I really like the looks of that thing so I guess I will have to make a road trip. I will bring my dial calipers. Maybe after Thanksgiving.. P.

Hello. Here is some info to help build a big Nike. I x-rayed one.

The wood is soft, light, reddish and quick growing (big growth rings), probably red cedar.

The weight is only in the tail. It is roughly 7/16 x 13/16 long. It appears to actually be a lead strip wrapped around a narrower lead plug. There is no belly weight.

The plug is not, in fact, through wired. The wire extends in from each end as far as the nearest screw eye which, in turn, passes through a loop in the end of the wire to anchor it. Clever.

The angle of the diving plane appears to be 35 degrees. The plane is 2 1/4 inches long and 1 inch wide. The protrusion on the front of the plug is obviously also 1" dia and projects forward about 1 1/8 inch.

The plug is 7 1/2 " long. It is 1 3/4 ' wide at it's widest, about 3 " from the nose. The last 1 1/4' of the plug is a straight barrell, 3/4 " in diameter.

The tail hook is 2 1/4 from the rear, the front hook is 2 1/2 " from the nose and there is 2 5/8" between them.

I have a smaller Nike, 5 1/4" long that does not seem to be weighted (I haven't xrayed it) but carries large 3/0 or 4/0 hooks instead.

I haven't seen these plugs in the water. If you are interested in a very productive lipless swimmer, I suggest copying the Magna Strike Predator (an out of production plastic plug) I have made several that work well and the dimensions do not seem critical.

Good luck.

Thanks, and great name :bl:
ANy chance you can post a pic of the x-ray ?
VB

Wow, thanks for the tutorial! And welcome to S-B. Nifty bunch of guys hang around here. :jump:

WOW ask and you shall receive!!!!!!!! Thanks very informative!!!!!!

Thanks for info Numbskull . Name is definately not fitting . I been thing about the Predator too ,, Wich one are you making the big one or the little one .?

Tagger. I've had good luck making a loose copy of the larger Predator. I've made them about an inch longer and a bit wider than the original. I use pine and don't weight them, other than big hooks. The design is very stable in rough water, keeps it's head down when dannys don't, and fishes well, at least from a boat during the day.

Vineyard. Here comes a try at posting a picture of the Nike xray.[IMG]fishpict2.jpg[/IMG]

nice ...you beat me to it...the lead on the ones I have look to be poured around the tail wire right up into the loop itself. no hole for the wire to go through.

Thank You :jump:
Great Pic
VB

This is the same on mine, what I think they did was pour a lead plug in a mold around the wire and through the grommett. Around this they then wrap a lead strip. On the xray you can see the inside end of the lead plug, as well as the lead strip over-rap. The grommett itself is full of lead. I'll bet the weight in the next smaller model is the size of the central lead plug without the extra over-rap.

I'm very close.. A tad more tweak I think I got it. I'm using swamp pine..The grain is very tight in this stuff.. I weighed orig Nike at 3 ounces and had to add .5 ounces to arse to get the weight up to 3.. I never arse weighted a swimmer nevermind 1/2 ounce..I'm afraid its going to sit in the water like a popper.. Anybody ever swim one of these plugs ? I really enjoyed building these, lightly sanding the curves reminded me of my first girlfreind..:drool:

:bl:

u r on to something Eddy :smokin:

vb

Very interesting plugs. Tagger, how does one get on the "plugs for life list?"

I really like this smaller size too. You can see it has a belly weight and a tail weight too. Front is shaped differently. 6.5" long. Thanks Peter.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91...8/000_0335.jpg

Hey Eddy - Swam my original and my copy a couple of weeks ago. They get down like a bottle plug but seemed to dart like a darter.

PA,

Mine works just fine. :D

Mine darts fine PA.... it will pop out in a super strong rip, but for most cases, it is a great darter :kewl: it fills its niche niceley

Eddy ya killin me :laugha: :rotf2:

Hey Andy... mind telling me how much u put in the arse...i got a half ounce in there.. don't seem right ..

Hey Peter...VB... how consistent are the Nike bodies.. The loaner I have has a nice transition curve on the top from the front flat to the round back..I see pics with what looks like a sharp point up there where the flat meets the round ,,,if you catch my drift ..

The one you have is the large nike.
The pic paul posted is the med one
vb

Hey Eddy - I think it was the 1/2 ounce slug I put in the arse. I'll check when I get home tonight. PM me your # and I'll give you a ring.

Tagger... I have been experimenting with the Nike shape, as well, although not an exact copy since all I've ever seen are pics. I do a couple things different, like where the lead goes and how the slope is cut, but there's still a resemblence.

Like you, I thought it would be a swimmer until I tossed it in the water. It'll swim, without any lead, even with a darter face... the way I started out playing with it. Once you started this thread, and the xray showed up, things got interesting.:uhuh:

I went to a straight 38 degree slope, and a nice slug of lead in the tail, and as you suggested the lure sits in the water like a popper. If and when I finally got its face in the water, it came in virtually straight.:crying: So I started playing with the slope and redistributing the weight. The latest proto is hard to describe, because it neither swims nor darts, but glides in a wide "S", sometimes as much as 2-3 feet off center before it swings back just as it looks like it might roll out. It will be interesting to see if final coating of epoxy changes things, but it's been fun playing with it.

I posted info on these a few years ago on antoher site. You can probably search for it.

BA,

Those are sweet:uhuh:

I want one:laugha:

Bernzy

I tanked the original in a bucket of clean fresh water and it sits perfectly level the top mound is above the surface so it will probably sit level only a tad higher in salt .. I'm not putting this in the salt .. These are my first,, shape is almost dead a little tweaking left ,,but .5 ounce of lead in the arse is too much !!!! 1st batch sit like poppers... I put 3/0 trebs matching orig.. I can bring the nose almost level swapping a 4/0 on the front and removing arse hook but it still isn't good .. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut wires and drill some lead out of the arse.. We'll figure it out.. I'm using pine.. a special pine that grows in swamps .. the grain is so tight .. I'm still under 3 ounces though.. When I was painting I was thinking House paint.. still a little flashy though..

Bottom shot ..

Nice stuff Tagger, very nice:heybaby:

OMG
Floyd would be :rotf2:


vb

nice.
hope you made some extras :heybaby:

Just plain













Beautiful -- Ed, just plain Beautiful.

:claps:

thanks .. I'm not ready for any trades .. I have weighting issues and think I could use a little more shoulders on plug..

Those swim real nice :D

Jigman

most pissa:cool: bandsaw

Those are nice. More like the original shape than mine. I didn't like the way they swam with the narrow slope so I went wider to get the action I was looking for. I have caught a few decent fish using them.

Pissa work as always BA;
gonna make it up North again next year or what :D
I think you need a road trip sans wife :D

I agree. Sure would like to fish B.P. again but when there are bigger fish around.

Yup...
we'll talk in the spring :D

Ok... still working on this ... got shoulders now.. letting wood tell me wich side is up in the water and solved weighting issues..Arrows show where surface water (fresh) hits plug on real Nike.. front tip ,and 2" back from rear .. How the heck you going to weight a plug to sit in the water like that . Then Georges (Numbskull) xray came to mind and remembered seeing some rinky dinky wrapping around arse weight.. I wrapped lead around a smaller tailweight and removed lead until it sat perfect.. Had the hooks hanging off it too .. So I guess they weighted each plug individual... very labor intensive .. I was also surprised tanking my blanks to find the top . heavy side down .. sometimes face grain on the side sometimes on the bottom sometimes cockeyed .. Give the blank a spin after marking it always comes out the same way buit different from others .