It begins...
 

I had these left over from last season... un finished..because I was tweaking in some of the designs during the summer under "live" conditions...

the needles are floaters, laminated maple and WRC, they sit low in the water nose up with very little weight....


Next are some 6" 40 style swimmers, I tail weighted these and power them with a modified danny lip... I love the action ( so did the fish).. and they drill into the wind....I tried several different woods and weighting schemes and lips.. the above combo and WRC gave me the best action..

lastly 6" spooks, these were made from clear pine.. I made quite a few last season, I have no clue where they all went...

You're off to a good start! Very nice looking plugs.:kewl:

Well if you want to keep the trend going I know where you can get rid of a few of those tooo,,,,,:grins::grins:

a few more
 

two new plugs for me this season, the first one i call a snake head, powered by a lefty mid slot, this plug slashes the surface, kind of like a eel you just hooked, the skinned model was a hot plug in August and September...

the next one is a toad belly, the closest thing i can compare it to is a rebel...just alot more castable due to it's weighted butt...

Nice start. I just blasted out 50 peanut swimmers that were deadly this spring. Jointed and solid.

waiting on stinking air brush hose to pain them.

Ah Joe, your a bundle of energy! As usual, f()cking awesome!!!!!!!!!:uhuh:

Jesus, Those are nice....and plentiful. I haven't even made it to the garage to clean up from last year.

Wow, nice stuff........Gonna be a slow winter for me......gotta move and set up my shop to my new pad......

Joe-

great looking needles, spooks, and I am intrigued by the fin tailed toad lure. Does that specific one swim differently.

I am getting geared up again .. i have been trying some modified darters a la north bar style.

Still no air brush setup in my shop...

chris

the fin tail was the prototype... alot of work for nothing.. the round tail wrks as good or better and takes less time...(eaiser to wire as well)

Great to see you post Joe, and fantastic as ever... like those toad bellys!
:claps:

Hope to be making some fresh dust soon myself.....

They are mut sweet :btu:

Joe ... that Perch type pattern ,, the lighter green with the darker vertical lines ... You free handing those vertical lines .. ? Love that look ..

I made several stencils, the original from foil and tape, once i found a pattern that I liked, I tranfered each one onto semi ridgid plastic, the kind you find in the packaging from kids toys ( a trick I saw posted by Salty Booger) I then cut the patterns with a razor knife , I made the stencils into tubes, each tube is taped at the bottom and tapered slightly aft so they fit a variaty of plugs, before you tape the tube shut be sure to sand any rough edges on the inside of the stencil..or it will scratch the plug...(dont ask me how I figured that out)...once finished, the tube will be slightly oval and tapered, to align my plug properly i turn the screw hook that I use in my painting and curing ( after sealing) down to align the hook hanger holes, I squeeze the stencil and insert the plug, for depth, I made the stencil so I align the middle of the eye sockets witht he edge of the stencil... when I release the "squeeze" on the stencil, it grips the plug firmly, a 1/8 rod/wire is inserted in the tail hole and 1 or 2 small clamps can be used to take up any excess slack if the tail end is loose and not fitting fairly snug on the body of the plug, at that point the screw eye is turned 90 degrees and I set the plug on a pair of V blocks that I use for opainting, whole process only takes a few seconds , a light coat of the desired paint is dusted onto the plug/stencil, a little practice allows you to learn how much of the spray pattern to keep allow to hit the plug and give a good fade.. allow the paint ot dry for about 30 seconds ( depends on type of paint and thickness of coating)... I think I have some pictures on my home PC... after the stencil is removed, I then place the plug in the scale machine and apply my scale over the stripes...