Other than the flat belly, is there anything else different about a canal special? Are they weighted any different or is all the lead still in the tail ?

Personally, I put all the weight in the tails and flatten the bottom. Other than that, nothing else real special

Bob,
I know the current will help hold them up and thats why the bottom is flat. How low should they sit in the water at rest, are they still floaters?

I found one that had been broken off or stolen by seals last Summer. They don't float, but are bouyant enough to "hop" along the bottom at about a 45degree angle. Maybe steeper. The bottom hook was nearly worn through but the wire looked pristine. Check out the wear pattern..

I find they work best when the nose just sticks out of the water
vertically..That 3 1/8 model Gibbs is tough to beat..
I like em without the current also i don't even fish a round bottom pencil..

I heard Stan Gibbs himself didn't care for the flat bottom .

I heard Stan Gibbs himself didn't care for the flat bottom .

Thats was Fat Bottom....
:hihi:

I found one that had been broken off or stolen by seals last Summer. They don't float, but are bouyant enough to "hop" along the bottom at about a 45degree angle. Maybe steeper. The bottom hook was nearly worn through but the wire looked pristine. Check out the wear pattern..

I'm sure that is one of Mikey's lost to a seal.

I found one that had been broken off or stolen by seals last Summer. They don't float, but are bouyant enough to "hop" along the bottom at about a 45degree angle. Maybe steeper. The bottom hook was nearly worn through but the wire looked pristine. Check out the wear pattern..

Hop along the "bottom"?????

Thanks guys, entertaining and helpful as usual. :kewl:

Nothing Hops along the bottom of the ditch..It either bumps or hangs up. The canal special would never see the bottom on the end of a line.:laughs:

Hop along the "bottom"?????

Don't laugh ... Angler#1 once showed me a blue/white polaris popper he loaded with so much lead ,, he worked the bottom and got some nice fish on it ..It did finally hang up in that giant pile of tackle down there and was lost ..

Yeah Bill, Hop. I think that that particular plug had just enough bouyancy stand at about 45 degrees on the bottom. Wave and current action caused it to "hop" along and wear the paint and a little pine off the bottom. :happy: Woulda said "bob" but I thought that that would imply that it broke the surface. Slip, I lost one just like that to a seal and a MAC SS Special. I bet all the plugs lost there last season would stock a good sized tackle shop.

Fred to give you an idea of the number of plugs lost on the race one sunday morning two freinds of mine found 32 plugs in the heads of fish laying on the beach. that was the morning after one of those none stop bluefish blitzs.another morning i saw a guy snokling fill a kids beach pail with tins. one of which i am sure Slip lost, a Point jude TC sand eel .between my son and i we lost about 50 pencils to blues and seals the month of august.

If the seals weren't bad enough, now I have BBJs after my canal specials. :wavey:

When I saw that plug, I thought "Mikey!!". I saw you lose a few, I can only imagine your total plug lose for last season.

I lost a bunch of nice plugs, unfortunately many times they were attatched to nice fish, to those seals this year. Between all the plugs my brother and I have hoed off of you, I probably owe you a dozen of those. For those of you who don't know, Fred is like Pluga Claus. I'll be fighting a fish, taking a leak, or doing something that takes my eyes off of car for a minute. When I go back to my rig, sometimes these plugs will be mysteriously hanging off of a mirror or windshield wiper. He's like Batman, I never even knew he was there. Thanks Pluga Claus!!!