OK...Ive made about a 15 different swimmers.....still can't find out why they won't swim.....some swim ok...some just don't...but none of them swim the way I want them to. I tried moving the weight...messing with the lip...just can't seem to get it. Can somebody please help me.....not looking for a secret formula or anything...just some help. PM me if you don't want to go public....Thank you for any help. Jay

1.Go to the top of this forum to the how to.
Look at the merry plugmas thread
2.Copy a plug you have that works well
Change it a little and see what happens

It would help if you explained what they do that you don't like.

Have you tried a lip with a lower wire slot?
Have you tried weighting the plug (chin, belly, or tail)?
Have you tried a narrower lip?
How fast are you retrieving them?

What Style?

What Wood?

What Size?

What Lip(s) have you tried?

Have you varied the ammount of weight?

Are the weights centered?

Is the lip centered?

Even, the tail loop being off-center can throw things off

What do you want the plug to do???

OK.....some seem to not want to " dig in "....tried bending the lip..it helped some......some want to " roll " ...I have weighted the chin only on some..tried moving it to the back on some....one of the "problems" is that I feel as though I am guessing...almost like I don't understand " how " they work......I want them to have a tight wiggle...that is what I am trying to get anyway.

I'm going to try the merry plug thread....that looks helpful.

Thanks for the help as always......feel like I owe all of you a plug..couldn't have gotten this far without ya's!!

AYC....start 2x2....NJ lips...have tried some variations of weight, location....

I'm very new at this too but found two major reasons some of my stuff swam like a stick..

1) too much weight

2) lip placed too high on the body..

Do all your experimenting with one plug. You need some control and bouncing around to different plugs will not allow it.
Also only change "ONE" thing at a time!

I struggled with them too but I found the simplest fix was to just bend the Eye Loop up. Made some pikies that woudn't dig and fudged with the lip and different hooks and such....then i just bent the loop up and they dig and swim most pissah now....give that a try

Thanks Guys!!!

I'll post my results.

to tune a swimmer bent the wire loop down if u want to stay on top up if u want the plug down use a pair of neddlenose u will see a big difference :wave:

You are unlikely to get a "tight wiggle" with a round body metal lipped swimmer. The wide lip pulls the plug side to side which causes a slow wobble/roll action. For wiggle you want a long narrow flat body, long narrow lip, and line tie just beneath the nose. Like a rebel/rapala style........which is handcarve stuff. Jointing a metal lip swimmer will tighten its wobble some, however.

Good info. I needed that as I am trying some lipped stuff and feel somewhat in the dark too. Thanks George

When I am curious how a new profile will perform with different weight placement/ lips, etc. I spin one up drill a few holes for weight placement and bring the unfinished profile, screw eyes, lead belly weights, tape and assorted lips with me to my testing spot. I'll put a lip on with a screw eye, weight in one of the holes covered with tape, and toss it out and see what it does. Bring a pad and pencil along as well so you can record your results. Now, try another hole with the lead, and see what the difference in action is. Do the same with different lips. You can also try moving the lip up and down on the nose, bending the eye, different hook sizes, bucktail dressed or not dressed...the combintaions are many, and if you record what you observe, you should get a much better understanding of how all these variables will effect the action of the plug. If you want to be more creative, bring more than one profile, short and fat, long and skinny and see how they swim differently with similar weight placement and lips.
This is how I learned, and from my experience, you will learn more from your experimentation than from anything you can read. Hands on is definitely the way to go.

Good luck!! and most importantly, have fun!

"I want them to have a tight wiggle"

As in something like a danny? If so, weight in the belly, middle of plug. Narrower lip (Danny or Lefty depending on the size). The lefty will give you a little more roll. Line tie centered. The tips jnski gave for testing work real well.

Jigman