When I set about making a plug I look at others plugs and take from them things I like.. for instance, I liked bassmasters round nose on his needles, so i gave me needles round noses. I love habs needles and like they way they ride at 45 degrees so I tried to duplicate that by throwing alot of lead in the tail. AS far as painting, there are certian colors that we all know are killer so i go with what works. The result is a needle that is unique to me, but in the same way its a combination of many peoples designs morpphed into one plug.
With the exceptoin of a few poppers, i have never gone out and copied an exact replica of someones plug, i dont beleive in that.
When I test my plugs I go down to the narrow river in narragansett and swim my darters and swimmers in a few of the rips that are close to shore and not too far of a walk. I bring a pair of plyers, split rings, hooks in 2/0, 3/0, and 4/0 and sometimes a notepad. This winter was the year of learning how to make darters and I had a few that didnt work and alot that were jems. the ones that didnt work didnt get trashed, but are hanging in my shop with notes attached to them explaining why they didnt work- too big of a nose loop, too heavy of a wood, too light a wood... from those I learn what not to do...
Swimmers are pretty hard to screw up, and testing those is just tweaking the loop and lip to get them to wiggle right. sometimes i need to change up a hoook size to give it more belly weight.
next on my list of plugs to learn to make are pikies.. then jointed swimmers. Its fun and in the end, the fish will tell you what they want.
Ive leraned almost everything about building plugs from this board and for that I am thankful
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