Who’s working on what?
 

So with the 2017 season done, let’s see what’s in the works.

Here’s something I played around with this season and finalized the shape/action

6” surface pikie, 2.5oz rigged with a 4/0 belly and 5/0 siwash or just a flag, tail wags on the top.

http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/...pszlky68ge.jpg

Also built and fished a 7.5” troller, that goes 10-12 feet deep, added an extra weight in front of the belly hook, will be perfect for the deeper rock pile spots and the ditch, will have to upload some pics later.

This year I"m doing a trilogy of wadds. mini, midi and maxi. all sealed and priming half soon. Midi is a level sink. All have popular similarities to "wadd" but with a facial twist. The midi took numerous test sessions to come up with weighting to do what I wanted. I have a diving Pike Jr in the works and may have ready for spring if time allows.

the usual. Darters swimmers needles with a few pencils.
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I am working on some Pine and Maple Donnys. They are between 7.5 and 7.75 inches and my tail dimension is a bit wider than most Donny style swimmers I have seen. Using Lefty Mid and Lefty High slot lips. I may try a couple Pikie 3's on the pines as well.
I also designed a 6.5 inch wadd style needle. I took my 8.5" wadd needle and shrunk it down. It casts well and sinks fairly level. Those are next to be turned.
Finally I'm going to take my 8.5" wadd and double down on the weighting to get it closer to 4 ounces. Hoping to get a faster sinking needle, but testing yet to happen.

Just started on some skonrads (skinny conrads). I and a few friends fished them last season with good results and since my lathe was still setup from them from spring I figured I might as well start the 2018 building season turning a few more. They are 8.5" long and finish at around 4oz. They barely float and get down pretty deep (8+ft) on a slow retrieve. Nice slow swimming action kind of like an eel coming through the water.

Need to turn some more maple Donny's afterwards and then may start on either a darter or a jointed deep diving eel.

Look nice!!!!!

Some of the maple Donnys i am working on.

With Kenny rogers as your shift supervisor, these plugs are sure to be good!

I may call them "Gamblers" or "Kennys" since I have been listening to that album for most of their build to date.....

I like "gamblers"...

You gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em.

I like that Pete. How bout, know when to show em ,know when to throw em!

3oz cedar darter
 

I've acquired a few darters over the years but never built any. I had been looking at some LIFISHINVTs darters for years. I have one that I got in a trade back in 2003 and have a few Tatoos which I love fishing off the beach or from the rocks such as The Glades. After building a cedar bench I had a few 2x3 cutoffs and turned this darter by hand. Made a few quick and crude jigs and cut the lips on this one on the table saw. Weighted it, rigged it, a couple of quick rattle can coats and while still tacky took it down to the North River to try out. By dumb luck this thing digs down 5-6 feet, darts right and left nice with a wiggle to boot. I was impressed! The action was very similar to the tattoos. I made a template so I can duplicate it and a template to copy the tattoos (they are smaller, and no longer available) and will refine my jigs for cutting the lip and slope.

...just trying to get replenish the stash for the Plugbash.....

Oh yeh. Missed u last couple years. Hope to make it if we have plugfest .
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Gliders. Then some pencils.
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I am getting used to using the airbrush and having successes and failures. I think the air pump that came with my set is not capable of PSI over 15, so I'm struggling with clogs and poor performance. I'm going to switch to a more powerful air compressor this weekend. These are a couple of my early attempts though. Again the fish don't care.

Last epoxy session this weekend. Sys3 working out better even w/o a spinner. I find multiple thin coats successful . No flip either. I did 2 on needles.
I found 8 Pike bodies ready for prime. Hiding in my plug draw!! Painted them and have 2 coats on them. May add a third. I use 12cc for 8 pikes. 8cc/4cc ratio. 1" foam brush. Slow strokes on finish drag. I hang the Pikes upside down for 20min or so the flip tail down. Have heat lamps 4' away from them shining 12 hrs. able to handle them next day.