so tell me

[bassmaster]

who tests there plugs for afew years???
dont forget the search ingine on the net can be evil.........

[Krispy]

been working on the process for a few years

[thefishingfreak]

is the cave open yet? i wanna test something.

[Slipknot]

I wanna test your IQ

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

I wanna test your IQ

You really want to read the results?

[Slipknot]

Been testing this plug for a few years now Bassmaster



weird, it kinda looks bunnyish, just in time for Easter.

I think we'll have snow in June at the rate this winter has gone

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Mike P

You really want to read the results?

no, I'll forward them to you

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

i heard all plug builders are really bait fishermen in disguise. only been making them for a few years so testing them that long is about right.

[NIB]

I have fished a few of urs for 2 seasons now.one has caugt at least a hundred fish its not long for this world but i still toss it.I have a few of my owns that have done well. i had one i got at least a hundred fish on last fall.It was trashed then i snapped it off.for the most part my plugs suck i am constantly messen wit em.I find the more i do this the more use specific i make things.Its part of the isanity.I get lost in it when I start fishin then i try to remember things as I put some together in the off season.over all as a bunch i am gettin some solid designs.but then I wanna do some other things.that means startin all over.i don't need yrs to know if they will work.they get kilt real fast if they are good.but then again i don't sell any plugs either.

[DaveP]

I like to make an undrilled test blank and attach lips, hooks, and weight with screw eyes. It's an easy way to change and move stuff around to see what happens. I then start making plugs to fish with. I'll go back and play with the test plug whenever I think of something I want to change.

[steelhead]

HOw different are the plugs when you thru wire them with the wood removed and wire going thru, etc., than the test plug with screw eyes? Do you feel you loose some bouyancy? Particualrly smaller plugs?

[bassmaster]

dont know on that one steel, Me thinks it would'nt matter though. utin:

[Tagger]

Thanks Dave ,, hooks pretty far back now ..Top 1 is mine bottom 2 are original ballerinas,,( you still talkin about that damm ballerina),,I hear ya's But ya ,, fishes well and cast well but doesn't cast like a polaris popper.. On bouyancy, I have found copying freswater lures you can add more weight converting to salt for the added bouyancy you get in saltwater, The arrow shows where the orig is weighted ,just like mine .. trying another shot aft of hook to improve the cast as long as I don't loose the angle of the dangle.. Iwant 20 degress .. not 90 not 45 "20" ... Speaking of bouancy I've made this lure out of just about every type of wood ,. What I want it to do ,,. is cover water verticaly as well as horizontaly. And it does. AYC this thing stayed on top and that was that ..Hard maple or birch is the ticket for me .. Snap it down and it works sub surface . snap it up ..there it is .. Yes I've put alot of thought into this .. not just winging it ..

[Christian]

tagger, im doing the exact same thing right now.
maple spooks and spooks with eyes in the back. these are the 1st ones, and ive gotten them to float right without any lead, just using bigger hooks, definitly want to switch over to lead though and get some more distance.

[Tagger]

Shapes on your ballerina spooks look good .. fat head, little arse,,I'm using a 00 shot where shown .. Maple is good for what I want ,, birch dowels are equaly as good ,, I'm sure youv'e walked the dog in your day,, but you don't have to do all that .. just random tugs (darts) and it will act like a real bait fish . I caught so many fish on the smaller one i made the 308l wire on the arse was all streched out , Thats the one I lost at PA and Mac went down the next night and saw a little kid walking with his dad had it in his hand.. He traded him a brand new Mac pikie to get the beat up piece of junk back to me . kid was thrilled and so was I .. a good friend .. If the added weight throws the angle out to much I'll try a larger arse hook thanks ..You want the 20 so when you give it a tug it moves "darts" and almost suspends some what level .. looks good .. arse dropping to 45 ,,90,, would be no good ,,Because I like to fish it real slow sometimes {alot} not all that mental dog walkin..Although when there is alot of fish and the feeding is competitive i do the fast thing .. Then again when the feeding is competitive everybody is catching on something different. I could throw my shoe in the water and catch then ,,

[Slipknot]

Flap, I'm glad to hear your plugs work, gald to see some junk turned into gold also.

I test mine in the bathtub.

[steelhead]

Here are my best two danny plugs so far. Tested these yesterday afternoon in a nice rip near home. Once the lip and loop were aligned like they are in the picture they were like little freight trains. I thing I learned yesterday is that this style plug needs a nice shoulder to pivot around, at least in fast and turbulant current, as well as a belly weight. I have another almost exactly like these with no belly weight and it was clear that it wanted to be in
calmer water..

I'm sure that this is old hat to alot of you guys and the profile is a familiar one. But to own figuring it all out was priceless...

[The Dad Fisherman]

I just finished my 1st batch of homemade ever and will probably swim them this week sometime to see how I did. Being extremely new to plug-building I'm trying to work on the basics of building the plug right now, such as Shaping, sealing, priming, painting, epoxy-coating, and through-wiring (The Drilling is still a giving me grief but I had someone show me a jig that should make it easier).

I'm going to try out the few that I've made and see what i like/don't like about them. Once I'm satisfied that I have the basics down I'm going to start digging into the proto'ing process and really dig into what I need to do to fine tune plugs and what changes the actions.

Like I said right now I just want to learn the basics and then expand off of them. Now to catch something on the ones I've made

[nightfighter]

Steellhead and TDF, glad to see others on the north shore working in some larger wood. Do you share my view that dannys, pikies and the like are seldom seen up this way?

Steelhead, anything showing there yesterday?

[steelhead]

Nothing showing there yesterday... I see danny's, poppers and pencil poppers. Haven't encountered needles, and pikies being used by other fishermen. Maybe where I'm fishing???

[The Dad Fisherman]

What I've noticed is that the Pencil Popper seems to be the plug of choice up around here. I have seen a few people throwing needles and the, very, occasional Darter. after that i see a lot of bombers, yozuri crystal minnows, and mambo minnows.