I haven't even been able to gear up this year. All I have been doing is snow removal..... and little else, including my regular carpentry/building. I hate showing up empty handed, but don't really see getting anything finished with the quality I would want with just two weeks left..... I think I'm suffering a hangover from a dismal 2014 fishing season. Need to get excited again.

Same here, my building season never got off the ground this winter. I blame my now 11 week old boy for that!

My goal is to make one or two more runs on the lathe and finish the loose plug bodies I was able to turn in early December.
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I had a real strong building season, just slow Painting due to cold.

I worked out a lot of bugs and made.jigs to.perfection. lots of swim testing till the bay froze.
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I got nutin, not much motivation this year and I already have 10 lifetime supplies of plugs. So maybe a copy of a needle I only have one, don't want to loose it before I get some more copies of it, but that is it. I got a cottage to put back together after the weather gets a little more accommodating and don't want that getting in way of my fishing so plugs will have to wait till next year. Still looking forward to plugfest though.

I think Skip was using low pressure in his air compressor, let's call it "deflated" in order to out build all of us. LOL
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I think Skip was using low pressure in his air compressor, let's call it "deflated" in order to out build all of us. LOL
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Damn right! :tm: How Cheat it is!

Turned a lot, but painted little. Waiting for shipment of paint now. Working on a joke plug for plugfest though.....
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been turning, drilling and sealing a bunch. Cant prime or paint till temps get above freezing.

Keeping fairly busy but don't have too much finished yet to show for it. I bought and airbrush and a duplicator this season so I spent a good amount of time learning how to use those. Have a dozen or so needles that I turned by hand earlier in the year that are ready to fish and have some others that I turned on the duplicator in various stages of completion. Also working on a few new designs that I haven't been able to test since everything near me has been iced up for the last two months. Still hope to get a lot done in March and April.

This season I committed to doing a little twist on plug building. I turned walnut, ash, maple and birch in a pike design and mounted on a stand to be a dest top pen holder. I made a few in segment pieces of maple and walnut glue together. Finished them and had a thought to do a super size Billy D stubby. 8" 3-4oz. swam it b/4 the harbor iced. runs shallow to mid depth. Did a bunch of offset turning on a popular diver. 6"-1/2 pike lip. Did a bunch of Noris Jet squids and Billy D stubbys.Finished off with a special order of Giant Plikes. Now they just need painting, epoxy and wire.

I had a real strong building season, just slow Painting due to cold.

I worked out a lot of bugs and made.jigs to.perfection. lots of swim testing till the bay froze.
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I"ll be making some casting jigs very soon, would like to see some of your jigs / pics

i'm way behind didn't want to build after shoveling all day at work and celler cold lol

This season I committed to doing a little twist on plug building. I turned walnut, ash, maple and birch in a pike design and mounted on a stand to be a dest top pen holder. I made a few in segment pieces of maple and walnut glue together. Finished them and had a thought to do a super size Billy D stubby. 8" 3-4oz. swam it b/4 the harbor iced. runs shallow to mid depth. Did a bunch of offset turning on a popular diver. 6"-1/2 pike lip. Did a bunch of Noris Jet squids and Billy D stubbys.Finished off with a special order of Giant Plikes. Now they just need painting, epoxy and wire.

Would love to see a pic' of your offset swimmer.

Bump, anybody got some pics?

Billy D made some offset swimmers that are exceptional.

JLH ? Care to share what you've finished.

Livefreeordie, Jim ?

Jeff the Chef ?

Tons of hard work no show ..

How about Skippy, darters complete?

George must have something

Chunkah

Slip

Smac

Nightfighter

Swimmer

Eric

Rockfish

SKS

PM

Northshore

Stripercrazy

Mmullen

Could go on... Whatcha got?
What do they do?
Why do you keep building even with an army of plugs? Are they all good?

I have my first child, 4 months, a bunch of unpainted plugs and not much to show, looking for a little last minute motivation.
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Need my shop area to warm up to Paint very frustrating
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Started some needlefish I'm needing but got caught up in other projects. Its cold down there in my little dungeon :(

The last few winters have been great for ice fishing..so my spare time has been spent there... they also have been snowy.. which in my line of work ..creates more work... when I'm not working I'm trying to get a little rest... that being said... I have a lot of plugs in transition.. most are ready to be sealed...I build for a specific need or to replace what I've lost (or most likely given away)...I've got a few months before the boat can go in (it's still under 4' of snow that came off the garage roof) so hopefully I can do a little plug making...if the household chores don't get in the way..

Ok here are some pictures of some of the plugs I have finished up. I spent most of the winter working on my 8" needles and recently started doing the metal lips which are based on the Musso design.

I've also been spending some time working on a 9" jointed swimmer but I haven't come up with a version that I liked enough yet to finish. First ones I tested sunk which wasn't what I was going for...

The large yellow needles is something new I'm testing out, wanted a little bigger profile and it's 10" and about 4.3oz.

I also in the process of making some smaller 6.5" needles, test swam some different versions over the weekend and liked the results on one so I hope to have a few of them finished up to start fishing in a couple weeks.

Few more pictures.

Look great.
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I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't been in my shop at all this winter. I'm working two jobs so building and fishing this year is going to be tight.

The most I've done is design Vega templates for a family of 3/4" needles (the 9" one might be a "stretch" :))

Nice Eric

just finishing up some stuff. Shop temp is a tad low, which is always a concern.
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Here are some builds this winter

The first pic is of 2 1/2 oz. darters that cast a mile.

Second pic is my trout phase

Third is one of the surfsters that work really well, swimming and diving

et tal: first is a lure made in surfster and topwater swimmer, cast a huge wake and sits lower in the water than lighter versions.

Darter is a Frech style darter

sorry doubles

Look great. Enjoy using them
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more pics

Wow, that trout pattern is awesome. Nice darters too!
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AYC. Spun first round off dupe, then offset center 1/8" on front and 1/16" on rear. Tricky getting a piunch hole close to live center hole. Ideally use a spring loaded steb center,front and rear.

AYC. Spun first round off dupe, then offset center 1/8" on front and 1/16" on rear. Tricky getting a piunch hole close to live center hole. Ideally use a spring loaded steb center,front and rear.

Very nice shape.