trial and error?

[Tagger]

The best way is to seal the plug ,,swim it ,, not happy.. shift weight .. drill and fill ... swim again .. pay attention to plugs attitude at a dead drift in the water .. You can tune a plug by swapping out hooks.. But you may already have some standards you will want .. For instance ,, I do not like to go any smaller than 3/0 hooks ,.. unless its a ,just for fun schooly plug .. The fish I'm targetting . demand 3/0 and I'd feel better with 5/0 hooks.. are you a top water junky ? or just targetting large and a slow sinking needle will do the trick and could care less about the visaul .. I fish my plugs and just about everybody eleses . ,. making a plug that catches fish ain't that hard .. One that consistantly fools large again and again is quite an achievement . Those are the plugs that will be sought after years from now.. There's some really great plugs being built in here .. Build something ,, Lets see your stuff ..

[GonnaCatchABig1]

Originally Posted by Tagger

The best way is to seal the plug ,,swim it ,, not happy.. shift weight .. drill and fill ... swim again .. pay attention to plugs attitude at a dead drift in the water .. You can tune a plug by swapping out hooks.. But you may already have some standards you will want .. For instance ,, I do not like to go any smaller than 3/0 hooks ,.. unless its a ,just for fun schooly plug .. The fish I'm targetting . demand 3/0 and I'd feel better with 5/0 hooks.. are you a top water junky ? or just targetting large and a slow sinking needle will do the trick and could care less about the visaul .. I fish my plugs and just about everybody eleses . ,. making a plug that catches fish ain't that hard .. One that consistantly fools large again and again is quite an achievement . Those are the plugs that will be sought after years from now.. There's some really great plugs being built in here .. Build something ,, Lets see your stuff ..

alright now im gettin some where!

so basically start of with the hardware you expect to use, with a basic design. then if not satisfied sand/cut/tweak as necessary. got it!

now you guys hold tight.. i still got a month or so of fishing to do before i start building. you really think i am gonna give up on fall run to sit inside and coordinate with my building buddies?!?! you must be insane!! next season you will see what we dream up.

[GonnaCatchABig1]

actually you said you prefer to base the wood around the steel... not that i dont value the opinion but do other prefer to base the steel around the wood?
i want to find the middle ground of wood vs steel. how many tweaks to the steel (since it seems easier then tweaking the wood) do you make before you decide the wood was no good?

edit... never mid.. i'll figure it out if the pool isnt frozen

[numbskull]

Try my method...........just turn any old crap, then trade with Eddy and Paul to get something that catches fish

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by GonnaCatchABig1

actually you said you prefer to base the wood around the steel... not that i dont value the opinion but do other prefer to base the steel around the wood?
i want to find the middle ground of wood vs steel. how many tweaks to the steel (since it seems easier then tweaking the wood) do you make before you decide the wood was no good?

edit... never mid.. i'll figure it out if the pool isnt frozen

You really have to be more specific ,,, What plug do you have in mind ,, Hooks are one cosideration but not the only .. Most the time its a place . a rip ... deep water .. or lack of it .. sand .. or rocks ... I've made some heavy arse needles to drag in the sand that would be insanity to throw in a rock pile . I know what hooks I want ,, but sometimes a plug (swimmer) will tell me what hooks it wants . I know a plug that can not be reproduced because the thin wire 5/0 hooks do not exist anymore . Jerry Sylvester's jointed plug .. I had to get some old arse hooks Flap had ..
http://www.shorelinebt.com/id13.html

[Jigman]

A few things to consider. How do you like to fish (surface, subsurface), what conditions do you fish, what is the bait like in those areas, and how does the bait swim. Now try to replicate that. Once I have a size/profile I like I'll try various lips, hooks, hook locations, weight sizes/locations to get the best action I can out of the plug. Usually that takes some tweaking at a test pond, or better yet, at the area you want to fish them. You can use screw eyes to aid in determining hook locations. Wide rubber band to attach a slug of lead so you can move it around and find the best location. Once you have a good idea of how much lead and where, the location of hooks, etc, you can turn a couple more to those specs and tweak some more from there. Most of my test plugs are either not sealed, or just have sealer. I'll sometime prime them so I can see them better as they swim. Even draw a line with a sharpie down the back and for the eyes so I can better judge the action. Once I have something down how I like, I'll turn a few more and paint, then show them to fish. The fish may give you some additional ideas for tweaking the plug.

Jigman

[GonnaCatchABig1]

YES !!! now i'm getting a good idea. the last two really helped out!
as far conditions. i dont have any. i have been every where, all types of geographical features. in all conditions yet to find the magic bullet. so i honetly don't know. wanna turn some basic for practice. (cept for my one complicated jointed with a very specific color scheme)

jigman's was really what i was lookin for. as it seemed tedious turning then drilling. only to fail then having to repeat many times.

colors are obviously my last priority, they just make em pretty. and maybe rare... ::evil smirk::

i dont wanna toss anything at fish i'm not satisfied with. or do i? lol. ya never know!

just wait... my pink, green blurble red tiger leopard super deep diving swimming popper darter will the shiznit!! lol

[Jigman]

Pick one type of plug that you like to throw a lot. Pick a set of conditions that you typically fish. Now make something to fit those conditions. Once you have one down well that is catching, move onto another type of plug/conditions.

Jigman