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Bounder Plug
Thought I would submit a simple plug for the firt time plug maker. This is made from material that can all come from HD. The body is 3/4" pine (use only clear) ripped to 1 1/2" wide by 5 3/4" long. Using a drill press, drill a 1/8" through hole. Setting up and getting an accurate through hole dead center is the toughest part of making this lure. Once you have the trough hole, mount it in your lathe, using the through hole in for centering in the lathe centers. Using a scraping tool (rather than a gouge), slowly shape the loor. It should have an outside diameter of 1 1/4" at the fattest and 7/16" at the nose. It takes a little getting used to working with a lathe when the tool loses contact with the wood twice in each revolution, but it does work well. Go slow at first until you get used to it.
Sand the plug while in the lathe. It will come off ready to paint.
Weighting is in the tail end of the lure. The simplest way to weight is to bore a 3/8" hole, 1 1/4" deep, following the center hole. Next through wire the plug. Now melt your lead and pour it into the plug, using the plug body as the mold. You may want to put a drop of glue at the bottom of the wight hole to prevent lead from flowing through the plug. Weighting can be varied by drilling shallower or deeper to create different size weights. The 1 1/4" hole should yeild a 2+ oz plug. I have worked with weighting the same size plugs from 1 1/2 - 3+ ounces. The heavier they are the better they cast but the heavier they are, the faster they need to go to stay on the surface. this is after all a surface plug.
Lead for weighting can come form any nomber of sources. If you are making only a handful of plugs, use solder or lead flashing, both found at HD (or your cellar).
My painting has been simple. 2-3 coats of Krylon. My color schemes have been basic. All Flo Red/Orange or all White. For Flo Red/Orange do a good base coat of white before painting Red/Orange. After looking at some of the plugs posted on this site, I think I will start expoxy coating the plugs. I also want to test some 1 1/2 oz variants in purple and pink. This could be a great squid lure at the Middleground or down in the Monomoy Rips
For wire I have used heavy brass hobby wire. It is easily available. I would love to get some stainless, but to date haven't acquired any. I must admit that the heavy brass hobby wire does bend and twist. However I must also admit that my second biggest striper (51 lbs) was caught on one of my home made plugs, through wired with brass hobby wire (see Hawg Hunter post) while fishing from the rocks at the mouth of the North River.
These are no the fanciest plugs, but they are easy to make, cast a mile and catch fish. Good luck.
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