Don't write off those production plugs... they'll bail you out in tough times!

Story and Photos by Bob Misak

Customs and plastics...

In every great surfcaster's bag is likely an array of plugs, some with such sentimental value that it would make a man swim the seas in the dark of night to try to retrieve a snapped off custom. Especially one that has been purchased the day before and hasn't seen but 20 or 30 tosses, before an errant tip-wrapping incident sends it into the white water as if you were casting a rod for the first time in your life. Or even worse, one that has, for some reason caught 50 percent of the bass you've hooked in the past two years. Most of us are very careful, as careful as can be in making sure that a plug is clear to throw; after all, that is probably the most important practice to learn, even above fighting big bass in the dark. However, in many cases, for every good custom in a plug jockey's bag is an equally good production plug. But not just a "grab it off the shelf and go" type of plug, but a plug that, just like the custom that was bought a week earlier, has been carefully studied and critiqued before joining the plug army. I have lots of custom plugs that I've chased down at certain shops and at fishing flea markets, and all look and catch fish as good as the next one. And when the conditions call for it, those customs seemingly have auto-pilot; they WILL catch bass. However, the plastic, inexpensive plugs have their job; and when their time comes, they catch bass just as well as any lure you've got.

The oldies but goodies...

As a youngster living around Barnegat Bay, I did have the great privilege of being in the bay all the time with my pop as he caught clams. Back then you could keep small bass, and large schools of smaller fish, say 20 inches, would surface a couple times a day. My old man, being the opportunist he was, would pull that rake and take off. Three rods up front were always rigged with Red Fins, or Red Gills as they call them today. We would toss them into the mini-blitz and catch a bunch of stripers, and then back to the grind.

This was back in the late 1960's and early 70's, and those Red Fins are still a favorite production plug today. The Rebel Company has been making quality inexpensive lures for many years, and will for many more. Bomber Lures came in next and literally took the production plug world by storm; and today, the black and yellow bombers are in every single surfcaster's bag out there... if he's smart. In fact, the black Bomber is making a bit of a comeback. The jetty is a great place to use it, and the night guys still do really well on it.

A little later in the game were the Mega-Baits. These lures were very much like the baits they were meant to imitate, and the mullet and bunker colored lures were again taking the production plug world up a notch or two. I remember tossing a Mega-Bait into the surf back in the 90's and nailing one tide runner weakie after another; these plugs were part of my arsenal and if I broke one, I went and got another to replace it. I once went road-tripping with some guys to some sand in Northern Jersey, and the area was new to me; it was at night too, and I hadn't figured out the fish at all. I had an old Cotton Cordell mirror side, blue. I couldn't tell you why I had that ugly thing in there; but when I threw it and the first cast hooked me up, I just laughed. My buddies were catching fish to 36 inches on, yes, black Bombers, but only every ten or twelve tosses. I couldn't believe that the mirror plug was hooking fish on literally every cast. And, I had two fish at 40 inches. We hammered those bass all night, and oddly enough, I never lost that plug and it's still in my bag. Will I ever take it out? Never, but I sure laugh every time I look at it, that's for certain.

When? Where?

When tossing custom plugs, there is a refined group of surf men out there who will not, under any circumstances throw a forty dollar custom into a school of blues. I know that a lot of guys will read this and say, "Nooooo, really?" However, there are some guys who will, and I am one of those. I've been yelled at by my plug guy for using a custom on bluefish and then bringing it back for a re-coat. But, in my defense, it was the one 30 pound bass that I caught amongst those gators that I was looking for; and chances are she wouldn't have hit a Crocodile or a Hopkins. But in defense of both Crocodile and Hopkins Lures, many a big cow have seen the dry part of the beach by hitting a metal. And what, pray tell are those metals? Why, they're production lures, plain and simple. So, some of you out there may have already "moved on up to the east side" and abandoned those plastic, inexpensive productive plugs for those real looking, colorful customs that work so incredibly well; and some of us will always have an "old work horse" or two, or three in ours. And when the mullet are running up and down the beach with bass and blues in tow, I'll grab that little silver Mega-Bait from the bag, and before I even toss it out, I'll know the results.

Good luck and great fishing.