Atom 40 belly weights

[capesams]

bent sided lip= a VERY tight half roll w/ no tail wiggle,,,runs like a bomber/rebel type swimmer.fast side to side twisting action.like the bait is about to die and wants the h*** outta there.

not bent= a slow roll with a nice -s- wiggle to the tail..like it's on a sunday go to meeting stroll.

[Backbeach Jake]

Well now I know... Where can I buy some 40 lips, NJT seems to be out.

[Karl F]

CS... any weight in the belly?... uh.. I've seen some do it..recommend , or is it an "as needed" thing... ones I've seen with the belly weight, appear to be nice tight grain pine.

[capesams]

I believe atoms were ment to cruse the surface at a slow pace just like danny's ,,but back then they used 4/0 mustads [for the most part] which gave them the balast that kept them running right...today most are running vmc's which imo are lighter and smaller which would translate into putting some lead in to the wood to compensate for the difference in weight.either way it wouldn't hurt to always put a tad in reguardless of wide/tight grain wood.....I've got many that people bent the eye way up to get them to dig for sub-surface running...floater tuned to digger all in one bait.

[Karl F]

Thanks CS, always appreciate your insight.

[Montaukmaniac]

That's a good question about atom40 style plugs. I had gotten a few of NJ tackle's plugs that look like slimmer versions of the original atoms a while back. They are made from birch believe it or not and have some weight just in front and back of the belly hole. They came with Danny 2 style lips, but I have used a Pikie lip on them as well. It slowly sinks and I had my doubts until I tried them in some deeper current. I bent the eyes and lip down to make them ride higher and it has become another surprise plug for me to take along when working this type of water.

[Jigman]

Thanks gents, good stuff! How did the wood ones compare to the plastic ones? Similar action? Same size? Recently picked up a plastic one and figure to use that as a model.

Jigman