Wooden Bass/Musky Plug Help

[Anonymous]

I have been wanting to fabricate some wooden bass plugs from table legs and cannot find any good links online. I have been dissecting the internet for some walkthroughs or pictures of homemade plugs to get some ideas from with no luck. I have found a couple lure making sites and forums but not exactly what I'm looking for. Mostly color ideas and model types, with a few ideas on hardware. My goal is to make 3 large jointed plugs (7'-12') for the hot topwater bite by this summer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.





Here are my blanks. Can you see the potential. I also have an 1 1/2in. diameter closet rod that I plan on fashioning some plugs out of as well.




fishnislife

[lskiles]

I have a book at home...can not remember the title off hand...that shows step by step instructions on building a lathe for plug making out of an old sewing machine motor. I could scan that and send it to you if you think it might help.

[A9]

Boy that would be a heavy lure if constructed from those things....

[Gisteppo]

Fishin, you can build out of just about anything wood. The majority of lure shapes are probably easiest to make with small hand tools, as a lathe or something similar will only give you round bodies.

Dremel tools or old dental handpieces are perfect, with an assortment of bits. In order to get shapes you want, just grab your favorite crankbait and go to town. Make it similar, or put something you think a fish would like in it. Remember that tailless lures tend to pull through the water better, and when you add a treble with feathers, it makes a gorgeous swimming tail.

As for weight, just clamp them to a work surface and drill holes in the belly. Mess around in the bathtub or kitchen sink for a while, and you will be able to make them netural, negative, or positive buoyancy. Lead, epoxy, scrap metal, etc etc can be used to alter the weight, add rattles, or otherwise modify the lure. Read up on what the bladebait guys are doing for color presentation, thats a good groundwork for what to do once you have the body shape set.

An easy way to make them wiggle and waddle is to make the spoons or blades out of flat stock wood and use a good 2 part epoxy to mate them together. They will be extremely durable, and give the added luxury of breaking the spoon off if hung up severely, so you can retrieve the bulk of the lure and repair it when you get home.

E

[Anonymous]

Kafelafish - You bet your booty, these baby are going to be beefy.


Thanks Gisteppo, that's the kind of info I am looking for. I appreciate it.



I posted this on Swimbaitnation.com and have got some great replies. A lot of guys willing to help me out. I will share with you all what they have told me so your guys can do the same thing if you wish.


-Any wood will do, but the best wood to fabricate plugs from would be cedar, basswood (fitting isn't), bolsa, or poplar. These woods are a lot easier to work with and shape.
-Don't concern yourself to much with color. The bass are only seeing the bottom sliver of the bait anyways and most bait fish have white on the belly. So, keep it simple. Your time should be spent on the quality of the action and not the color.
-Use hinges instead of eyelets for the body joints.

A great site that I have checked out a lot and is one of my favorites is http://www.tackleunderground.com/. Tackleunderground is a great place to get ideas and learn a ton of stuff about making your own baits.
I will post up other things that I learn along my journey and pics of how it's going.

Please offer up any sort of information that you guys feel I could benefit from. This is my first stab at a jointed wood plug and I am looking forward to the process.



fishnislife

[Lotech Joe]

fishinislife,
You might get some pretty good ideas from here,

http://www.tacklecollecting.com/heddon.htm

[panfisher]

check out EBAY under "muskie fishing lures" if you would like to look at some pictures for some ideas, many of the older ones are homemade.

[danielt]

this is the only one I know of http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/cra ... aking.html

[fishnislife]

Thanks gentlemen. Good stuff. Right now I'm having hardware issues. I can't decide or find what I want to use for the jointed hinges.



fishnislife

[Fisherman_max]

you could use the metal wire like stuff they use to hinge together rapalas.


i think you might be able to use some sort of joint like thing that is limited to the motion you want from the lure.


i dont know what i am talking about but just an option

[fishnislife]

Just ran across a great site full of information.
http://www.tacklemaking.com/
It's the Tackle Making Encyclopedia, how can you go wrong. I'm dissecting it now.



fishnislife

[fishnislife]

So here is my first stab at plug making. My first one is still in need of a little dremel action on the bill in front but other than that she is water ready. I plan on doing a test run here soon to see how it moves and then make modification from there. I stayed away from making it triple jointed because it would of ended up over 13" long. I haven't spent a ton of time on it because I want to do modifications with the action of the lure and not the looks. The paint pattern I'm still thinking about and haven't decided yet. The white one is going to be a beast and will take a little more time. Well here it is.








I'm still in need of recommendations for hardware use. I am using screw eyes size 216 in brass right now, but I am not as confident in these I'd like to be. And paint, what pattern should I do it in?




fishnislife

[dilbert]

So when are you going into full scale production? That looks sweet! I'd go with a basic color pattern, lighter silver bottom and darker silver/gray top. Maybe some exaggerated eyes and other random spots if you are feeling creative.

[islandbass]

That looks awesome, fishn!!!!!

Sorry that I did not see it earlier. The timing of your thread and mine are completely coincidental. I reckon that great minds think alike. I think the way you assemble the two pieces will work. Through wire is the most secure method (Rapala uses it) but it takes a lot more time and work.

When I get the chance, I will post here for you some xrays I got of some rapala baits to illustrate how they do it.

[fishnislife]

That looks awesome, fishn!!!!!

Sorry that I did not see it earlier. The timing of your thread and mine are completely coincidental. I reckon that great minds think alike. I think the way you assemble the two pieces will work. Through wire is the most secure method (Rapala uses it) but it takes a lot more time and work.

When I get the chance, I will post here for you some xrays I got of some rapala baits to illustrate how they do it.

Of course our great minds think alike.
Those pics will be sweet to see. I have found other ways that the old timers used to rig plugs. Ingenious thinking.


I test drove this bad boy yesterday out at Island Lk. and it swam great. It's still pushing more water than I would like in the nose so I have a little more modifying to do. And paint of course.



fishnislife

[A9]

How much does that weight fishnislife? Gotta hook it up to a heavier rod or is it not all as heavy as it looks to me???

[Anonymous]

How much does that weight fishnislife? Gotta hook it up to a heavier rod or is it not all as heavy as it looks to me???

Just a tad under 3oz. I used a medium action spinning set-up to test it out. No prob. But If I was to work it on the lake I would toss it around with my steelhead/swimbait set-up.
Now the other one will end up being around 6-8oz. And I will not throw that thing on anything else.




fishnislife

[A9]

How much does that weight fishnislife? Gotta hook it up to a heavier rod or is it not all as heavy as it looks to me???

Just a tad under 3oz. I used a medium action spinning set-up to test it out. No prob. But If I was to work it on the lake I would toss it around with my steelhead/swimbait set-up.
Now the other one will end up being around 6-8oz. And I will not throw that thing on anything else.




fishnislife

I imagined it to be around the 2-3 oz range....When are your baits going to go for sale?

[fishnislife]

Soon, very soon.

J/K

I'm just messing around trying to figure it all out right now. This thing is miles away from any production line. If you make them, I'll sell them. How about that deal.



fishnislife

[A9]

I'm just messing around trying to figure it all out right now. This thing is miles away from any production line.

Hey man, If I remember correct it wasn't long ago when danielT was just "messing around" and now the dude is selling his jigs and chatterbaits and all I hear is good things about them....Don't count yourself out, you could have found yourself a little side job...