four basic baits.

Click on any of the thumbnail images below to see a larger picture

Dalton Special Type	Snoopy	Gumpy Downturned nose & flat belly
Gumpy Upturned nose & pointed Belly	Gumpy Upturned nose & flat belly	Dolly Jumper Flat belly
Dolly Jumper Lure Pointed Belly	Don't know what to call this one	Santee Special Variation with slightly more rounded lower lip. The lure maker actually called this one a darter and hand wrote the name on the box.
Santee Special - Small Size	Santee Special Lure

Santee Baits were packaged in one-piece folding top boxes. Box markings evolved from plain rubber stamped, to paper labels, to fancy graphics.The different box styles can be see here.

Plain top Stamp on front panel	Stamp on top & front panels Stamped lure name	Stamp on top & front panels Handwritten lure name
Label on top - lure name stamped	Label on top - lure name hand written	Graphics box