[numbskull]

Originally Posted by scottw

..... the fish was in the rocks the entire time and my biggest concern was losing the plug as I felt my line dragging across the structure it seemed to keep finding ...it's the only one I'd made..

Originally Posted by Diggin Jiggin

I may retire that one and use it as the standard to judge my others by. Most of my decent fish this year have been on that plug.

It is amazing how valuable a home made plug becomes, when it is your only prototype and is working better than anything else in your bag. You start trusting it so much and fishing it so often, surviving the season becomes unlikely.......yet taking it out of the rotation deprives you of your most useful tool. I've gone both ways (got the same dilemma right now with the yellow bottle). What I try to do is measure it, weigh it, get a profile, float it to record its waterline, and record its balance point.........then I keep fishing it and hope for the best. I think you learn more by fishing a plug through its lifespan, than by quitting while you are ahead.