Prototype number one- Gag's old style needle
 

Well, the investment is beginning to pay off, at least a little. I shudder to think what I've spent to get to this point, but hey, who's counting besides me?

I took a bunch of classic plug bodies, duplicated them, modified them a little to my liking, and took 'em for a swim.

This needle is a copy of an old Gag's needle from the early-mid 1980's. The original was very light and tough to cast. I dupe'd the body out of maple, then inserted 18 grams of 1/4" lead into the body that extends about 3" up from the tail. Also, I added 6 grams just ahead of the front hook. The needle weights about 1.85 oz unfinished and swims almost like a lipped plug. Overall length is 7 1/4".
Sealer, primer and paint coming up next.

I'm speechless :eek5:

Won't the bucktail on the rear hook interfere with the eel?

I thought sealing was done before thru-wiring? Nice looking shape.

Very nice start!

Good point. I didn't soak the plugs for too long during the trial. Also, I weighed all the plugs prior to testing so I can keep track of any water logging and let them dry back down to the original weight prior to sealing....I'm still a rank amatuer so bear with me....

I'll give my proto's a quick dip in some poly a day before testing.

Some plugs can really soak up water during testing...Not that they won't dry, but the action will change from when you start to after your done tweeking. I may test a plug for up to an hour or more messing with lips/hooks/weight placement.

you are coming along very nicely. You are a natural for this and quick study. A little more practice on those tail wraps still but I'm being critical now. look great.

I don't have the right tool for tail wrapping yet as I'm still using an allen wrench clamped in my vice until I get down to M and D's for a pair of round nose pliers.

Also need a longer through drilling bit for bigger plugs. The lathe drilling as you mentioned is really the way to go. I've had zero issues so far using the lathe. Thanks again for the through drilling tutorial Paul. :btu:

By the way you respond to these post I can tell you are going to develope into quite the plug builder. I look foward to watching your progress and learning a few things myself:kewl:

Needle looks good .. Hows the sink rate on that ? Welcome to insanity .. surface needle ? slow sink ? sinker ?

my pleasure Mike, any time. the tail wrap thing is strictly an aesthetics thing as your wrap would hold just fine. It is also a very minimal aspect of the process. You got the important things down dam good and that is what is important.

Sinker all the way. Still messing with the weighting schemes though. Casts like a missle with no tumbling and swims up off the bottom like a sinking 7" rebel does when you put tension on the line. I want to keep it 1.5 to 1.75 oz. It might still be a little heavy so I'm going to lighten the tail up a bit.

nice

should catch fine

Looks great Mike. When you put your mind to something, you don't mess around.

Be careful if it swims the way you want. Needles are all about total weight and balance. The angle they sink at determines how fast they plane back to the surface. The heavier the tail relative to the rest of the plug (ie the further back the balance point), the faster they come up. The more level the needle sinks, the less depth control you get for any given weight. Once they get down they're harder to get back up (although holding a given depth is easier). The body of the needle acts like a planer board, get it tilted up and up it comes.

For any given angle of attack, the heavier the needle the faster you have to retrieve it to generate lift to keep it up.

The swimming action comes from the throat and angle of attack. Think of a eel swimming plate or tin squid. Get that S shape (or even a simple taper) close to the front and tilt the tail down a little and it will swim. Elongate the throat and it will run straight. Both work. The trick is getting a plug to fish the depth and water speed you want.

What Numby said ... If you get it close you can adjust the angle of the dangle with the tail hook .. 6/0,,,5/0,,,flag..