Thread: Stop the ROLL!
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Old 12-30-2004, 09:15 AM   #18
PASurfer
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SE Pennsylvania
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Hank... I make a very similar plug style, the primary difference being I cut about 3/8" off the nose to give the lip a little more flat surface to support it, but it should still work as you have it. IMO, here's three things to consider:

As DaveP noted, I'd start by taking pliers to the eye loop... first up, almost even with the lip slot bend... test swim it to check the roll, then make slight 1/8" downward adjustments to see if/ where it settles. If, as you move back down, the roll increases then you need to recut your lip slot higher on the face. If up doesn't work, bend it down about 30 degrees from horizontal, and repeat the swim tests, making 1/8' adjustments back towards horizontal. As I visual aid for roll checking on protos, I mark a 2" or so straight line on top of the plug, head to nose, with a red permanent marker.

Second, move your belly hook back another 3/8"-1/2" (slightly behind that knot). Better yet, just remove the hook, but leave everything else as is for the moment. Clamp a hacksaw blade level (and cutting edge up) in a vice with about half the blade sticking out from the vice's edge. Now try to balance your lure on the blade edge. When you find that balance point, roll the plug body slightly back-n-forth while applying a little pressure. The blade will imprint a fine dotted line that marks your balance/pivot point. That's where you want your belly hook.

Then loose your tail weight, and move your chin weight to a point about 1/2" in front of your final belly hook placement.

Bonus point, as Slip hinted, when working with knotty pine you should float the plug before you start making swivel and eye holes, as the uneven grain and changing densities of the wood/knots will affect how it wants to ride in water. If it's drilled out against it's natural floatation tendency, it will have the same effect as sticking lead in the body off center... and the effect is only exaggerated once the lip sets the body in motion.
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