Question for you Plugaholics:

1. Bucktail
2. Feathers
3. Fake stuff like FisHair
4. Combination of 1,2,3 above
5. Nothing at all
6. Other**
**Eelskin as an answer doesn't count. That is a whole separate
category

I really like feathers, but they don't hold up well. I tend to put a big mop of feathers on the back of my Numbskull, Xman hand-me-down, reject plugs--in order to get them to work.

You should try these.
Big bass eat them.

VMC 5/0 or 6/0 Siwash bucktail

Bucktail or whatever the builder recommends

Or nekkid

(usually bucktail because that is all I grab)

I pretty much just use bucktail hair or feathers, but different plugs have different tails depending on how the it fishes best for me. Most of the time they get a flag of some sort whether a light wire or cut-off siwash when - it comes down to balancing the plug. A few swim best naked but I generally tie the tails sparsely to add visual appeal without limiting the swim.

check out what is on the back end of most GRS plugs, get's me thinking....

6. Another treble

I just never did the dressed rear hook very much with the exception of a stubby needle and very rare occasion on the Atom Junior:huh:

It really depends on the plug.
I use flashaboo mylar stuff on light swimmers like yozuri minnows and sometimes darters if the tail hook needs to be lightweight with not much resistance, some just a tag with the mylar.
I use feathers on polaris poppers a lot and other popping plugs. Also feathers are great on some needlefish plugs.
I like bucktail on swimmers and also mix in some crystal flash

for pencil poppers they mostly are bare, but there are times that you want a smaller pencil and it HAS to have something on the tailhook like a feather or flashaboo.

Been switching to single in line hooks. No mess, no fuss, no trebles in fish eyes so far. Hook up ratio is still good.
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Q: What's on the back of your plug?

A: Best Answer is a big fat FISH

The vast majority of time it's just a flag made up or bucktail and/or feathers. I haven't missed having a second or third hook on the back of most plugs the last couple of seasons.

Different plugs get different hooks. But every single plug with a rear hook gets the barbs crushed because those are what I've impaled myself with more than a few times.

I pretty much just use bucktail hair or feathers, but different plugs have different tails depending on how the it fishes best for me. Most of the time they get a flag of some sort whether a light wire or cut-off siwash when - it comes down to balancing the plug. A few swim best naked but I generally tie the tails sparsely to add visual appeal without limiting the swim.

Some good points here, Mr. T. A trout fisherman/tyer once told me feathers for streamers were more aerodynamic than bucktail. Feathers have the look and configuration of a drowned cat out of water; but when they are in the water, they fill out. In other words, they fold up against the plug on the way out (cast).

But like I said, feathers don't hold up as well as bucktail. Incidentally, I get my feathers at Michael's Art Supply, my wife's favorite store. Maybe that's why my cheapo feathers don't last too long.

For just hookless flags, I have done okay tying the material on brass wire eyes (for sinker molds). You get a ton of them in a package.

I certainly agree with the many who rig to put LESS hooks on a plug rather than more-- changing out a rear treble for a Siwash single; or just flagging the plug and eliminating the treble completely.

Otter tail on a TA clip to a SS popper, single treble on belly.
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