stuff in progress
 

I'm not going to get anything done for a while but here's what I'm working on...

I want to try to get some stuff that goes down a little other than needles, so here's an off center darter I'm messing around with and another thats kind of like one of those tuna trolling lures. I'm still at the beginning stages of these, working out line tie position and the weighting etc.

I sealed a batch of topwater today, it has 4 polaris style poppers and 4 that are similar to shapes I've done in the past but I'm experimenting a bit with the weighting. I cut the heads on all of these at a sharper than normal angle so I can overweight them and let the current in the canal hold them up without ripping my shoulder apart. The ones I made last year had a flatter head and dragged way too much water once the current was moving.

Then I turned a few pencils in a couple of different body styles, trying to see which is the longest caster and whether a flat belly makes any difference casting distance wise. Theres's also a couple in there that will be slightly larger, hopefully they'll come in around 4 0z for a new rod I'm building.

Last year at times distance was real important and while the poppers and pencils I made all worked, some wobbled on the cast and that cost a lot of distance so I'm trying to really work on that aspect of the topwater...

Here's what I got cooking.

Some small surfsters and toy donnys.

Some skinny donnys and a few bananas

And the good stuff, BM 3oz and Musso 3oz darters

All really nice stuff guys. I will take some pics of stuff when I get at least some holes in them, little further along. I'm sure you don't want to see turned wood without holes.

Man, I gotta lot of catching up to do!!!

The lures look great!

Geo I have noticed you asked a question of the difference of the Musso/Pichney/BM darters..What have you found..??
In my experience the musso and pichney's are very similar where the BM is a deeper swimmer.If I am not mistaken,Of the 3or so ounce models.The Musso is the smallest and the BM largest in size with the Danny somewhere in between..I have not done as well with the BM's as I really don't have that many deep water applications for it.I do have a few things in mind for it though..A swivelized version of Stan Gibbs 3 hook job would be neat..

I've only fished the BM's over the years, and primarily at one outflow. They've worked well for me....better than the plastic Super Strikes. The real BM's are hard maple and weigh about 3.5oz, the Pichney and Lupo's are the same shape but in a lighter wood and weigh about 3oz. I built these out of soft maple, will probably do another run out of hard maple at some point.
The Musso is a shorter plug, but also (I presume) hard maple and weighs 3oz. More weight in a smaller package should mean it casts further. Flap claims the Musso's are the best swimming darter he's ever fished, but I've never tried one and these obviously have yet to see water.
Got the Gibbs out and measured as well. What most people don't know is that the three hook darters went through several modifications. The earliest had the the weight behind the second hook and the hooks more forward, the next model swapped the middle hook and weight position, the most recent were slimmer than the originals. Planning a run of those too, but which model and when I'm unsure.

George, you're making some really nice stuff.

Do the BM and Musso darters you guys are talking about use the same lip angles as the gibbs ? I have an old 3 hook gibbs with screw eyes that was in one of my dads old tackle buckets and its practically a twin to a superstrike in terms of lenght,width as well as the all the angles and cuts..

Sort of. The Musso, Pichney/BM/Lupo, and the Frech darters are bigger plugs (about 1.25" by 6 1/2 to 7 1/2" long and run about 3 oz). The set up is similar-45 degree chin cut to just beneath midline then an incrementally increasing slope from mid back down to the midline at the face. They all float about the same, slightly tail down and water about a third the way up the back then level with the slope which is about 1/8" above water. The 3 hook Gibbs runs shallower than the others.....why I've not yet figured out. You can also fish it like a floating needle, very slowly with twitches to make it struggle to get down while staying on top. So much to learn. :spin:

Thanks George, I'm going to try and pick up some maple on the way home tonight... And to say there's a lot to learn is a gross understatement..

Check your PM's

beautiful stuff.

thank you for the eye candy.

Stuff in progress the story of my plug building life, always in progress just never finished. Here goes

I have a few capt bills.

I am trying a larger Gary2 thin. I really liked the original ones I made so I figured I would step it up a couple sizes. I am hopeful it turns out as nice as the original

I did really well in the fall with this small flat faced maple needle so I am making some more. 3 belly wgts along the bottom

Next I got a spook I made last year in white that is kind of a Yozuri hydro pencil type shape. I am going to weight it similar to the jigman spook this time and do the line tie lower on the face like he does to. I will do a few with tail wgts. like the white one thru wired on center. I am canning the eyes in that position too. Lame

Next I am doing some larger Stezko needles similar to the smaller ones. Thanks to CS man for the small blanks

I am also doing some of my large Polaris poppers but as you can see I haven't started yet. Tomorrow.

My bananas don't look like that!! just got the screw eyes from staminac yesterday

These I did today, small polaris poppers, similar to the white one but I redid the body to a more smooth radius body. Weighting will remain the same, although I will make some heavier so they will sink but cast further. Plenty others in different stages, Conrads, spooks, flaptails,etc.... I also got a few plugfest ones that I can't show.

lets see em Bill

Hey Paul,On the Needles how do ya make the face cuts.I do a few the same way and I just sand em on the belt sander.It takes some care to make em perfect as far as alignment with the eyes and all.I know it don't matter if it's 100 percent but it would bother me it it where not.

Hey Tony
I sand the Stezko needles with a small drum sander you can put in your drill press. I made a quick fixture to hold the plug up right using the belly hole I then go in from both sides sliding the fixture on the drill press, Bridgeport, table till I get them even. The small needles I use an endmill and put plug in a bridgeport vise and mill the flats. Not very helpful to you I know but I would think you could do them the same with the drum sander in the spindle of the drill press, but it would leave a bigger radius. Doing it free hand leaves to many ways to screw it up, something a fixture would eliminate IMO.

PS. it would bother me too if they weren't even.

Here's some stuff I have in progress. Hopefully I can make it to the plugbuilding gathering.
Top to bottom:

9" Maple Needle - 3oz
6" Mahogany popper - 3oz
Musso troller knockoff - 3 1/4
7" Mahogany needle - 2 - 2.5 oz
Small handcarve - 1.5oz
Atom 40 knockoff
5" Red Cedar pencil - 1oz.

Nice plugs guys. Looking forward to seeing it up close in a couple months.

wow, that was a real treat...plug envy...talent envy...knowledge envy...workshop envy.... Professor, do you go with a vintage looking paint job on those Capt. Bills? I like the drawings, Bay Stalker had some nice ones in a recent post, those would look great framed up and hanging on the wall...

I've been turning out some pencils and polaris style poppers for the ditch here and there, but have also been toying with some newer designs (for me at least).

I've been making a surfster-ish plug for a while thats similar to the g2 slim plugs, and recently reshaped it a bit to look more like a slim, with various weight placement. Might try making it a slope-head as well. Probably some more experimentation with beer-cap lips too, since its fun and I have too much time on my hands, haha.

my original shape
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4/DSCN1581.jpg

the "slim"-er shape
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4/DSCN1660.jpg

Also one of my main projects is the conrad plugs, especially the junior. I would really like to start trying to fish these in the ditch this year, and learning how to do that should be fun (I hope). note the smoke in the epoxy on the yellow one from getting the lighter too close :spin:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4/DSCN1664.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4/DSCN1665.jpg

First time I tried these so I have not decide yet. has a gigantic a-40 lip on this skinny little plug. The finish on the original is that plastic type outside finish capt bill used. I guess i will try one in the original paint, could be a challenge though.