welp... today we picked up our instant plug collection in a box. and decided instead of trying to make our own this year, we will learn the ins and outs by restoring most of these. some need new hard ware, some need paint, all needed new hooks. it's going to make for one hell of a project between now and this up coming season. spent all night taking hooks off.

you couldn't believe how hyped we are for this.

now onto a question... in this bundle we received a bunch of little plastic poppers. pretty sure they are little atoms. some are usable with some tlc. others not so sure. but the paint on all of them is pretty much a no deal. so how should we go about removing the old paint? same method as with wood? or should we just lightly sand it to clean it off/smooth it out and paint over the old coat?


(73!! plugs to restore in various ways :happy:)

I use to use paint stripper ,, then you have to use the stripper wash to get that residue off .. Or ... You could take one outside and use a propane torch to take the paint off .. Saw Winchmaster do it ,, I thought he was nuts .,.. I tried it and it was quick and easy .

Hell, just put new hardware on 'em. Fish don't care. I have got Gibbs plugs that are beat to death and still outfish others that are pristine. The old canal hands should be able to testify to that as well.

You really scored you know.:drool:

I don't see anything so bad in that box. Like Flaptail said, throw some new hardware on and fish them as is.
Seriously.

New spilt rings and hooks Chris and just fish them! No need to go to so much trouble! They look great....nice bargain!

i know!! we sat here for about an hour drooling at the box.

ya know... after i just laid them out.. theres really not really a need for paint after all.. i would like to brighten up some of the whites though. and maybe coat the orange ones, since they seem to be a DIY paint job.


i am sort of worried out some of the one that were chomped by blues getting water logged.. but if you guys say there will be no problem. then i guess i don't hafta worry.

alot have rusted eyes though (to tie to, not for hooks) how do we fix that? replace them or is there an easier method? i was thinking a quick pass over with a dremel.

(yay i finally get to post a plug spread pic! :happy:)
any body know who made the big green mack pencil? it's a canal and it's made out of two solid halves of plastic. it's pretty new. just curious. also that big popper on the bottom left.

i think the plug gremlins just paid me a visit.. theres a missing "nothin" popper (cornel? i think) and one slightly larger rebel (THAT I JUST HAD IN MY HAND).

oooh yeah. also which would you recommend putting bucktails on?
replacing 70 buck tails is gonna be to pricey at $2-3 a pop. so we gotta be picky with what gets em. unless you guys know a place to get em cheaper than that.

The flourescent orange pencil poppers are all original paint except for one. Also the smaller pencil poppers - up to 1 oz. or so - and the darters didn't come with bucktails. The small hard plastic poppers are creek chubs-1/2 oz. I think. Good luck with them.

The flourescent orange pencil poppers are all original paint except for one. Also the smaller pencil poppers - up to 1 oz. or so - and the darters didn't come with bucktails. The small hard plastic poppers are creek chubs-1/2 oz. I think. Good luck with them.

could have sworn the orange were DIY. i thought you loved orange so much you painted over a bunch.(my favorite is orange almost all my plug caught stripers were on orange) they have a chalky feel to em. we are so excited for this stuff! thank you! starting to feel bad we only paid what we did. we went from 6 or 7 plugs to a metric ton!
we cant wait for spring. heck just the next warm day.

i know the little ones down in the right are creek chubs. but ones to the left dont have the creek chub stamp. do you remember what the other two i mentioned are?

again. :thanks:

The little poppers on the left are Atoms

yea ... those look in very good shape .. I wouldn't burn them ..

yea ... those look in very good shape .. I wouldn't burn them ..

well what the heck are we gonna do then?!? we had this big ambitious dream of spending months fixing these things up. just so we had something fishing related to do.. now it seems theres nothing to be done other than hardware swapping. doh!

guess we better get that lathe after all!

Back in the day that orange was all the rage. Lots of bluefish around and that got their attention so we stocked up. Don't know about the others. I think they were X Mass presents-you know-give anything that looks like it will catch a fish. Wouldn't have bought them myself. If you're really feeling guilty I'm not above having more money thrown at me. Enjoy.

Oh your ripping my heart out with that last picture! Why didn't I turn on the computer sooner and check out the classifieds? Lucky dawgs. Just scrub them with some Simple Green and re-rig them. That sealer they used is good for a long time.

The Flo. orange they used was flat with flat sealer over.

That was the deal of the year for sure.

well what the heck are we gonna do then?!? we had this big ambitious dream of spending months fixing these things up. just so we had something fishing related to do.. now it seems theres nothing to be done other than hardware swapping. doh!

guess we better get that lathe after all!

Or ... see if M&D's has any plug kits .. Heard he has a spook,,a popper ,,and a real nice Atom 40 kit .. works out even better . no chemical strippers or chance of getting burnt .. good way to ease into plug building ..

what you need to do with those plugs is bring them over to my house to see if they fit in my tackle box...you two did better than my St Croix deal last fall, maybe we have some trades coming up...oh, by the way, I have a Lami on the way i think....hehe

If you're really feeling guilty I'm not above having more money thrown at me. Enjoy.

hehe not that guilty just yet. :spin: we have to spend that "guilt money" on new hardware for them. if i had the extra though i just might.


we went through alot again trying to decide what hardware needed a quick scraping and what was rusted through.. after polishing up like 3... and dealing with the dremel for an hours.. decided... it's gonna be alot less effort (and will make us feel better) to just replace it all.

and ryan we were gonna stop by last night.. but we didn't have em with us. :fishslap:

and was that a clap of thunder?? sheeesh.. nothin like N.E.


Oh your ripping my heart out with that last picture! Why didn't I turn on the computer sooner and check out the classifieds? Lucky dawgs. Just scrub them with some Simple Green and re-rig them. That sealer they used is good for a long time.

The Flo. orange they used was flat with flat sealer over.

That was the deal of the year for sure.

Flap.. just call it "reparations" . just remember how the end of our year went... :)

Do you have a lathe? You could chuck them in the lathe and give 'em a once over with some 50 grit and then change to 150. If you're going to paint plastic, you're going to want to rough it up a lot anyway. OH and I wouldn;t use paint stripper on the plastic plugs, it will probably break the plastic down too. Or you could... gulp... hand sand :err:

Should've read the whole post :gf:

heres some I picked up the other day Bubba

couple more

last two

They look nice. Can't wait to try them all out.

got em for 20 bucks in a plano clear plastic box, did Bubba tell you about my deal I got?

Watch for the March issue of OTW on plug restoration.

nice collection chris... im sure ill be seeing you on the cape!