tried and true?

[hunan]

first off, the plugs i've seen in the past few months by you plug builders is amazing. i'll be there saturday not with plug in hand, but with a drool rag. it will be great to see more of them first hand instead of online. but my question is this. are all the plugs put up on here ready for the water? what i mean is that there seem to be different profiles, weights and # of hooks per plug etc. and are all of them proven to work( pop like they're supposed to, swim right, float when they're supposed to)? or are they wonderful creations and designs waiting to be tested when the ice thaws? or are you just bored so you turned and painted a plug and it came out nice so you put it up for all to see. i don't think this is it at all but i'd like to know. if you test them when they're done and they don't test out to your liking, what do you do? re-drill and add weight, cut 'em up, use 'em for bluefish? or quite possibly i haven't been on the scene long enough and i just haven't seen the full spectrum of pluggage and these are all proven plugs. let me know, keep up the inspiring work and i'll see you in 3 days.

[BigFish]

Most of the guys test them first! I test mine!

[FlukinUki]

Everything I have posted here has been out for a swim, not always in the conditions they were meant for, but at least they have been in the water (I live 1.5 hours from the surf). The only plug I have not swam is the little egg. He was done on a whim after I saw a few others on the sites. I float tested him in the aquaruim but havent cast him yet...yet

[hunan]

so when you test them they are only sealed and with hooks, correct? if they swim then you add paint, epoxy etc? i know that just a little bit of weight can make a floater into a sinker. i would think that even the weight of the epoxy alone could do this. when building a totally new plug, do you guestimate on where weight should be added, add it and then swim them or do you swim them first and then add weight? ever brought a plug to test and bang a fish on it? anybody want to sell me some plug bodies pre-drilled for through-wire,swivel, eyes and belly weights and i'll do the rest. that would make my life a whole bunch simpler. i really like the painting part of plug making the most. i don't have the room/tools to be able to turn and drill as of yet but i do have the rest of the components. you guys are really getting to me. the plug forum is the one i read first when i log on!

[MAC]

NJ Tackle has bodies.

[Nebe]

Hunan said something like ....
Do you test your plugs??

yes, the ones that work right go in my plug bag and ones that dont go to Throwing Timber

[hunan]

i went to njtackle and it looks like they only car 1 biglip swimmer. if that's all i can get then i'll order some but i usually throw pencils and polaris type poppers. also looking to do more beach and rock fishing so needles and dannys are also on my list.

[Karl F]

NJ has a bunch of different lips, oh Tinman, NJT... come help out hunan please!!

I test my proto's FYI hunan, after that I make note of what was done to make it work, and reproduce it from there.

[Jigman]

I test swim all my protos. Most don' t get sealed before hand. As far as weighing, I'll often take a hand drill and some slugs to a local pond with me to try different weight locations and sizes of weight to get the action right. Once I've got that down I'll make notes so I can do a batch just like them. Those I'll seal and paint.

Jigman

[hunan]

thanks karl, tinman has said that they would be getting more. at first i wanted to build kits but then i went out and got everything else. now i just need bodies. if i do get some dannys and the like, i will be ordering the lips though. i had for a very short time access to a lathe and drill press but that opportunity is now history. i'd like to get them already to the point where njtackle's swimmer is. my garage has a new mustang, bmw and ford roadster in it so i can't be doing the chisel, sawdust thing in there. i rattle can, so that i can do outside.

[Pete F.]

You might ask #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& about bodies. I think he was selling blanks.

[Tagger]

i know myself and Mac swim plugs all winter .. Got the "wise cracks" to prove it .. 2 sundays ago only open water we could find was behind macos off there docks . ditch was an ice flow .. Some plugs you've made again and again .. you know how they do .... usaully sunday mornings ..

[redneck24]

i always test swim, dont want to give anyone crap. when you get one of my plugs, expect dried up salt to be on it.