More on Plugs

[NIB]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Really? Considering the quality of what they developed, I'd guess they were very good fishermen long before they started building plugs commercially. It seems to have been demand for their plugs that led them to their business, not internet hype, or a brilliant business plan. So if they were such talented fishermen, why were they wasting their time with plugs in the first place?

Why?? Some one was constantly looking for the better mousetrap..
Or the same reasons many of us tinker. That mother of invention thing...Necessity.
Talking with Donny he had heard these guys where trolling this lure in NJ and having good luck with it.He had got his hands on one, long with a blunt nose he had never seen one like it before.He toyed with the design, being long it did not cast well so he shortened it from the tail end.The Danny was born.That is why in Musso's designs the thickest part is aft of center on the plug.
They made lures because there was demand for items that could catch and hold up to catching.From what I understand Steve Campo is as responsible for pushing Donny and Danny as anyone..He was the original plug Ho.Constantly wheeling and dealing.Using the one against the other to get what he wanted.Basically scoffing up all that they would make of some runs.One of the original hard core surfman..There is so much in today's surfcasting that he is responsible for..

[Sea Dangles]

Hey NIB, I got a nice lot from Campos before he went North. I have Musso's with Campo lips on them, they swim better than the originals. I am assuming the majority of the original plug designs had their genesis in the off season; the period in a fisherman's calendar known as Winter. This is when real fishermen dream of the one that got away while pluggers concoct designs to catch more legal sized fish. You know, they daydream and then go in their basement with an idea on whose plug should be resurrected for old times sake. They proceed to do their best to make a duplicate of an outdated design in order to recreate yesteryear.The resulting product may be offerred to those with similar interests on a predetermined weekend to garner oohs and aahs. The gathered obelisks will then be hung on respective walls to be admired by those in the know for the purpose of receiving complements on paint schemes and finish. I guess an idle mind IS the Devil's workshop. I prefer to go the grassroots method and abstain from paint schemes and fake eyes on wood that could heat my humble abode.
Viva la eel!!!!

[NIB]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Hey NIB, I got a nice lot from Campos before he went North. I have Musso's with Campo lips on them, they swim better than the originals. I am assuming the majority of the original plug designs had their genesis in the off season; the period in a fisherman's calendar known as Winter. This is when real fishermen dream of the one that got away while pluggers concoct designs to catch more legal sized fish. You know, they daydream and then go in their basement with an idea on whose plug should be resurrected for old times sake. They proceed to do their best to make a duplicate of an outdated design in order to recreate yesteryear.The resulting product may be offerred to those with similar interests on a predetermined weekend to garner oohs and aahs. The gathered obelisks will then be hung on respective walls to be admired by those in the know for the purpose of receiving complements on paint schemes and finish. I guess an idle mind IS the Devil's workshop. I prefer to go the grassroots method and abstain from paint schemes and fake eyes on wood that could heat my humble abode.
Viva la eel!!!!

`

I remember, you showed me a few..
I oooed and aahed..
Hell ain't a bad place to be..
I heard there are snakes there also..

[numbskull]

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

[Sea Dangles]

The plugs were and still are conversation pieces. Fodder for cold months.People have been known to plan parties around them.
Picture a coffee table book.....

[Sea Dangles]

No one would go to eelfest,pogiefest sounds rivetting.



But PLUGfest, that's a PARTY!!!

[t.orlando]

[QUOTE=Sea Dangles;645869]No one would go to eelfest,pogiefest sounds rivetting.

I'm in for EelFest.

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by t.orlando

I'm in for EelFest.

There might be something in this.

[Sea Dangles]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

There are times when bait is not practical or attainable. I have set out to fish and if I can't make bait I go home. I can't reach the center of the ditch with a pogie head so in this instance I swallow my pride and throw a painted piece of wood with hooks stuck in it. Different applications call for different methods.

[Joe]

Eels are very effective, but they cast like crap and they cost money and they need to be tended to. Every three bass, or one bluefish, you catch on lure, the realized cost of the lure depreciates by the price of one eel. If you are selling fish, dealing with eels and deep hooked fish slows you down more than popping them off a plug.

I've read many times where people started experimenting building plugs and then it grew into a commercial venture. Also, the reasons people do things originally, and keep doing them later on, is not fixed. You might start a venture for one reason, and find yourself doing it five years later for different reasons. Motivations are personal and transitory; they expire with the passing of the people who held them, what is left is legacy. The legacy of the original plug builders is greater and more secure now, than ever.

[numbskull]

Sooooooooooo..... then this fisherman's fisherman, Mr Campo, that everyone respects so much primarily fished eels and only collected plugs for conversation and the rare occasions when he couldn't throw eels downwind? Surely somebody here knew him and confirm this.

And Mr Gibbs, Mr Musso, and Mr Pichney liked eels best, but used plugs as a way to make a quick buck off less knowledgable fishermen? Is that true?

Enquiring minds want to know?

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

Tony C. knew and knows Campo very well. We have talked at length about him. Campo was a rabid bass fisherman and just like when we fished eels and bait we (at least I) still had to have every plug that came down the pike. It's an obsession. You think you had to have it because it might be that one thing that gets you better catches than the next guy.

Tony told me that when his shop (Bass Run)was out of Pichneys or Musso's wooden creations that he could always ge a bunch from Steve C. because it was unbelievable that someone could carry that many plugs on a fishing trip plus the eel live and rigged. He was simply obsessed, aren't we all when it comes to Striper fishing in some sort of way?

Tony said Mr. Campo lives in Canada now looking for better bass grounds as far as he knew.

I'd love to meet him.

[Grapenuts]

there is a word for all that plug buying, and it's a real sickness treated only by a doctor..I know someone just like steve c. who lives in orleans..he was telling me he has a basement full of thousands still in their pkging from back in the sixties..you name it he has them..evert color and size...he told me that he'd spend 3/4 of his pay check every week buying stuff he knew he'd never use, had to get his fix.For years he kept this up untill he was treated for this sickness....and to this day he still won't part with one.Said his wife and kids will be very well taken care of when he passes and they have a yardsale.

[flyvice11787]

Originally Posted by Grapenuts

there is a word for all that plug buying, and it's a real sickness treated only by a doctor..I know someone just like steve c. who lives in orleans..he was telling me he has a basement full of thousands still in their pkging from back in the sixties..you name it he has them..evert color and size...he told me that he'd spend 3/4 of his pay check every week buying stuff he knew he'd never use, had to get his fix.For years he kept this up untill he was treated for this sickness....and to this day he still won't part with one.Said his wife and kids will be very well taken care of when he passes and they have a yardsale.

Hopefully, his wife and kids will know what the plugs are actually worth before they sell it off .