Anyone have some backgroud on these??
 

I have been doing some cleaning thru mu stuff and found these. They were given to me by my Godfather Rafael Leyva who owns a barber shop in Wellfleet. He said an old timer who use to come in gave them to him and he passed them along to me cause of my love for wood plugs. There not vintage, but the man has passed. they are nice...just looking to see if any of you Cape guys knew him or have any back ground on them. The name on them appears to Say George Carlezon

Thanks,
Roy

Here you can see his signiture

He just passed away recently. Real nice guy and a fixture around Nelson's and race point. If you do a search on vintage lures and his name you should see some of his other plugs. I know some people on this board were friends of his and could probably give you more about his plug building history. Nice looking lures BTW

Thanks man...hopefully some more people will have some info.

thanks again

George C. Did a few of those laminated plugs. Real nice work. Most of his plugs were built to fish without mercy. Those, I'd hang them.:kewl:

Pretty cool, Thanks on the info...they are nice.

Roy,
Thanks for posting the great pictures!!! :kewl:
I bought one at Hab's auction,(did I get it from you) Same needle as yours! It's a great lure!
Below is a picture of mine that I past around to several of George's old friends so they could add their name next to his.They were honored!! Al Bentsen,Chuck Leigh and Tony C. I only need a few more to complete my quest.
Regards
VB

George made some cool stuff. Just this past weekend I was given a few more by someone who was very close to Mr. Carlezon (pronounced Carlson).

One was a lure George actually fished many time and bears the tooth marks and bass scrapes.

I have got about 20 of his plugs. He would scrounge any birch he could even going so far as to seeking feshly cut birch trees which he would take home, cut into 2x2 ballusters then kiln dry himself. Thats all he ever used was birch.

His lures were made to take a beating, not fancy paint though I have a few that border on it. His giant jointeds are still prized by a lot of outer cape surf guys. His atoms are very cool as well and his jointed darter was the only one I have ever seen swim correctly.

Nice plugs Roy, treasure them, they mean a lot to those who fish the race surf thats for sure.

Oh yeah, hooks were extra.

wow, Thanks Vb & Flap....Thats some great info. Looks like he was very muched love loved. These puppies are going into a case. My Godfather said he was agreat guy and they always talked fishing for hours when he came in for his hair cut.

Thanks again,

Roy

Being the one who gave Steve the plugs he mentioned, and therefore knowing George all too well, my bet is he the traded plugs to your godfather for a haircut!!

I'll correct Steve a little: he would grab straight lengths of birch where he could, or he would also have it given to him from friends from the beach, and he would air dry them on a rack he built under an old oilskin tarp next to the chicken coop that he had converted into his plug turning shop. Then after the lengths had dried he would square the logs and cut them into balusters.

George was a machinist by trade, and made the lathe that he used to make plugs, the molds for the lead, cutting heads for plug faces, and pretty much anything he set his mind to. As he stood 6'2 or 3, and the height of the ridge inside the coop was about 6' he would have to duck as he walked around inside. The door to the coop was his station for spray painting the plugs - the paint was a good 2" thick on that door. He would hang plugs on the door with different size lengths of cut coat hanger and spray 20 at a time. George and his wife Millie built the house in the 30's, the land a gift from her parents. A child of the Depression he rarely threw anything of perceived value away.

The plugs you have were his specials, he would get exotic wood like cherry, walnut and purple heart, glue them together into blocks and turn out the plugs you have. I used to give him a hard time about the fact that he also weighted them like the working models: I would say to him "George, why are you wasting your time putting lead into those? No one is every gonna use them!" He contended that some people did fish them.

George fished well into his mid 80's and really just came to the beach to observe his last few years. His last trip to the beach was in 2005, and he passed away in December 2006, a week before this 92nd birthday. That little collard popper that you have in your pics is still one of my favorite plugs to use. Thanks for the rush of memories, Roy.

A machinist that lived till 92, god there may be hope for me. Can't beat the quality a machinist gives you;). Nice plugs and memories.

Wow, thank you so much for that bit of back ground...My godfather said he was a pretty good guy and would hang around the shop for hours talking fishing with him.

Thanks again,

Roy