Masterlure Straight Eel
 

This is kinda cool so I thought it deserved its own thread. Got someone to loan me an original and copied it. 9" long, 1.1" wide, 3oz, 3/0 hooks. AYC was right on. No weight. Rebend your own lip using a Pikie 3. The original has a vertical wire loop (which I decided not to copy, yet). Swims on top with the nose down and tail up a bit. Works nicely at low speed. I think it has some real potential. Too bad I got to send this one away.....but got several more in sealer :cool:

:kewl:

cool stuff!

very nice looking :btu:

hab's made something similar, but only made a few.

i have one but have a real hard time bringing myself fish it now. it worked well when i did.

good luck with it.

Nice G.

yeow! better than the original...real nice....

That looks real nice.:kewl:

very nice....I beleive though it's the second generation body style...hab's made the first style as I have, noteing sometime back,mac asked a question as to why the lip was cut at a tilt when looking at the plug face on..seen two others that were cut that way as well, someone said it may have been an opps in milling, but I'm thinking it wasn't...when it swam, it swam abit on her side looking downward as if it was hurt.

looking real nice, great job!

way cool...:bl:

Looks like you nailed that one George. Nice work!

Real fine job on the stik George:uhuh::kewl:
I like it a lot

Real nice work

Thanks George ,,, I'm making one ..

George ,, Can you give me hook locations on that one .. thanks ,,

Ok Eddy, here you go.
The plug is 9"
the eyes are 1 5/8" back and about 1/4" above centerline. A 1" saltyball will cut the cove
the plug is widest (1.1") from just behind the eye to the first hook.
the first hook is 1 15/16" back
the second hook is 5 5/8" back at which point the plug has tapered very gradually to 1.04"
the tail is .64" (1" from the tail is .79, 2" from tail .91", and 2 3/4" from tail 1.0")
the wire hole is .25" below centerline, but the original has the lip mounted slightly below centerline (which I think was unintentional).
the lip is a Pikie 3 with different bends. Flatten one, bend it right through the middle of the original eye slot (which should be about .92" from the base), then make your second bend .4" down and you will be close. The wire hole on the original is .18" from the lipslot bend (but since it is mounted below centerline it lines up with the hole that is .25 below centerline.....my advice is not to bother, just split the difference and mount on center). The original has a vertical wire loop.

The lip has a backwards bend to it, which moves the lip back some, sort of like a rebel. To do this, mount the lip in the plug, put it against the edge of a table and push down. The prototype swam fine without this step.

The original, with 3 old school 3/0 mustads weighs 2.95 oz. AYC will come out very close.

If you go to the shorelinebt.com site they have some good pictures

Finally, Habs Stix followed a slightly more recent version of this plug, but used a stock Pikie 3 lip from what I can see online. I don't know what he used for wood or what his plug weighed. Maybe someone who has one can tell us what it weighed with what kind of hooks on it.

thanks George .. just eyeing your pic I penciled 1/4" forword on both hook locations .. I'll adjust and drill ... thanks ..

George, what I gather you are redrilling another wire hole slot?

Yup, but that is soooooooo frustrating a set of oval punches ($$$$$) looks better all the time. Will probably try a split point drill first.

BEAUTIFUL:humpty:
GOOD LUCK GOOD PLUGGIN

If you don't need them to look too fancy, I just use a regular 5/32" twist drill for my lip holes when I make custom lips. The wire fits through fine, and you can set it either horizontal or vertical with no issues.

G. I can help you out with a few. Also what about that center you showed me. Kill 2 birds with one stone.:D

Yeah, that's the way I always did it, but there are two problems. First the drill often walks a bit or deflects as you start to cut, even (and I think often because) you punch the lip, so the hole ends up slightly off from where you intended. Secondly, the wire loop can twist in a round hole and end up affecting the plug's action.......a problem particularly at night. I've tried to get around this by drilling two small holes side by side, but that just doubles the chances of the first problem occurring and ruining the lip.

Paul, I'd be embarrassed to show you the lips I make. I never learned to work with metal and boy does it show.

LOL. Well if it makes you feel better I could never diagnosis an aortic valve stenosis, and I don't think you would want me preforming CPR on you, so we are even.

I was under the impression you are using a made lip and would only need to make the slot perpendicular to the one that is in it now. Not much of a problem and a quick fix for a few of them.

