I'm mostly looking to build plugs that fill specific niches in my plug bag. Sometimes that means you go on your own path, and sometimes you borrow a shape from the past. I don't go out of my way to try and be original in the shape, sometimes they are and sometimes not, I try to build plugs for specific location, conditions, or the rod I want to use... Functionality is much more important to me. I want a bagful of plugs that lets me outfish or atleast outcast the guys that are muggin me
Above my lathe I have 5 or 6 plugs hanging that I draw on for inspiration when I am turning. There is a danny, a pikie, a gibbs bottle swimmer, a polaris, an old screw eye darter, a mag darter and a few plastic minnow type swimmers. I take down the ones that may be similar to what I'm making, and I borrow a curve here, a transtition there, sometimes the way a tail tapers. Thats about as much as I try to borrow when I'm turning, but before I start I definitely have a fishy shape in mind that I'm going for.
Unfortunately I don't know much about the history of old wooden plugs, so I end up winging it a lot...
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