[RoyL]

Originally Posted by 2na

Being the one who gave Steve the plugs he mentioned, and therefore knowing George all too well, my bet is he the traded plugs to your godfather for a haircut!!

I'll correct Steve a little: he would grab straight lengths of birch where he could, or he would also have it given to him from friends from the beach, and he would air dry them on a rack he built under an old oilskin tarp next to the chicken coop that he had converted into his plug turning shop. Then after the lengths had dried he would square the logs and cut them into balusters.

George was a machinist by trade, and made the lathe that he used to make plugs, the molds for the lead, cutting heads for plug faces, and pretty much anything he set his mind to. As he stood 6'2 or 3, and the height of the ridge inside the coop was about 6' he would have to duck as he walked around inside. The door to the coop was his station for spray painting the plugs - the paint was a good 2" thick on that door. He would hang plugs on the door with different size lengths of cut coat hanger and spray 20 at a time. George and his wife Millie built the house in the 30's, the land a gift from her parents. A child of the Depression he rarely threw anything of perceived value away.

The plugs you have were his specials, he would get exotic wood like cherry, walnut and purple heart, glue them together into blocks and turn out the plugs you have. I used to give him a hard time about the fact that he also weighted them like the working models: I would say to him "George, why are you wasting your time putting lead into those? No one is every gonna use them!" He contended that some people did fish them.

George fished well into his mid 80's and really just came to the beach to observe his last few years. His last trip to the beach was in 2005, and he passed away in December 2006, a week before this 92nd birthday. That little collard popper that you have in your pics is still one of my favorite plugs to use. Thanks for the rush of memories, Roy.

Wow, thank you so much for that bit of back ground...My godfather said he was a pretty good guy and would hang around the shop for hours talking fishing with him.

Thanks again,

Roy