Tattoo - half the battle has got to be economics. Guys like Johnny Habs and the Beachmaster guys could never produce their quality stuff in high volume and at such low prices to compete with a $6 Mambo Minnow or Striper Swiper. 18 smackers for a yozuri is a lot of coin for any plug regardless of the materials used. When you're average Joe walks into Walmart - he's not looking for dani swimmer to drape an eelskin on. He's going to grab some 6 buck piece of plastic that has a decent margin for the shop and a production cost arouns a buck. How many of those 7" swimmer bodies can you buy for twenty bucks at the Worcester show just before spring starts - 6 or 7 maybe??
I know that a guy down in Westport or Dartmouth is making the GooGooEyes again but I don't know the quality or if they are as good as the old ones were (I've only had one and lost it quickly
)
There are some that may say that the quality of several current makers of wood plugs aren't what they used to be (mentioning nobody in particular so as not to receive a nasty-gram
)... I had a few old Danny Swimmers that had a great wobble but I've stopped getting the new ones in favor of the Beachmasters. Plus I wouldn't be suprised to see another vendor or two come out with some wobblers out of wood...
What's your average price today for decent wooden storebought plugs 13 bucks or so? The plastic stuff is half the price with much streamlined manufacturing processes with quality control which is generally easier (certainly should be) but less of an art than making plugs from wood. Gotta be dollars and cents...
BTW - that got me thinking, what's in my quick/light South County bag? 2 Hab's needlefish, 2 gibbs stubbies, 2 beachmasters, and 2 7" olive mambos 3-1 wood over plastic. Of course, I mostly just fish the eels
