The turning of the plug is the CREATIVE part. That is why I find it to be so much fun...
by Tom Vassallo
After the Fall Run frenzy has subsided and the boats are taking their long winter's nap under a tarp or shrink wrap, many anglers begin to feel those winter blues. The closest many get to a fishin' rod is when visions of striper fishing dance in their heads! Sure, you can get out the tackle box and give those plugs some new hooks and rings. You could also get out the reels and clean and lubricate. However, that seems too much like work sometimes and you've got the winter blahs and blues. Better to try to have a little fun!
Last Holiday Season I wanted to surprise FishinJersey co-owners Mike and Bob with a little token that commemorated our launch of the FishinJersey.com web site. I had never put together a wooden fishing plug (never seemed to get the time), so I went searching online and came across "Salty's Wooden Lure Making Kits". I always had fooled around with making fishing plugs when I was young, but nothing was too great or too functional that I had created. The "Salty's" lures came out nice, and Mike and Bob were pretty impressed with my paint work. Simply stated...I had a lot of fun making those kits. I even made several more for gifts and myself. |
| A fallen branch from a red cedar in my yard after Sandy became a cedar plug body on an old lathe given to me by a friend. |
As a graphic designer I was always of the thought that nothing is as satisfying as a design completely from scratch...no templates...no cheating. I really had not felt the complete satisfaction of completing the entire project myself. I needed more. That's when Leon, a buddy of mine since high school surprised me with an old wood lathe and motor he had laying around for quite some time. I had never used a lathe before...even in wood shop. But I was intrigued and anxious to see what it could do. I got it set up in my garage (after a two week clean up process!) and couldn't wait to start turning my first piece of wood. After some trial and error, I finally figured the darn thing out and I must admit...it was a lot of fun.
Now I'm not saying that that is all there is to making a wooden plug. There's a heck of a lot more to learn before you can finish a plug that runs true and floats at the proper depth. However, those are the mechanics of plug making. The turning of the plug is the CREATIVE part. That is why I find it to be so much fun. Now all of us cannot have a friend that just pops over and drops off a lathe. However, they can be found on Craigslist and also there are some smaller "mini-lathes" available as well. For example, Harbor Freight Tools has some nice small woodturning lathes for less than $200. That's really not a lot of money to get started turning your own wood.
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| A good set of wood turning tools is a necessity for safely creating wooden plug bodies on a fast spinning lathe...so are safety glasses! |
Let's face it. Not all of us will be able to turn out wooden plugs like the pros we see at the shows. Many of them have been a student of the art for many years. Their techniques are sometimes guarded like family treasures and you may find many unwilling to share their "school of hard knocks" secrets with you. From the work I have observed at the shows, some of these guys and gals are fishing plug "makers" and others are fishing plug "artists". We will not be putting them out of business anytime soon by turning a few plugs. But, hey... we can still have a little fun ourselves.
If you are interested in shopping for a lathe, don't forget you will need some wood turning tools as well. I happened to also luck out by getting the tools with the lathe I received from my buddy. You should be able to find a set from anywhere around $20 to over $100. Remember...you get what you pay for! You may also need a drill press or a jacobs type chuck if you will be drilling for through wires on your plugs. I picked up an antique monster-sized drill press locally on Craigslist for $75.
