Trying to get some interaction here between everyone. I'm going to try and run an Imitate This thread if its successful we'll run one every 2-3 weeks to give everyone time to come up with stuff, at the end we'll post pictures.

Last fall for 2-3 weeks we couldnt get the bass to eat any big wood, one night we realize why... they were going to TOWN on these little guys and the water was pretty much clouds of these Northern sennets, looked like someone spilled bottles of yoohoo in the water every so often. So, for the first imitate this we'll do the Northern Sennet. It can be your interpretation, exactly the same or just colors or exaggerated, bigger smaller etc. The picture below is just a quick pic I found, feel free to look up others etc. Im curious to see what everyone comes up with, since this is the first one lets plan on posting final pictures on April 30th. Until then its cool to post up ideas you're kicking around, progress pictures etc etc. Hopefully we'll get some good participation out of this one and maybe a few more guys on the next one etc etc..


Here is the fishbase information for the species:

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/speciessummary.php?id=3679

For those of us who have never seen one before, what is the average size and how do they swim?

:kewl: idea btw.

Jigman

Good idea TT
That looks like a skinny wahoo

wicked, Vic! I'll give it a go!

related to barracuda

http://images.google.com/images?q=Sphyraena+borealis&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

I'll try it too

Jiggy,

We were seeing them from the 7-9 inch range.

Vic, cool idea. I saw those for the first time last summer. They were hitting tiny castmasters we had the kids throwing at tinker blues.

I took a couple of pictures of them as the whole time I'm thinking, needlefish...needlefish... Here's few more pictures...

great pic diggin :kewl:

This sounds fun!

We have several barracuda species here in Hawaii and I often see small sizes (3-4") waiting motionless around the boat ramp hoping for mosquito fish and such to show up.

My future needle lures are meant to imitate these guys in hopes of having small jacks go after them.

I'll give it a try...:read:

Vic, were these guys breaking water when pressured?

That with Hilo's post, these mini 'cudas have gotten plug builders going from one end of this Country to the other - half a world away.

Yeah it's past my bedtime:wavey:

the man of the future isn't up to the tiny barracuda challenge :jester:

hey did ya see that florida guy who got bitten by the huge barracuda...? he caught a small fish and prolly didnt know it...
so he was live lining and when he lifted it ...the cuda jumped in the boat....he had hundreds of stitches

The man of the future takes a ride in his "Way Back" machine on weekends. Keeps the appreciation level up some. Baracuda ina boat. Bet things got real loud and REAL busy then!!

Bet things got real loud and REAL busy then!!

Ya Fred, like my Dad used to say,

"the air musta been blue blue". :hihi:

Saw your post this morning, while drinkin' that first cup of java, and thought I'd give it a try. I mean, what the heck, it's just me-n-the-dog home today...

Used a template for a 9 inch needle; turned it offset 1/8 inch; chopped the nose back; weighted it to slow sink level. Body is a hair over 7 inches... with the tail, about 9.25" and 1.7 ounces. Rush job, so it's a little sloppy on the lateral line and the pearl overshot the gray side scales a bit more than I wanted... but it might work if we ever get some sennet swimming through Jersey.

Ahhh beautiful!!!!!! :kewl: Thats awesome RON!!! :cheers:

Saw your post this morning, while drinkin' that first cup of java, and thought I'd give it a try. I mean, what the heck, it's just me-n-the-dog home today...


I'm IMPRESSED, really impressed. I was thinking along the same lines, an offset turned/or handcarved glider, but it would have taken me a day to build and weight it, 24 hours to seal, 24 to prime and test, 24 to paint, and 12 to epoxy. What did you seal, prime, paint and clear with to get a finished plug in 8 hours? WOW, you've just rocked my world bigtime.

:eek5: Yeah, PAS, you got my mouth hanging open, too. Blown away!!

What George (ns) said.. u must have space age technology ;)

Nice Plug..


I'm out of build mode for a while, buried with other stuff... but.. this one I did, might work in a pinch.. if bait like that was around..

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/attachment.php?attachmentid=19959&d=1171937501

<<snip>> WOW, you've just rocked my world bigtime.

Well, in essence, that's what I was up to.:rotf2: I'll expound briefly on what I did later, but I have something else in mind first. Please don't take what I'm going to say for anything more than my humble opinion, because that's all it is.

