I have had the opportunity to try out some of this past winter's creations. I have caught many fish on the pencil poppers, and a few on my needlefish.

I have run into a couple of problems.

I sealed the maple pencil poppers with linseed oil cut with turp. A couple of these pencils have split down the back. These plugs were sealed, primed, painted and then covered with Foamawood (a two part system similair to Enirotex, or so I thought). The ones that split have caught dozens of fish in the river for me, so I cannot be too upset. However I would like to solve the splitting issue for next year.

Any opinions on my chioce of sealer (linseed oil) and final coat (Foamawood)?

Also, I do not like the reults of using a barrel split ring to attach the hooks. I am finding that the siwash trailer hook is fouling. I am using closed eye hooks. Have any of you had good experiences with the open eye hooks, and just bending them onto the attachment points? I have heard stories of hooks opening on good fish....

Here's a pic of the very first fish caught on one of my own creations.

Thanks for your help,

Jon

nice job Slapshot :btu:

I don't know what to say about the splitting, did you get the oil in the thru wire hole with a pipe cleaner?

What kind of wood?

I have good results with Alaskan yellow cedar , it doesn't seem to absorb water much.

Open eye VMC siwash hooks are great.

you got to be extra careful with maple. i seal the whole plug inside and out, I use a pipe cleaner like slip said, make sure you get plenty in the swivel hole too. i dont even thin my boiled linseed oil, just straight out of the can.
are you putting lead in them? how do you lead them if yes? i think i know what might be your problem if you are putting lead shot in the belly.
nice picture.:)

Thanks for the compliments guys. I held the plugs under the surface of the boiled linseed oil in a tupperware container for about 45 seconds. I did not use a pipe cleaner or anything to get it into the trough wire hole.

I weighted the plugs with about a 3/8" diameter slug of lead. They weigh about 2.2 oz.

One of my complaints with the Foamawood is that it seems to peel off around the belly where the hook swings and rubs against the plug.

is it a slug of lead up the butt molded around the wire or a shot in the belly?

I've had trouble with splitting before, tried many different sealants with mixed results. Been using McClusky's something marine sealant, dunno if any you guys have tried this stuff but so far so good.

The Famo wood may be too hard a finish, not allowing the wood to swell if a little water does penetrate, causing the splitting.

What kind of paint are you using?

Also I pre drill my plugs, for eyes, and lead as well then seal with the inseed oil.

As far as the hooks go I have been using the open eye siwash with no split ring on the back, no problems.

Specialist, I am using Createx paints. I too do all the drilling prior to sealing.

I will give the open eye hooks a chance. Any thoughts on the belly hook open eye vs. closed eye?

This winter I'll try the Envirotex Lite stuff.