Conrads/Slopeheads

[Canalman]

Well, I think I figured out why almost no one makes Conrads or Slopeheads. I decided, after seeing all the heartache that people have gone through trying make Conrads without success that I would figure it out. So I did a lot of research and tweaking and after a short bout of the "WTF's" I got a Sr. Slopehead to swim beatifully, however the plug weighs a hair over 6-ounces and while it has a really nice wiggle to it, I can't think of too many places where I could effectively fish this plug! The thing swims down all of 20-plus feet on a normal length cast and if you bounch bottom, you can't stop and allow to float away from the bottom becasue the lure sinks. I have no pics right now, I will be making a short run of them and I will post pics when I get them painted.

I'm curious if anyone else has tried these lures and had the same findings.

-Dave

[stripercrazy]

I built the sr with a a-40 lip, it sank, heavy plug 6 oz...it worked but I wasn't happy with the action...body was maple...what killed the project for me was ,I didn't think the a-40 was a good diveing lip, good at level swimming and I tryed to build a sinking plug that I could count down to the bottom and swim, but with out the conrad type lip the body was too heavy...it was fun trying can't wait to see yours...ed

[luds]

I'll take one. I have a place in mind for it.

I left you a present on Wednesday.

[Canalman]

Yea Mike, I know where you mean... but I think it would just rake the bottom....

I found the present...

[numbskull]

Built some large versions this summer that fished pretty well. Weighed @4oz. The best was heavy birch/unweighted. Sexy slow wobble. Didn't get anything worth bragging about, but it took enough fish that I'm confident using it. It turns out that Pichney made the Jr version out of weighted pine and unweighted maple. I suspect he did the same with the senior version as well, since the birch one I made weighed 4oz with no weight (but the pine one was too light even after weighting it identically to an xrayed pichney, so it got a chin and tail weight to float it lower). As long as you have the shape right and adjust the weight so they float level with the tail slightly under and water above the lip slot I think you will be OK. As I'm sure you are aware, however, the conrad and slope head were two different plugs. Putting a slope head over a conrad lip might be too much (though I'd have thought it would work), as perhaps over weighting a maple version is as well. The original I weighed was @4.2oz.

[Canalman]

Thanks George,

I made mine out of AYC after trying some other woods, it took some serious lead, but it sinks slowly and the swimming action is actually really tight and rapid on a slow retrieve... I'll take a look at reducing the weight and redistributing it and see what happens. My big thing is that while I love the action, there aren't many places where one can toss a plug into water that's deep enough to handle that kind of diving without hanging. But if I can figure out how to get it to dive to around 10' then it just might be deadly. This is why I love to build plugs.

-Dave

[Pete F.]

I made a slopehead senior a couple of years ago.
Wood was southern yellow poplar, small centered weight and a #3 Pikie lip.
Would crawl right down with a nice wiggle but no fish. Only tried it once before the neighbors dog stole it off my picnic table late at night and chewed it, that was not pretty.
Just made a couple out of maple to try, now the rivers here are frozen.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by bluefishercat

I made a slopehead senior a couple of years ago.
Wood was southern yellow poplar, small centered weight and a #3 Pikie lip.
Would crawl right down with a nice wiggle but no fish. Only tried it once before the neighbors dog stole it off my picnic table late at night and chewed it, that was not pretty.
Just made a couple out of maple to try, now the rivers here are frozen.

I looked last night and the latest are made out of cherry. And the river thawed out
I will soon know how they swim.

[tlapinski]

I always wondered why more weren't made. I love the ones I have, but it is scary fishing them at times. Got a couple Pichney conrads that swim WAY deeper than the BM ones. Dave, let me know when they might be available.

[ThrowingTimber]

Originally Posted by tlapinski

I always wondered why more weren't made.

My understanding is that they were originally used specifically at sandy point. Once the cowboys came out the conrads fell by the wayside.