Maybe it was the caffine jolt, who knows, but TT's statement about getting skunked for weeks was the trigger. Some of us have been building for a long time, others are relatively new to the game. But we're all constantly sharing, honing and improving (hopefully) our skills and techniques. We all have this quest for the "Holy Grail" of lure making: the perfect paint job and bullet-proof finish on our lure offerings. And that's great... really. Learn how to make eye candy, by all means; they're great for lots of things: to barter, trade and sell, and even your ego. But, in the case of fishing to catch fish, I have seen enough to know the finned bastages aren't really impressed. ((Winch will be proud, that I said that.)) :)

Our common quarry, stripers and most assuredly bluefish, could care less, it seems, about most of what we invest our efforts in. When they're hungry, they're looking to eat something familar. Sure, sometimes they get finicky, but they're not custom-wood connoisseurs bound and determined to hold out for the prettiest plug in your bag, although some days/nights they'll make you wonder. Nah, the right profile or wiggle or color-de-jour is enough to fool them into a taste-test. Then, if you're quick enough to set the hook, you're in.

So, to conclude my first rant of 2007, I just wanted to show that once you figure what's got their eye today -- even if you don't have it handy -- it can be made in one tide cycle. Will it last forever? Nope. All season? Possibily, but that's not the objective either. I want to catch now, and maybe you do, too. So, what's stopping you from trying?

About the sennet needle... to make it (actually, it took 5 hours, not 8; I got up late today, simply because I could, and didn't start until 10 AM) I abandoned a lot of the good things we do to our "usual high standards". But it still looks presentable. Again, this was just an experiment. Hopefully the fish (and regretably, the rocks) are going to beat it up anyway. I took a similar profile plug template, that I'm familar with (so, I wasn't starting from scratch, "designing") and tweaked it to look more like the sennet that the bass were chasing. Rather than tail load it -- I'm assuming that if Vic could see "spilled yahoo" in the water, then he wouldn't have had to cast very far -- I spread the weight across the belly, so the lure will slowly sink level if I stop the retrieve... in case I need to get down in the water column a bit. That took an hour, waiting for the hole filler to harden. Then I turned and sanded it, but didn't do the usual seal job... you know why; time for that later... I just primed it with rattle cans, hair-dried for several minutes, then airbrushed the 3-4 colors paint and blow-dried some more to remove the tackiness. Then I baked it in my mancave-dedicated toaster oven -- don't use your wife's (or mom's) if you value your life -- at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, took it out and immediately dipped in a water-based clear acrylic topcoat. It hung for 10-15 minutes or so while I had a smoke, then I re-dipped and flipped the lure end-to-end twice more, so that it's triple coated and -- at least temporarily -- sealed inside and out. I didn't even waste time signing it, or I'd miss the tide.:doh:

The professor of plugology strikes again!!!

I'm out of build mode for a while, buried with other stuff... but.. this one I did, might work in a pinch.. if bait like that was around..

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/attachment.php?attachmentid=19959&d=1171937501

Ahh ya Karl, that would work in more than a pinch. :hihi:

Patina paint, ya can smell the salt. :btu:

Vic- were you seeing two different species of the sennets at all? 2 yrs ago i was getting fish that were loaded with the ones you had in that picture. last year i saw some of the same but also ones that had stripes mixed in. did you ever notice this?

most fish for the most part have 2 dif sets of coloration. under natural light and one under bright or led type light (thanks Steve F.). The bars may have shown after they were stressed bart, similar to what happen with scup when they expire, their bars become more visible. maybe male vs female sennets, I know bass eat 'em like chips though :hihi: and thats good enough for me :rtfm:

the ones i saw were feeding during the day in a certain b-way, both types. male and female never crossed my mind though :tm:

?

About the sennet needle... to make it (actually, it took 5 hours, not 8; I got up late today, simply because I could, and didn't start until 10 AM) I abandoned a lot of the good things we do to our "usual high standards". But it still looks presentable. Again, this was just an experiment. Hopefully the fish (and regretably, the rocks) are going to beat it up anyway. I took a similar profile plug template, that I'm familar with (so, I wasn't starting from scratch, "designing") and tweaked it to look more like the sennet that the bass were chasing. Rather than tail load it -- I'm assuming that if Vic could see "spilled yahoo" in the water, then he wouldn't have had to cast very far -- I spread the weight across the belly, so the lure will slowly sink level if I stop the retrieve... in case I need to get down in the water column a bit. That took an hour, waiting for the hole filler to harden. Then I turned and sanded it, but didn't do the usual seal job... you know why; time for that later... I just primed it with rattle cans, hair-dried for several minutes, then airbrushed the 3-4 colors paint and blow-dried some more to remove the tackiness. Then I baked it in my mancave-dedicated toaster oven -- don't use your wife's (or mom's) if you value your life -- at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, took it out and immediately dipped in a water-based clear acrylic topcoat. It hung for 10-15 minutes or so while I had a smoke, then I re-dipped and flipped the lure end-to-end twice more, so that it's triple coated and -- at least temporarily -- sealed inside and out. I didn't even waste time signing it, or I'd miss the tide.:doh:

Thanks, this is very helpful. I've considered (but not tried) heating createx to "set" it. I've also been interested in a water based clear coat, but the tough ones I've located seem to be commerical finishes with/without various crosslinking additives. What product do you use (if you're willing to share) and how has it held up for you?

