Something you haven’t seen before – talk about a great lure!

[Fish_Eye]

These spectacular wooden imitations of a blue runner were dynamite for catching just about anything with a mouth in Panama.

They were created but Sal Stanzione (originator of the Hooligan tins) and had been tested over the 2002 season with great success. Sal landed a 34-pound striper from shore on one of these amazing lures. In Panama we caught: hounds, jack cravelle, horse-eye jacks, bluefin trevally, and a big sail. I have footage of two big porpoises approaching and then staring at the lure as it s-l-o-w-l-y dropped under the surface. You could work them exceptionally slow (which was the ticket for stripers in NE) with an enticing swagger, or you could jerk the rod and get them to walk the dog, you could rip them through the water and skim the surface with a fast-as-you-can retrieve, and were killer on bonito when high speed trolled at 12 – 15 knots! Sal has worked on various types of wood ranging from mahogany to bass and has spend months working on the delicate issue of weighting and balancing these. The fact that the leader passes through the lure was instrumental in hooking and then landing a big Pacific Sail. The lure slid down the leader and when the sail did its tail dance and head shaking, my video revealed how the lure was thrown back and forth with little chance of opening a big hole where the hook was set.

Moral of the story for all you plug builders, “Think outside of the box!”

The lures weighed in at between 2 and 6 ounces.

[fishweewee]

Beautiful. Where can I get 10 dozen of those?

[STEVE IN MASS]

WOW....they sure are PRETTY!!!!....I have something close to the third picture down, but it's metal, and the color-finish is becoming delaminated..

[JohnR]

schweet!

[DaveS]

Nice wood Mike, where can we get some of dem?

[Christian]

o my god, those have to be killers. i want one.

[Slipknot]

Those are very lifelike Mike. They look like they have that same foil type finish that's on the Hooligans.

How do you fish them? does it have to be slow? I take it they imitate an injured or dying baitfish?
I'd hate to have bluefish wreck those, do they hold up well?

[bassmaster]

show the lure Bruce.....

[Fish_Eye]

Slip,

These are "proof of concept" or prototypes that indeed work and work well. You can opt to work these as slow or slower than a needlefish, or you can troll them at 14 knots! You can watch them slowly sink and wobble as they drop, or scoot them over the surface like an Exorcit missle.

The amount of time it takes to make these would result in a prohibitively expensive lure, however if we can find a way to make them in plastic with the same behavioral characteristics that would be another story.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that there might be thousands of proven lure designs that have worked for decades, but there is plenty of room for inovative new designs. Bucktail jigs are great (as you know) and they have been around forever, however, bucktails tiped with some of the new plastic curly tails are sometimes far better.

The giant Spook-like stick offering from Tattoo was the product of countless prototypes that just didn't have that magic action. When he found the right balance, length and action the lure practically manufactured fish.

When you compare the action of a Habs popper to many of the other wooden topwater poppers you find a distinctly different pop, splash and productivity that's hard to surpass.

I'm not a woodworker, nor do I have the time to experiment with making new offerings, but if I had the time and resources, you can bet I would be making surface offerings with props fore and aft, I would be making the fattest pikies you ever saw, and I would be making a wooden version of a bunker spoon for slow trolling applications.

Like a mad scientist I would experiment with wooden lures that had holes drilled through them to create contrails of bubbles. I would try to make a wooden or plastic squid lure that runs under the surface, suspends and can be worked at various depths.

There are still a few more weeks of winter left, why don't you shade tree plug makers let your imaginations run wild and come up with some unique new offerings...I'll be happy to be your test pilot

Mike

[Slipknot]

Thanks Mike, I am learning a lot from you.
If I had the time, I'd be experimenting too.

I have this plug that PASurfer made, I am not a good photographer but it has a foil on it. The plug has a very dense wood on the bottom third and red cedar as the top 2/3 of the body so it sits correct in the water. It swims great and imitates a baby bunker perfectly. I am afraid to toss it.[IMG]C:\My Documents\Pictures\Bruce\pasurferplug.JPG[/IMG]

[Slipknot]

[IMG]\\Living_room\d\Pictures from laptop\Bruce\lures 2003\whoknowswhat.JPG[/IMG]

[Slipknot]

[IMG]\\Living_room\d\Pictures from laptop\Bruce\Lures 2002\superpike.JPG[/IMG]

I made some VERY fat pikies I'd like to show you someday.

[Slipknot]

[IMG]\\Living_room\d\Pictures from laptop\Bruce\Fishing pictures 2001\pikie.JPG[/IMG]

[Slipknot]

[IMG]\\Living_room\d\Pictures from laptop\Bruce\Fishing pictures 2001\Lures\giantpikedone.JPG[/IMG]

[mrmacey]

that number 2 pic what kinda lure is that casting or trolling ive never seen one of them!!

[redcrbbr]

bruce..."that whoknowswhat" looks like something Gumby , or the thunderbirds would have fished with.

[Slipknot]

Originally posted by mrmacey
that number 2 pic what kinda lure is that casting or trolling ive never seen one of them!!

The first time I saw it at the plug building party I said I have to make one of those so I did.
I borrowed the original from Steve Shiraka and copied it almost exact, but I used titanium for the fins. Near as I can tell it's some kinda homemade canal plug. I think someone took a Gibbs casting popper/swimmer and modified it extremely. The back tailfin has a hole in the bottom part to snap a line to it and then 18" or os of mono goes down to a 1/2 oz or so bucktail jig.

Steve can't wait to see this thing swim. He won't toss his as it's the only one he has and someone along the canal one day way back when gave it to him. We believe that when the herring are around, the plug will catch. The hooks will release from their point on the sides as a fish get's hooked and will be able to swing freely.

MikeP, have you ever seen anything like this?

[mrmacey]

put a couple feather teasers in front of that trolled slow would look like a fish chasing bait [wow whered that come from im learning something] remember last year slip my idea of a leader was the heaviest flouresent green mono i could find you said id change "that" i feel i have learned so much this winter cant wait to get out there and practice!!! theres so much more to learn!!

[Canalratt1]

Slip never saw a plug like that at the Ditch. It does look like something Gibbs would do. Best bet is to ask Angler or Ron Arra about it.

[Mike P]

slip---it's a new one to me, too. Besides, it looks like a decent fish could get a lot of leverage on those fixed hooks.

Uh, disregard that last part---I just took a better look at it--my bad