Studs and Duds...lets see em and hear the stories

[Back Beach]

My(almost) first year building has turned up some real "studs" and "duds" but l'm learning something new every build while mindlessly pissing my money and time away.

First, some duds...

Was kind of guessing when I did the conrad slope head copies...put the lip too low and belly weight too far forward. They swim ok, but roll out once you speed up the retrive at all. They might catch fish, but they don't work as I envisioned...gonna give em to redlite

[Back Beach]

The white danny was one of the first plugs I ever built last winter. Its a cross between a #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& body and beachmaster hook/weight placement. Caught a bunch of fish up to 35# on Numby's boat with it, plus a bunch off smaller stuff from the beach this fall...

Yellow one is actually the result of a screw up with my duplicator. The plug I was attempting to make came out longer and out of proportion because I mounted the master wrong, so I slimmed it way down and made the most of my mistake. It is now a 7" skinny danny and worked great.

[numbskull]

Here is a good shot of that yellow one some bankrobber must own.

[Back Beach]

Some more duds ...Man, some of these looked sooooo good when they were done, but swim like absolute %$%$%$%$ regardless of lip bending, hook size, line tie...they're gonna become toxic firewood this winter when I get my open burning permit...

[Back Beach]

Caught some nice fish on this musso style plug. Best one was 33#. The plug held up ok, but eventually cracked from water intrusion and then the paint bubbled up on it...
Its going into my hall of fame, though, due to having caught my first big fish with one of my own plugs on it.

[numbskull]

Here are some sexy duds. Probably not fair to call them duds, they swim fine, but I really didn't find much use for them.

The lipless swimmers cast well, but I had more faith in a regular danny's action and found myself losing faith pretty fast. They do look promising for the canal, however.

The medium musso surface swimmer is a nice enough plug, but I like pichney's style better. These don't stay in the surface film as well and maybe I'll try some a little lighter.

The musso eely is a plug I was very proud of (I feel like I brought it back to life) but truth be told I found little use for it. It doesn't cast very well and runs quite deep. I did hear from a Outer Cape legend that he did well on one I gave him......but maybe he was just being nice?

[wrikerjr]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Some more duds ...Man, some of these looked sooooo good when they were done, but swim like absolute %$%$%$%$ regardless of lip bending, hook size, line tie...they're gonna become toxic firewood this winter when I get my open burning permit...

Why are those 40s duds??? They look like they would do well

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

BB,there is no such thing as a dud in the plug building world,a pretty paint job and the buy sell forums take care of that problema dannie that i make seemed to be a dud for the a couple of seasons.then 3 years ago it became one of my top producers,the same plug the same areas.maybe i just learned how to fish it,but who knows

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

Why are those 40s duds??? They look like they would do well

They have very little action...almost like needle fish Like Salty said, I think there's a lip placement/slot/belly weight issue that has been resolved. A couple recent 40's I made swim much better.

[UserRemoved1]

Very nice mike. Those a40's look a bit skinny in the back but surprised they didn't swim. Maybe not high enough lip wire. Where was the weight in those? Love the shot of the trash bin

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

pictures of dannies

[BigFish]

You need a duplicator Mike....I see continuity issues with your hand turned bodies!

You still want that grommetizer??

[O.D. Mike]

Originally Posted by BigFish

You need a duplicator Mike....I see continuity issues with your hand turned bodies!

You still want that grommetizer??

If you don't mind me asking, what is a Grommetizer?

[BigFish]

Its basically just a device a couple of talented guys on here make used to round over belly grommets to fit the contour of the plugs belly!

[O.D. Mike]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Its basically just a device a couple of talented guys on here make used to round over belly grommets to fit the contour of the plugs belly!

Thanks Larry!

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by BigFish

You need a duplicator Mike....I see continuity issues with your hand turned bodies!

You still want that grommetizer??

I made a simple grommetizer out of a trailer hitch and a hydraulic fitting, but thanks for the offer as well as your efforts to get one to me.

I do have a vega duplicator and am just learning how to make templates. I was previously putting master plug bodies directly on the duplicator. Sometimes it worked great, sometimes not so great. If the master moved or spun a little, the resulting bodies would be all effed up as a result.

[ProfessorM]

don't tell him, I have no time. Heck I ought to make a bunch and then I can retire

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

Mike,the thing i really like about darters is that fish seem to strike them much more aggresively than most other plugs.i do find that my sucess rate with them is much greater on LI than on the Cape.even fishing the open beachs.here a cape caught fish on a gold darter

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

here a picture

[Diggin Jiggin]

My plan for the year fell apart in may. I went into the season having built a 126mh arra and a ton of big plugs to fish with it, then I got a wet suit in may and fished mostly lighter gear and eels so I didn't even fish most of the big stuff I made last year

I poured and fished a ton of rubber this year, seems like I fished a lot more black than in prior years. Most of the pearl white stuff I poured I never used.

I did ok with pencils this spring. I had some good fish size wise but never really had a lot of fish numbers wise... Seemed like I was always a day early or a day late... That bottom pencil with the peeling paint was one I swapped for at plugfest. Has real nice action and its a lot lighter than mine. I had a few fish mid 20's on it, but I forget who built it ??

Black darters were good to me and are about the only thing in my night time bag that don't get rotated out.

[Diggin Jiggin]

This fall was needles, eels and bucktails. I had my first (and only) really good night with needles including my first 30 on a needle. Top 2 needles in the picture are floaters and I did well with those 2 that night. I also did well with maple ones like the one below them but I lost 2 or 3 of the ones I used that night.

The one thing that was a bust for me was 'sealed' plugs with hangers. I thought they'd wear better if I could keep the water out but the bottom darter in my prior post with the big chunk of paint missing taken out had a fish get both hooks in a funny position that made the belly treble dig into the plug and rip it up. The other thing I had trouble with was the plumbers epoxy on the tail wraps. I had that crack on these 2 plugs. Maybe its the way I wrap the tail loop as mine are always 2 or 3 twists long.

[the greek]

Originally Posted by Diggin Jiggin

That bottom pencil with the peeling paint was one I swapped for at plugfest. Has real nice action and its a lot lighter than mine. I had a few fish mid 20's on it, but I forget who built it ??

That pencil was one I built. You can tell real easy by the peeling paint . Glad it got a few fish for you.

[Diggin Jiggin]

Originally Posted by the greek

That pencil was one I built. You can tell real easy by the peeling paint . Glad it got a few fish for you.

I got one of my favorite fish of the year blind casting that pencil in the back of a dying rip @ sunset one night. Funny how every year you get a few fish that really stand out in your memory. I'll re-paint it for next year... Same color too