NK,

I've sometimes done something similar to what pasurfer suggests: come back from fishing, knock out a plug to fish the next day. In these cases, its usually just spray can everything, no sealer. Hairdrier to help the paint cure quicker. Samething could be done with airbrush paints (done that too). I used to heat set them, then a thin coat of devcon. Its not fully cured the next day, but hard enough to last long enough to see if I need to make more of that plug or tweak it. Lately, I've been using Rustoleum clear in the spray can. Dries in 15 minutes. I can paint, let dry over night, spray clear in the morning, hooks on when I get to the fishing area. Not something that I would for a plug I was sending to someone else, but good enough for me for a short time.

Jigman

Createx in fact reccomends u heat set thier paints.Especially the Auto Air type..Not sure about the oven thing U don't want to heat up the wood that will make whatever u put in it (sealers) want to come out..

Dare I say this:as: : NIB's right... and Jigsy, for that matter. An oven pre-warmed to 200 degrees doesn't bother Createx (or the Krylon primers I used) and sets them nicely in about 15 minutes, but if you're thinking of doing it after traditional sealers... Val-oil, BLO, and such... they will liquify and migrate to the surface. You can trust me on that, or try it for yourself. That's one reason (besides time) that I skipped the sealer. Usually I'll hang 'em to air-cool out of the oven, but I thought the heated wood might suck up the first dipping in topcoat a little better... and I was in a hurry.

George, I've no secrets, but I don't know if it will help you since the acrylic topcoat is some stuff made by a company called Tripp that I bought several years ago from WoodCrafters as they were closing their doors. I haven't since it anywhere else. As Jigsy suggests, this isn't something I normally would do for trades and the like but this one's for me, and if it doesn't hold up as is I can always repaint it later.

I guess my whole point here was not to lock into the same old, same old, if the fish are chowing on something you don't have... it really wouldn't take you too long to come up with a solution to the problem. Heck, the real old timers used to paint the suckers behind the dunes with whatever the "hot" color was that day, then walk out and fish 'em. Well, almost.

Well Vic i tried to imitate this fish as best as i could and my wife said i looked ridicules and that i'm too fat .

#######

we all know stripers are oppertunists but....

i have used live senate a million plus times for fluke and never ever had a hit...why is beyond me. i have also run into large schools of them diving and despite numerous stripers in the vacinity they went unmolested.

maybe i missed something but i'd sooner mimick a schoolie then a senate:huh:

I know when I was doing my floors one time I used some waterborne polyurethane that is very thin stuff. Kind of white milky when wet but dries clear in an hour or 2. when it dried on your finger nails it was as thin as saran wrap. It was water based so I bet you could dip an unsealed painted plug in that, and it would probably help protect the inside a bit. I haven't tried it, but I never tried to fish a plug the next day either...

#######

we all know stripers are oppertunists but....

i have used live senate a million plus times for fluke and never ever had a hit...why is beyond me. i have also run into large schools of them diving and despite numerous stripers in the vacinity they went unmolested.

maybe i missed something but i'd sooner mimick a schoolie then a senate:huh:

Arden, dude relax lay off the red bull. This is the first in a series of imitate this threads, its just the first one.. Hopefully with enough participation there will be others :cheers: And who knows maybe they'll be some interest in making a schoolie :angel:

I know when I was doing my floors one time I used some waterborne polyurethane that is very thin stuff. Kind of white milky when wet but dries clear in an hour or 2. when it dried on your finger nails it was as thin as saran wrap. It was water based so I bet you could dip an unsealed painted plug in that, and it would probably help protect the inside a bit. I haven't tried it, but I never tried to fish a plug the next day either...

DJ, i've used a waterborne Urethane, which drys in 6 hrs as a sealer and clear coat

If you want to use a plug the next day it works. But, cracks easy on rocks and will peel if you don't let the clear really dry for a few days.

anyone else?

Testing today, if it swims then paint and epoxy.....should be ready for the fall run :uhuh: .

