Plug tuning.... - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

steelhead · 04-11-2005, 08:03 PM

Took a bunch of plugs down to my local tune up spot and gave them a work out on Sunday. I was most interested in the round nosed swimmers that had some home brew lips on them. Three goo goo eyes and 3 atom 40 style guys. The googoo eyes wenr okay. Still don't know if I really have their tight wiggle that has been described to me by severl old timers who used to troll them on wire all the time. But they were different than the atom style guys. Those three were a mixed bag. The one with the small lip ( and I mean by 1/16th of an inch smaller in width and a slightly less full lip) swam nice right ouut of the box. The other two would hold in the current and make a huge wake. As soon as I would even suggest cranking in, they would roll. By turning the thru wire loop upwards, I was able to get most of the rolling over trait out of the plug, along with some turning of the lip down. On one of these, I had curled the edges of the lip blade inwards just a tad. That didn't seem to make ant difference. But if there were other problems inherent in the lip, that may have overshadowed the curlingin at the lip edge. None of these guys like calm water either. In calm water, at a very slow crak, they would track aith noe wiggle, wobble or roll. As I increased the crank rate, they would kick in and start to move. I started thinking trolling plug?

Was able to reconfirm the danny profile I seem to be settling on on for fast current with the pronounced shoulder just aft of the centerline of the plug. Also did some small slope nosed guys that would really dig and skitter in the current as it would belly up and swirl about.

All in all a good day, but I feel like I need a round nose swimmer clinic from someone sometime to be sure I'm on the right track.

capesams · 04-11-2005, 08:30 PM

this tip come's from an old sand sharpie....toss it out..let it sit..twich it once or twice...let it float along by itself with the tide.....alot of other lipped swimmer's can also be worked this way.....just because it has a lip doesn't mean it needs to swim from splash down back to your feet.

ps...nice looking plug's.

steelhead · 04-11-2005, 09:15 PM

Interesting you say that.... I had a lot of fun playing with backreeling them. Trying to keep the plug on the edge of an eddy as it was whisked out into the bay.... That will take some practice!