My 2 cents on spooks. A spook, or any walk-the-dog plug for that matter, is nothing more than a chunk of wood with hooks and some lead in it. It has no inherent action to it. Probably 90% or more of the action comes from the user and there are many different ways to work a spook. All the builder can do is set it up so that the fisherman can easily work the plug in the conditions where it was meant to be fished. In the case of my spook, I designed it for a tailwater area down here. Currents can be wicked here, canal like, except that you can have currents moving in different directions depending on where in the cast you are and the part of the river. Some waves, but nothing like what you guys have in the surf. Distance can be important, some days. Rough conditions and current are, in many cases, similar to what you guys experience in the surf. That’s why the plug works well there too. I had tried tail weighted spooks, but the currents would flip them over, toss them around, and you could not get them to work right in many areas.
When designing a spook, you basically have a few variables to play with: wood type, shape, location of line tie (centered or off-center) location of weight, and amount of weight. Note that you can pretty much get any shape to walk-the-dog. Throw lead in the belly of a pencil, it will walk (even with an off center line tie). Remove the lip from a pikie and weigh it right, it will walk. Hell, you could probably put hooks on a dowel and get it to walk if weighed right (and the angler knew what they were doing). In general, a roundish shape, thicker up front, thinner towards the tail will walk well. The main thing is how it is weighed and how much weight you use. I’ve seen some spooks done by surf guys that, in my opinion, had too much lead in the tail. The plug looked more like a turd swirling around the bowl trying to avoid the flush than a baitfish escaping a hungry predator. Comes from the need for distance that you’ll find in surf fishing at times. If you need to reach out and touch them, use a popper or a pencil. While a spook casts pretty well, I would not consider it a distance plug. Too much lead in the spook will kill, or at least deaden, the action.
No matter how you weigh it, a spook should sit slightly tail down in the water, closer to 20 degrees than 45. A belly weight, all other things equal, will give you more of a glide than a tail weight. The belly weight also creates a more stable plug for rougher water. The tail weight will likely get you more distance. The closer to the belly hook you place the weight, the more of a glide you’ll get. As an aside, the method that Larry shows is similar to how a musky glider is weighed: a slug of lead near the tail and one near the head, sinks level. They walk them subsurface. Crank the handle and a good glider will do a 180 degree turn and glide 8-12 inches.
Back to spook. Line tie below center will give you a little more splash as the plug goes side to side than a center line tie. If you go with a center line tie, and the weight is close to the belly hook, the plug will often go subsurface during the walk.
A lighter wood is more lively than a heavier wood. A heavy wood may be more stable in rough water.
Those are the basics. There is certainly much more that could be said concerning the individual variables, but that will get you started. Likewise, a whole lot could be said concerning how to work a spook. Soooo, with that being said, figure out the conditions that you will typically fish your spook and how you want the plug to work, then start messing with the variables to get the action you are after. A properly designed spook will have some belly roll (flash) as it goes side and side and will walk real easy. Well, at least until it gets blasted by a fish
Jigman