Lathe on the way, need a bit of help

[ecduzitgood]

I am thinking of building a plug that has the eye where you attach the line come out slightly on one side to see if I can get a planner board type action that will hold in fast current. Still just a thought though so perhaps someone here can help that has fiqured it out. How fast would you say the current is?

[numbskull]

Large fish rarely will move far in heavy current to chase food or a plug.
A plug swimming against the current looks unnatural and fish often ignore it.
The deeper the water, the harder it is to get fish to come up.

That said, you have some choices.

Of all plug styles, bottle plugs, darters, and bottle darters (particularly the last) hold well in fast water....but they need to be well built to remain stable.
In slower water, metal lips like conrads or musso maples can get deep. In fast water these plugs can still be effective, but you need to swim them backwards feeding line as they work against the current.

Your best chance with plugs may also be near slack water. As the current dies, large fish come out of their shelter and hunt food. Dannys on top or even pencils and spooks are taken eagerly.

[Zeal]

Originally Posted by ecduzitgood

How fast would you say the current is?

According to Google Earth, the inlet is about 834 feet/280 yards wide from jetty to jetty, and the length is 1880 feet/627 yards from entrance to the back end where the current dies (I have fished this place for over a decade from a boat before now without it so I can at least mark it on a map). Standing on the jetty casting and watching the boats fight the current to get to the entrance and then drift, it takes about 30 seconds to a minute to reach the beginning of the back part of the inlet before they start to show signs of slowing down pending on the day (being in a small boat there is a wild ride). That's the only idea I can give as to speed.

Originally Posted by numbskull

A plug swimming against the current looks unnatural and fish often ignore it.

Your best chance with plugs may also be near slack water. As the current dies, large fish come out of their shelter and hunt food. Dannys on top or even pencils and spooks are taken eagerly.

My exact crisis numby! Only one spot is accessible that you can call "slack", however weed plagues that spot and fish are rarely ever pulled from there (the spot is tiny to boot). Stripers taken from this place are pretty much in that strong rip.

As for making plugs my understanding with plugs is that heavier plugs = less action. I aim to make them look like they are bait struggling in the current and not some super bait that is strong enough to be a torpedo. Would this be a place to use Maple with a little weight or would I still be able to load up Pine and get away with it for those plug models without killing the action?