This seems like the winter of the conrad. Just got my hands on some beautiful maple


*** This is specific to BeachMaster Conrads***

[Flaptail]

Conrad named after Conrad Malicoate who still, in advanced years, lives in P-Town. Made of an axe handle by him to swim deep and reach far into to rip at Race Point. One was lost then found on beach by Tony Chiarrapo and given to one Frank McHugh of New York who hung out in later years at MacReed's in Orleans, Via Frank McHugh to Danny Pichney. Pichney named it the Conrad after Malicoate though the two never met and Mailcoate did not fish that often and eventually just stopped altogether. Malicoates daughter is involved in local politics in P-Town.

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by bluefishercat

I looked last night and the latest are made out of cherry. And the river thawed out
I will soon know how they swim.

Swam one, it's not heavy enough.
Now I need to decide how much weight to add.

[capesams]

Alitte history lesson here....MR.conrad was the first one to make "the conrad"out of an ax handle[ash] to beable to reach out beyond the second bar in PTown where it was very deep...either one was found on the beach or was bought an taken back to NY for copying by Danny pichney...where it was used off a bridge to reach the bottom where the bass lay in wait...no casting needed here because of it's weight..they dropped it straight down and just let it wiggle in the crurrent...I beleive the heavy ones were made just for this reason..then some were made to be lighter for skinny water as time went on as in the way bm made them.

[ProfessorM]

Don't give up the ship. Wish I had something to add but I don't. What size hooks you putting on the jr. and sr.'s. Conrads? Southern Yellow might be worth a try. Thanks for the idea. Dave are you using the same Conrad type, elongated front danny type, lip?

[Slipknot]

what's a conrad?
slopehead?

[ProfessorM]

If you are serious, which i am not sure you are B., here are some pictures

[Pete F.]

They are originally Pichney plugs, Look at Bassdozers site and there is a good explanation of the differences, at least from the eye of a fisherman though not a plugbuilder.

[ProfessorM]

I am no expert but the difference as far as I can see is the obvious slop on the head and the lie tie being lower on the face. Article I read said it gets almost as deep as the Conrad, I would have thought the opposite. I would imagine same lip used but put in middle or slightly lower on the face. Wish I had one to compare the two. Probably same lip. Line tie tuning is probably very important with these plugs. Plugs look to be same size and dimensions. I wish bassdozer site showed the plugs head on too. Anyone who can add to that don't be shy as I am no soothsayer.

[ProfessorM]

Sounds like the heavy ones would be a good deep water slow boat trolling or boat casting plug maybe.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Sounds like the ones for the bridge were kinda like a "wigglin" jig.

[ProfessorM]

and I thought they were named after Conrad Dobler.
http://www.esquire.com/features/what...SQ1100-NOV_WIL

[Slipknot]

[ProfessorM]

Look him up. What a savage. Make #^&#^&#^&#^& Butkas look like a girl scout.

[chief10]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

Look him up. What a savage. Make #^&#^&#^&#^& Butkas look like a girl scout.

he was the guy who bit someone's ear off..right.

[ProfessorM]

Just a finger that was jammed into his face mask Mike Tyson is th ear biter

[Canalman]

Well, George I messed with the weighting and I was able to remove 2 ounces of lead and after some tweaking I have what I now believe may be a killer in deep water. Hard to tell how deep she goes but I'd venture to guess at least 10 feet. It's a real thumper, but the wiggle is relativley tight. I had to make special belly weights to get the right ammount of weight in the right places.

It now floats, but sits mostly submerged,

130 days (or so) 'til I can try it!

[numbskull]

Still not quite right. Soft maple, no weight, 2.5oz unrigged (.3oz more than they should weigh) float deep, think they'll swim OK.

[Tagger]

maybe just pic ... one I have looks longer and slimmer . Pichney

[Tagger]

Are yours Jr.'s ?

[numbskull]

Yup....Jr's. Hey, Eddy, your white one got a bigger chin hook? Interesting. Somebody who knew plugs owned that one (check out the eye). Is it weighted or not? (For Christ's sake don't cut it if you can't tell).