Test Them Guys!
 

I see alot of newbie plug builders who are doing some beautiful visual work! Just really eye popping stuff and its impressive! I also see several of their threads where they indicate they have turned the plugs and put so much time into them to make them look great......but they have not tested them in the water yet? Then after all the effort.....the plugs do not swim as they had hoped? I find that a shame! I may be out of line here but I feel it needs saying......take the time to water test your plugs before you finish them so that you know when the fish arrive.....that your plugs which you have worked so hard on making look pretty will do what they were supposed to have been designed to do! The end game is to put your creation on the fish and if you can do that with a beautiful plug which at the same time performs as they should.....then you will have something that you can truly be proud of! Sure you can catch fish on any old stick of wood that just splashes around in the water.....but if you take the time to design and craft a plug to perform as you envision in your mind and it catches better than any old piece of wood, then you have achieved something special!:uhuh:

:uhuh: :fishin:

Good point Larry. I swaped with several people at Plugfest that told me right out that they haven't swam the plugs yet and hoped they worked. I figure if they don'y work then it;s something for me to play with and find the kinks. You do like a lot of us do.Swin and tune,swim some more make another adjustment then try some more somethimes 6 times or more till you get what you want and it works some sweet like those Preys you make.

Thanks Ronnie I appreciate that! I make a point of fishing the crap out of a plug too before I offer any up! Just want to make sure they do what I made them to do!:uhuh:

Here are a few pics of early "Prey" testing! Naked plug, no paint, no eyes.....just testing the action! I was pounding fish in the 10-15 pound range all afternoon this day......bass and blues! I was pleased with the action, the fish seemed to like them as they were literally following the plug in and attacking with massive strikes! I was laughing like a school girl I was so happy with them! So paint came next and I continued testing them with the fish! :drool: I fished that naked "Prey" all afternoon......no colors and no paint! This might go to show you that the paint is indeed (in many instances) for the fishermen! The fish as I have always believed are interested in the action of the plug a high percentage of the time!:uhuh:

Nice pics of those naked lures! I am new and have tried to take in all the advice I have been given. I did test my first batch before paint in about 20 degree weather casting between sheets of ice! Lucky for me they worked the way they were supposed to. Didn't do as much testing as I wanted because i was freezing, but none the less i saw how they swam before I made them look pretty.

So with women this applies as well? It's the motion not the body or the paint job? I dunno....

Thanks for saying what I have been thinking Larry.
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Larry,

I usually spray my 1st prototypes with solid vibrant colors from spray cans. Yellow, White, Orange this way I can concentrate on roll and action very easily rather than bare wood as sometimes I have issues seeing the wood clearly with the glare from the sun.

It also helps when you take notes, (i.e., yellow plug, white plug, etc.).

Kindest,
Billy

The river at the bottom of my street iced-out two weeks ago and I have been swimming plugs I turned just about everyday. It adds quite a bit of time to the overall project, but it has its benefits as well.

I love my neighbors looking out thier windows, watching me carry my 9'er down the street towards the water. Elderly lady next door was driving away with one of friends yesterday, and I received the strangest of all looks.

A lot of brush along the river banks was making it difficult, but an old tree fell across the river and I walk out on it and cast down stream, and swim the plugs back into the current. Those Nikies dive fast.

:cheers:

If you are checking for roll, take a sharpie and draw a line along the top of a primed prototype, make it run down the length of the plug.
It makes roll real obvious, not that all roll is bad, but minimally it will tell you which ones to paint solid colors and to leave blind. Nothing like eye up, eye down, eye up , eye down.

I just give the ones that don't swim to Ernie :rotf2:. You do make a great point Larry. I actually really enjoying messing around with the testing. Only tough part is when your playing with a new design in the dead of winter and the closest open water is an hour away...that sucks.

Just be carefull you don't overlook what the stripers go for most. Erratic behavior. Means crippled or hurt so can't move fast. If I had a nickle for the number of times I've watched striper-big and small- clobber a herring or bunker that was swimming on it's side with the eye looking down or almost swimming on it's back I could buy myself a really nice boat.Watch some of the videos on a couple of the plug manufacturers sites and see the way some of the stuff that works swims all over the place.As long as the swimmer doesn't spend most of it's time on it's back with the hooks in the sky you probably have a winner that will pull fish. You just need to find the right conditions that it will work best in. Fast current or slow current,calm water or rough.Swim deep or shallow. Just don't forget what the fish go after.Ron

I have to admit, I am probably the typical new builder. I can't help it, I keep building but not testing. Not the best approach, but heck I am turning wood, sealing, and painting. Well, that was up until the etex fun.... I dont have a turner/dryer and have been turning by hand, two at a time. After an hour and 45 minutes of turning, I am thinking this thing better swim. Oh well, still having fun.

I did go down to the local stream two weeks ago, found 2 of the 5 were real dud swimmers, but the other ones had good movement. Now to figure out why.

Thanks for the sharpie tip, I have always concentrated solely on the eyes with someone video taping from top of a bridge in certain spots.

You learn something new everyday.

Function, function, function ....then I worry about finish. If I make 2 new style plugs a year that work great I figure I'm doing well...no need to rush it.
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Sharpie down the lateral lines is good also.


I prefer to see the stripe out of place, rather than look for its absence to know it's out of place.

If you are seeing that stripe on top as it swims you know it's rocking and rolling.

Just got back from a testing session. Man was it windy and cold. Tested my new "mega" divers. Shallow and mid-deep. With the bare wood sealed it was easy to see the action and depth. Major difference in the wood batches for static weight. 1/2oz. I used the same template and made variations to the nose and weighting sceme. results were spot on. Now to put clothes on the beasts!!

Took some of my Dad's (Plugbillder) new plugs over the the Reserve Channel in South Boston today. Larry-Thanks for pushing about testing. The Flaptails were great, just like I was told on the Lido thread, the flaptail on the swivel spins, pops up and thrashes the surface, WOW!. The one just attached via split ring just wiggles. Going to change that one to a swivel as well. These will be deadly, at night, among boulders. Heck, they lok so good they could be deadly anytime. The bottle neck swimmer, really nice wiggle action about 3 feet down can't wait till a nice heavy surf for it. The metal lips both dove nicely with a nice wobble motion. Also, several of the plugs he turned since Plugfest now have scale patterns (he is experimenting with several kinds of mesh) as well as micro glitter. He learned a lot from you guys from talking and observing at Plugfest and it shows.