Why testing is important

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

Numbskull,to each there own.the only thing i want from a plug is for it to catch fish. don't really care about how it swims,how it is sealed and all the other bs i hear when talking about plugs.if a pipe can drive a nail then it is a good hammer in my book. years ago i was doing some trim work,an old timer was changing the blade on his table saw,using a hammer and a screw driver,i offered him an adjustable wrench,declining it,saying he had been doing it that why for 25 years.when i saw the nut later on,it would have been impossible to get it off with an open end wrench.the only plugs that i have ever fished or swam other than the ones i make myself are a few plastics.i guess after close to 15 years building plugs and 12 years reading these forums,i am tired of looking at pretty plugs,that swim great,are well designed and can't put a fish on the beach.i have stood next to enough people throwing the latest and greatest without sucess when my crappy plugs are catching fish,not that that means those people aren't having as much fun as i am,but personally i like to catch fish not watch others catch them.as i said to each there own.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

Numbskull,to each there own.the only thing i want from a plug is for it to catch fish. don't really care about how it swims,how it is sealed and all the other bs i hear when talking about plugs.if a pipe can drive a nail then it is a good hammer in my book. years ago i was doing some trim work,an old timer was changing the blade on his table saw,using a hammer and a screw driver,i offered him an adjustable wrench,declining it,saying he had been doing it that why for 25 years.when i saw the nut later on,it would have been impossible to get it off with an open end wrench.the only plugs that i have ever fished or swam other than the ones i make myself are a few plastics.i guess after close to 15 years building plugs and 12 years reading these forums,i am tired of looking at pretty plugs,that swim great,are well designed and can't put a fish on the beach.i have stood next to enough people throwing the latest and greatest without sucess when my crappy plugs are catching fish,not that that means those people aren't having as much fun as i am,but personally i like to catch fish not watch others catch them.as i said to each there own.

John, are you saying the first darter you ever made worked perfectly and caught fish? You never tested them out or had to tweak them to make them perform better? Of course you did and that's what this thread is about...a lure does have to perform some basic functions that you can pre determine before building in order to work properly, does it not?

If someone asks you to build a floating needle, do you grab a hunk of maple and a bunch of lead? I understand your argument meaning the heavy weighted maple needle may still be a killer, but it doesn't make for a good floating plug.

[wrikerjr]

I think that John and George both have it correct. You want a plug that catches fish, but as Hab's pointed out you can catch fish with a potato peeler when conditions permit. Many plugs today never even see water they are simply very nice paint jobs rather than good fishing tools. There seems to be a great emphasis on fancy scale patterns, copying of other makers, etc, rather than on developing a plug profile and action that the builder deems appropriate.

IMO profile and action when properly designed and executed by a plug maker will result in an appropriate lure. Is that what the fish are looking for in the area you are fishing, that is up to the fisherman to figure out.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

You want a plug that catches fish, but as Hab's pointed out you can catch fish with a potato peeler when conditions permit.

I saw him do that

[Back Beach]

One of my mentors, Old Goat, used to catch fish on bic pens and old toothbrushes...that is, back when he had teeth.

[wrikerjr]

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

don't really care about how it swims,how it is sealed and all the other bs i hear when talking about plugs..

As a plug builder I am certainly worried about how the plugs I build swim and are sealed. I would never classifying swimming action and sealing as BS.

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

i am tired of looking at pretty plugs,that swim great,are well designed and can't put a fish on the beach.

Not sure how a plug that swim greats and is well designed can't catch fish unless its being fished in the wrong water column, if that is the case that is angler error IMO. Pretty plugs, I have some pretty plugs that are excellent fish catchers.

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

my crappy plugs are catching fish.

I would not call your plugs crappy

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

but personally i like to catch fish not watch others catch them.as i said to each there own.

Not sure what this comment is here for, but to me it sounds like at numbskull which i take exception to as he is certainly a very capable angler and plug builder in every aspect. IMO.

[ProfessorM]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

Not sure what this comment is here for, but to me it sounds like at numbskull which i take exception to as he is certainly a very capable angler and plug builder in every aspect. IMO.

He'll now need to get a bigger hat or a bag of frozen peas to get the swelling down.

[beamie]

Sometimes I think what we forget is that it really doesn't matter what it looks like to the builder when it swims....it is what the fish want.....and that may be what they want on Monday at dusk on a dropping tide but next Tuesday with a half moon on the flood they won't touch it, they want something else.

Of course everyone who enjoys making there own lures wants them to perform well to thier eye. But just like that plug Numbskull rejected it caught fish, go figure.

[numbskull]

A better example are needlefish. Who in their right mind would ever think a stick coming straight through the water was a good design for fooling fish? Live and learn.

[l.i.fish.in.vt]

Mike,when i first started making plugs,i went to the Gibbs website to check out differant plugs and what they looked like.i saw the darter and decided to make some of that stlye.i had never fished one and had no idea how they swam.i took them done to LI and fished them at one of the inlets i grew fishing in,i caught a few fish on them. later that summer i was on the cape and gave some to Jack that worked at Nelsons,he told me to move the eye back a little bit ,which i did on thee next batch,made a big differance.that fall another gent ,TC asked if he could buy some of my darters,i wasn't selling so i gave him a few to fish.the next year i saw TC and he told me liked the way the darter worked.i gave quite a few to other guys that i know to fish them,everyone caught fish on them.over the years i gave the tail more of a taper so they cast better.Billy,though i don't know George personally,we have at least one mutual freind,so i know he is a very knowledgeable fishermen,and probably knows more about building plugs than i ever will.but i have been fishing and working on the water long enough to know how to catch a fish even on a piece of wood.as far as sealing i have plenty of pine dannies, cherry needles ,poplar pencils and many other plugs that are scared enough that i know they get water logged after using,never do they stop catching because they get waterlogged.the only plastic plugs i fish get so much lead added to them that they are more like jigs, how do swim like lead ,but they sure catch fish. well i guess while everone is spending there time messing with plugs this winter i will be skiing .

[JFigliuolo]

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

....

well i guess while everone is spending there time messing with plugs this winter i will be skiing .

I just wanted to say I HATE YOU!

When I lived in upstate NY I'd ski 2x's a week.

Haven't been in a few years...

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt

personally i like to catch fish not watch others catch them.as i said to each there own.

That is why God made eels.

In seriousness, however, I understand what you are saying. The worst swimming plug I ever built is this "skinny donny" design I stumbled on. Horribly unstable (it barrel rolls with a twitch), unwilling to stay on the surface, and virtually unfishable on spinning tackle (too hard to retrieve that slow). I tested it, rejected it, and forgot about it until one day I stumbled into a bluefish blitz pushing peanuts on a beach near my house. I ran home and grabbed something I could care less about losing, threw the plug into the melee, and a 15 bass came out of nowhere to crush it. WTF?!!!.

Subsequently I fished it, tweaked it, and have ended up with a plug that has taken several fish over 40-47 lbs for me and a few friends. The plug swims so poorly that I've stopped giving them away since guys would swim it once, decide it was crap, and never use it again.

So although I don't agree with your "try anything as a hammer and stop with what works" philosophy, I do agree that none of us are as smart about plugs as we think and there is always more to learn by trying stuff and letting the fish decide.