These are pine, about 6" long and just under 1.5 oz. The place we were seeing these is over a bed of eel grass, so I wanted some floating needles as there's not much water above the tips of the eel grass.

The flash on the camera's not working, so the pics aren't great. I think I got it wet a few too many times...

I tried epoxy sealing pine for the first time, but when I was heating them, sap started running out of them. I have no idea how well the sealer penetrated or if they will hold up, but the kitchen sure smelled nice.. just like xmas..:hihi:

Very nice imitation!!

nice plug diggin jiggin, but for gods sakes, clean your shop!!!
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21108&d=1176468800

anyone else?

We got until the end of April right...if so I'm in

nice plug diggin jiggin, but for gods sakes, clean your shop!!!
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/attachment.php?attachmentid=21108&d=1176468800

Thanks Eben.:laughs: I go from extremes. I clean it up and then get working on 20 different things wuith plugs in all stages, and I make it such a mess I can't work in it, then I clean it up and start over. You can guess where we are in the cycle:bl:

looks clean to me

You can still see some table- Its clean

anyone else?

Sealed mine last night, prime after work today, paint tomorrow, epoxy Sunday. Well, that's the plan...

sweet! I'm going to try to seal and prime before I do the trout thing tomorrow morning

Im in:rollem: will have done this week.
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN:cheers:

Diggan Jiggan Listen to your friends....

that shop is a recipe for disaster....

you have all the fuels and cumbustables together.... :hs:

it's a :af: F I R E :af: waiting to happen !

time for a mini clean up... really !!! DO IT !


Capesam's ought to flog you... cuz he knows.

hope you have excellent insurance...

btw the plugs are lookin so good they are Extraterrestrial :btu:

I cheated a little as I think I pretty much got the shape pretty close with some I had hanging from the rafters, so i took a look and found these. I need to add a stripe. I am going to do some painting tomorrow so I got plenty of primed blanks waiting for color so I will try a closer paint resemblance.

you zapped it ,,,

can't wait for the paint ~!

pick one...


http://fairybot.com/uploader/uploaded/2/DSC00519.JPG

pick one...


http://fairybot.com/uploader/uploaded/2/DSC00519.JPG

2 olive please..

Steve please bring the second one down when you come to visit:wave:

CAPESAM. THE 4th up from the bottom is a KILLER image of a eel.
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN

Here's my take. Maple, 2.5oz, small weight ahead of 2nd hook. Looking for a needle/darter that I can fish very slowly in calm water with short darts from rod sweeps. This works, but wants to go deeper than I'd hoped, probably because of the high line tie (though I'm not sure....I haven't figured out depth control on darters yet).

CS 6th from the top ... perfect for me .. they love it ..

This works, but wants to go deeper than I'd hoped, probably because of the high line tie (though I'm not sure....I haven't figured out depth control on darters yet).

My experience has been further back the tie ,,up the slope ,, the deeper they go .. maybe a lighter wood ,, not as drastic as AYC but like bass wood maybe .. All mine are bottom sweepers .. I like it down there.. wouldn't fish well in surfacing boulders though.. Thats why they make wakers right ?

George, those are sweet!

My sennett was cleared after work today. Had to repaint yesterday to cover a good idea that wasn't.:exp:

Done.

Ding Ding Ding!!!
Winnah!

Most Pissah Master Fred!!! :btu:

cool :kewl:

Nice one, Fred... that'll work.

That'll work for sure! Awesome work FRED!!! :kewl:

Nice job Fred.

Fred :bl: :kewl:

Way cool Fred.

Thanks!

Done.

Which one is the sennet, Fred. :huh: :btu:

Thats just not fair Fred:musc: .I give up oh mighty one.

C'mon guys let's see your efforts.

O.K. just finnished today. 3/4 by 3/4 hard pine. shaped an simple rattle can paint.silver under coat,white topcaot,an gold back an some over spray to blend in the sides 3/8 molded eye 1.5.ss screw eyes,a nice wide gap 2554ss tail hook,w/ tan deer hair. almost forgot OObuck shot in belly. one time deal think Ill HANG it.:wiggle:
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN:bl:

Thats damn near perfect! :kewl:

Wicked nice SD!:claps:

THANK YOU.
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN:happy: :happy:

Neat shape......fish it....I'll bet it works.

Oh yeah. :hihi:

just got in from work. Body is turned and drilled. I'll seal, prime, paint and clear tonight :heybaby: If I have time I'll make bucktail fins :D K start the clock :laughs: And Im off!!!

sorry been taking the girls our for bluegill and largemouf' :)

ok candi is home from work, here is my pic. WHat do you guys think we should do up next? Ideas suggestions?