Plug Characteristics

[plankton]

I'm fairly new to surf casting, with only half a dozen trips last season under my belt. I've used dannys and round nose metal lips and understand the difference in action. I've seen plugs called pikies, cowboys, and surfsters; and the difference in design is obvious. What I'm wondering is what the different swimming characteristics of these plugs are?

[baldwin]

Pivot points, wide wiggle vs. tighter wiggle, rolling vs. not rolling, depth of swimming, speed at which you can slow it down to while still keeping the action.

[baldwin]

Also, ability to keep its action in rough water.

[NIB]

Although The name Pikie comes from the round headed,scooped top plug Creek Chub made famous yrs ago.The plug that many garage builders are making today is quite different.
The original with a slim body did most of it work on or just below the surface.
Many of todays builders are working off a design modified by a guy in California Mike Fixter..
Mike's fishing grounds are different from most here in the east..
He needed some thing to cast just a little further.He came up with this Big wooden swimmer.
Measuring from 7-9 inches and around 5 oz he discovered with the increased weight he could get the desired action with a fatter body
Sure there may have been some others.From what I have seen Mike got a few of these fat boys in the hands of a resident builder Dave bassmaster Manzi an the craze really took off.
Dave scaled the length an weight down some to make em more east coast friendly.
Or maybe to keep him from busting all his lami's..
These fatboy Pikie's (about 1 3/4" diameter)with a large Z type lip, fore weighted for the most part.Where true Surface plugs with the lip almost fighting to pull the pregnant body style down as the plug waddled back an forth across the top plane of the water..
Although this design could hold their own just fine in bigger water.
They really worked best in the calm water.
Just another plug design made from neccessity...

The surfster is another lure No longer made By Creek Chub.
Also a scooped head design it came in various body width's an lengths.
The main difference was a spoon type metal lip that pushed water an gave the plug a more side to side waddle.better in the calmer stuff as the lip would cause the plug to pop out of it's rhythmic action with the pull of a good wave..
They did make some heavy models my guess for trollin.These heavier plugs worked fine in the bigger stuff but for the most part the original plug worked best in the flat stuff.
I would have to put the Cowboy's made By Beachmaster in the same category of the Fixter style pike...
Large body, big Z style metal lip, though middle weighted.This plug has more of a waddle.
Not bad just different.Not as good in the flat stuff but better at holding in the wave of the bigger water..
There are many variations Of the plugs from yesterday.Besides the difference in design.Wood being inherently different from one piece to the next. Will give each individuall plugs there own charcteristics.
I reccomend pre testing an tuning to use each one to their optimum performance.
Here is one of my favorite articles on plugs an the difference's tuning can make an so on..
http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/surf_plugs.shtml

Hope this helped good luck,

[JFigliuolo]

This has GOT to be the BEST NIB POST EVER!!!

Coherent, educational, WTF??? Who are you and waht did you do w/NIB?

[NIB]

Thanks I think..
Lots of times I see post's an i could go on on.
I bite my tounge.
Keep it simple.
Tell a dumb joke.
Because it can/will effect me.
like the bottle plug post..

[plankton]

Thanks NIB! That was probably the best response to a thread I've ever had. Very informative, just the info I was looking for. Now I can spend some more money stocking my plug bag!

[Raven]

you are such a wealth of knowledge.....

it's a shame you don't do this more often....

excellent post.

[jklett]

[fishaholic18]

Originally Posted by NIB

Although The name Pikie comes from the round headed,scooped top plug Creek Chub made famous yrs ago.The plug that many garage builders are making today is quite different.
The original with a slim body did most of it work on or just below the surface.
Many of todays builders are working off a design modified by a guy in California Mike Fixter..
Mike's fishing grounds are different from most here in the east..
He needed some thing to cast just a little further.He came up with this Big wooden swimmer.
Measuring from 7-9 inches and around 5 oz he discovered with the increased weight he could get the desired action with a fatter body
Sure there may have been some others.From what I have seen Mike got a few of these fat boys in the hands of a resident builder Dave bassmaster Manzi an the craze really took off.
Dave scaled the length an weight down some to make em more east coast friendly.
Or maybe to keep him from busting all his lami's..
These fatboy Pikie's (about 1 3/4" diameter)with a large Z type lip, fore weighted for the most part.Where true Surface plugs with the lip almost fighting to pull the pregnant body style down as the plug waddled back an forth across the top plane of the water..
Although this design could hold their own just fine in bigger water.
They really worked best in the calm water.
Just another plug design made from neccessity...

The surfster is another lure No longer made By Creek Chub.
Also a scooped head design it came in various body width's an lengths.
The main difference was a spoon type metal lip that pushed water an gave the plug a more side to side waddle.better in the calmer stuff as the lip would cause the plug to pop out of it's rhythmic action with the pull of a good wave..
They did make some heavy models my guess for trollin.These heavier plugs worked fine in the bigger stuff but for the most part the original plug worked best in the flat stuff.
I would have to put the Cowboy's made By Beachmaster in the same category of the Fixter style pike...
Large body, big Z style metal lip, though middle weighted.This plug has more of a waddle.
Not bad just different.Not as good in the flat stuff but better at holding in the wave of the bigger water..
There are many variations Of the plugs from yesterday.Besides the difference in design.Wood being inherently different from one piece to the next. Will give each individuall plugs there own charcteristics.
I reccomend pre testing an tuning to use each one to their optimum performance.
Here is one of my favorite articles on plugs an the difference's tuning can make an so on..
http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/surf_plugs.shtml

Hope this helped good luck,

You go girl...Nice post.