Not every 13-year-old boy would consider using his birthday money to start a business, but that’s what Nate Cizek did.
“Nate turned 13 in July and got a bunch of money for his birthday,” said his dad, Aaron Cizek, who lives outside Hillsboro. “We’ve been really into fishing – we do hockey in the winter and fishing (and golf) in the summer.
“He’d seen a YouTube video and wanted to make his own bait, so he used his birthday money to buy the first mold and everything we need. And then he asked me if we could sell them.”
Ten months later, Nate’s Baits St. Louis is selling baits at Valley Park Elevator and Hardware in Valley Park; Camdenton Feed, Seed & Supply in Camdenton; Blackjack Marina in Perry; Jase Outdoors in Pilot Knob and Fish Lake Outdoors in Harris, Minn.
“We ship them all over the Midwest,” Aaron said.
Customers also may buy the teen’s products at natesbaitsstl.com or through the Nate’s Baits STL Facebook page.
For now, Nate’s Baits is a family business involving Nate; his parents, Amber and Aaron; and his 10-year-old sister, Charlotte.
Aaron said Nate can take over the business when he turns 18.
“I do it on my off time,” said Aaron, a Fenton Fire Protection District firefighter. Nate’s mom is a real estate agent.
“It’s just something fun for us to do together,” Aaron said.
Nate, who will be a freshman at Hillsboro High School this fall, said he enjoys making baits in the basement with his dad.
This is the mold that Nate’s Baits uses for its Warrior Craws.
He said his favorite part is the reveal – pulling the mold apart – but he likes the whole process, from choosing the color to mixing the plastisol to injecting and pouring materials into the molds.
“We can do any color, any combination of flake (glitter),” Aaron said. “It actually starts out like this milk color. It’s like a milk kind of liquid and then you heat it up to like 350 degrees in the microwave, or we got a little crockpot kind of thing. We add colors and the flake that we have back here and use a big syringe to kind of put it in the mold. We got worms and all kinds of stuff.”
Aaron said some clients ask them to make certain baits or use colors they can’t find in the store anymore.
Nate said a bait called a Warrior Craw in a green pumpkin color is his personal favorite for bass fishing. His favorite bait for crappie fishing is a 2-inch minnow with a white body and an orange tail.
Aaron said the family sent baits to some guides at the Lake of the Ozarks and to friends and family who fish to try to get pictures of them using the baits.
“Some people caught some big fish on our stuff,” he said. “It’s exciting when you see … even (Nate’s) buddy caught his biggest fish on one of them in the backyard.”
For the love of fishing
The bait business funds Nate’s fishing hobby.
Aaron said Nate started fishing as soon as he could walk.
“The last couple of years he did fishing league with his buddy Colton,” Aaron said. “They have a junior high division and a high school division and there’s like four or five tournaments a year at lakes all over Missouri.
“And then we do crappie tournaments together up in Mark Twain (Lake) and down at Lake of the Ozarks. And then just fishing in the backyard (on Raintree Lake). He’s got a bait shop in the basement, so he can’t blame anyone else except for him if we aren’t catching, I guess.”
Nate has a few favorite fishing spots.
“I like fishing at Mark Twain Lake for crappie and Lake of the Ozarks for bass and Raintree for bass and crappie from the backyard,” he said.
Nate and his family have donated some of their products to charities.
“We’ve donated to Warrior William Project, which is a family close to us that lost their child to Rett syndrome,” Aaron said. “We donated about 1,000 bags to them (for their fishing tournament). We have a friend – William’s uncle who actually bought us a mold, and we named the baits after (baby William). So our Warrior Craws are named after Warrior William.”