Inspired by Numbskull, I had to try my hand on this remake. It took a little while. Confirming to the .000" priceless. Had fun. Nice way to spend a dismal saturday. AYC, old pikie 3 lip stolen from a hanger plug. Reshape sizes I have ? The .92 from base 7 .4 height didn't come out exactly. I rebended slightly below o.e. slot. The #'s were almost exact. I added harware an obtained 2.5oz. I could add 2 7gram slug @ the CG to bring weight to 3oz. What do you think?

Here are some photos of the original and a copy, if you look closely you can see where I bent my lip. Also note how the original bends backwards, which has the effect of lining the lip up further back on the plug, like a plastic swimmer lip. You can see this better if you look at the pictures of other old MasterLures on the www.shorelinebt.com site. I'm not sure this is important, the prototype I built swam nicely with a standard lip bend, but you can make the bend by making the standard 90 degree bends, putting the lip in the plug, placing the lower bend against the edge of a table and pushing down.

Pdad, the front of your lip looks a bit long (mine seems a tad short). I think I measured the front of the original at 20 mm, but measuring lips to the bend is not exact.

As far as weight is concerned, I wouldn't sweat it, maybe just use 4/0 or 3/0 6x hooks. I doubt the hooks on the original are what came with the plug. They may have been bigger, like on the jointeds.

Thanks for the input. I noticed in the pictures on the antique lure site that the 3 plugs have 3 different lip angle face bends. It seems that there was no wrong or right angle. I assume the bend wasn't a big factor. I'm going to make another lip with a smaller lip front,20MM. I was going by the .92 measurement. I will test swim both sizes and give my results. On the overall weight, I will up the hook sizealso. Do you think there would be any gain in action or castability by adding weight in the CG of the plug? Do you know how this plug swam in the original form? Thanks

G. I noticed on some of those pictures the lip is not bent down. Is there much of a difference with it bent down or left the usual way?

That thing is going to get SMOKED!!

I think I'll make my line tie loop horizontal as you did George ..What plus do you gain going vertical ?? .. just seems you loose any tuning ability ..

After reading Victors post it dawned on me that he gave me a beautiful refinished jointed one of those so I went down cellar and found it. Same exact lure except cut in half, jointed, it looks like. Now I see the lip shape up close and the vertical wire tie. I guess I will have to try and make up a few of those lips when I get some time. Sweet job on the plug Victor. Thanks again.

Paul, can you tell if your jointed carries a weight each side of the joint? I have a jointed version that does, but it was made later (the style body Habs and Cape Sam copied with the small eyes) and is made out of maple.

I think I've also seen a jointed version posted that had a chin weight.....which made me try that system in some jointed I built. I can't search for it now on this computer (?), but in one of the threads I posted several years ago (probably the one titled "just say no to needles") somebody posted a picture of a deconstructed Masterlure jointed. PS..Turns out that pic was later deleted so don't bother looking.

Also, please check your jointed, Paul, and tell us if the lip is mounted midline or below.

. You just caught me as i headed outside to do yard work so here it is. yes belly wgt either side and lip slightly below center maybe a 1/16 max but a little less I would say, .046 maybe;)There is a very small flat face on those lips.

got my shipment of supplies today, so I can finish wiring the one I had made a while back. Sort of the same idea as this I guess, but I had a hab's stixx in mind when I was building it. Convenient that this thread popped up along the way though, lots of good stuff here.

Here is a picture of a Habs Stix. I think he used a standard Pikie 3 lip. Anybody got a Habs they can weigh?

Thats what I'm gonna try, the pikie3. Put a nice big slug of lead right around midship, and went with 1/2" eyes instead of 3/8". I'll post some pics tonight when I finish it up, should be able to test it this week as well with all the nice weather.

What do you think is the difference, swimming wise, with one made with a long front faced lip, standard pikie lip, and one made with the original short faced lip? Also looks like the stix has the lip on center or a little above but I don't own one so i can't say.

There wasn't much difference when I tested each. I thought the Pikie lip pulled the head down a bit more, but I liked the way the plug swam with the original style lip a little better. What the fish say remains to be seen.

how were these style of plugs supposed to swim? I made mine to go sub-surface, although at a crawl I'm thinking it might stay just on top or close enough to create a surface wake.