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Wood plug show and tell
Post 10 Mar 2023, 10:02 • #1 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
My last several noppin shipping requests included pretty good strings of items in storage, massed from different vendors.

Over about 6 months, put this gang of wood plugs together, and worth showing.
I've always had this thing for topwater lures that still make action at rest.
When I was 19, caught my first big bass, 6-1/2 lbs, on a yellow Jitterbug in a long rest.
Suckered her out to the middle of a bowl-shaped cove, 50+' visibility, using more pause than retrieve.
Pretty sure she had to follow the lure from the bank (spring spawning nest) for a minute or 2 before she decided to eat it.
The general rule in bass fishing, a bluegill in the open is lost, and sucker food. Likewise, a shad in sunken timber is lost and confused.



Clockwise, GaullaCraft Baby Shake Hip (basic squarebill wakebait) 7/16 oz; Ninna Mofri, which blows me away for sit-still action;
Less is More Lim's Morphie - the dogtag blade is just for sitting still; Life Bait Flap Frog. The big plugs are all about 21-23 g (up to 3/4 oz).

I will fish these, maybe not hard, certainly for effect and fun.


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Post 10 Mar 2023, 20:48 • #2 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
YES!!!

Those are awesome looking lures. I grew up topwater fishing largemouth in Washington with a black jitterbug at night. Caught several in the 6+ lb range back then. I hadnt fished that way for too many years to count but tried it a couple years ago, introducing a buddy to the technique for the first time and we did very well. Much better than I expected. He ended up catching his first on a jitterbug and was ecstatic. Im going to try it again this year. Nothin like casting in the starlight and fishing by sound with a jitterbug or hula popper and having a bass explode on it!

Thanks for sharing those plugs!



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Post 10 Mar 2023, 22:34 • #3 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Thanks Mike,
BTW, if you go way back, topwater dog-walking plugs were the very first lures fished for bass in America.
The term dog-walking was coined by Paw-Paw Lure Co. in 1918.
In his 1881 tome, Book of the Black Bass, Doc Henshall called dog-walking "The Bob", and described then that Florida bass fishermen had already been using them for 100 years.

Appropriate photo - this is a Chubb Henshall bass rod and c. 1910 Bluegrass 33

Image Image

8'3" - Doc also takes credit for designing the first bass rod under 12'


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 13:11 • #4 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Holy smokes Ron that old bass rod is awesome. How cool would that be to put some dacron/silk on that and catch a big ole bass with an age appropriate wood plug!

Thanks for the bass fishin history. I have a few zara spooks and have caught a few bass on them. As a child (age 4-9) i would look at mom's tackle box (my dad didnt fish much) and play with the skirted hula poppers and dream of catching a big old bucket mouth. I seem to remember there were a variety of wood plugs in it like a devil horse and a creek chub and a few others, but hula poppers and jitter bugs were what I used when I was old enought to fish in a rowboat by myself.


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 13:44 • #5 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Mike, it's really fun to cast, but I would find the weight tedious to fish. Doc was more of a bait fisherman, as most were, and plugging wasn't terribly common.
This would be my choice, and I have caught bass on wood plugs, and love it for buzz baits.
Thomas Mahogany Grade 6' Special, Talbot Niangua, and 10-lb silk. It's also good for your thumb skills.
Both date to 1914.

Image

Image


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 14:20 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Wow! Sweet rod Ron! I havent dabbled in boo much. 2 used orvis fly rods and a Norwegian spey rod (that needs rebuilding) and a Vom Hoffe trolling rod. I need to get an old bamboo bass rod and do the wooden plug thing.


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 15:50 • #7 
Guide
Joined: 08/11/21
Posts: 208
Location: Tucson, AZ
I have a Heddon cane casting rod inherited from an uncle...1 piece that locks into the handle..that I would like to fish with a vintage casting reel and wooden lures some day.

I just found 2 Kennedy Kit vintage tackle boxes, one of which holds my meager collection of old lures, some wooden plugs and old spoons

My best lures are Australian handmade from the 1970's purchased down in Cairns, Queensland in about 1980...the australian rare lure collectors buy swap sell group on facebook is a good site. They call them "timber" lures and are generally gorgeous. Though I have one that I fished decades ago we dubbed, "the diving turd" I am told they are quite valuable..even the Diving Turd... to modern collectors.

If I can just figure out how to post photos would be happy to share photos. All my files seem to be "img" and I cannot complete the upload


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 16:12 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
I traded away several old cane casting rods to my friend who now resides in Texas.He still fishes these old rods with the agate guides and antique bait casters.I still fish a wooden spook or darter now and then.My favorite at dusk to let dit and just twitch now and then was a dalton special or a devil horse.They still work as well as they ever did but i don't cre to deal with a bunch of treble hooks any more.I fish them more for fun and to remember the men who taught me to fish.I now topwater fish for bass with a flyrod.My great gramps used a darter or a rapala floater and never cast more than 50 feet and could seemingly catch bass at will.But he had an intimate knowledge of the river he lived on,the creeks that fed it and dozens of private farm ponds to fish.I make my own bass bugs and most are balsa wood and feathers.BD those lures are really something.I think i still have a wood muskey size jitterbug my old buddy caught epic size bass in florida on .It is also black as he liked fishing at night too.I have only kept a few lures that have sentimental value.Sold my pretty large collection of antique wood plugs when they were at their peak.


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 18:30 • #9 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
We would love to see photos.
here's more of mine.
No Name 1/0 Flat, No Name 2/0
Wounded Spook (Heddon made by Smith)
Spook Jr (Heddon made by Smith)
Hutleys Leptop (Smith)


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 14 Mar 2023, 06:27, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 11 Mar 2023, 19:29 • #10 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Those are some pristine vintage plugs there Ron. Very nice!

I couldnt help myself and ordered a vintage beater Heddon bamboo casting rod and reel. Im going to make "it" happen this summer on an ole bucketmouth at the lake I grew up on as a young child. Last spring I did it with an unfished birth year Mitchell 300 and conolon rod.


Last edited by fishhuntmike on 13 Mar 2023, 11:12, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 11 Mar 2023, 19:45 • #11 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
No, they're new, I've been working up 12-g and 20-g boxes for a couple of years - here and there as I found them in Japan.
The current exchange rate also makes it easy.
Smith, ltd., especially, makes new issue of old Heddon wood plugs, offering their new limited color runs.
Kind of goes hand in hand with the round baitcaster, offset handles and glass rod blades - this is also a Smith Ltd combo, optimized at those 12-g plugs.


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Post 11 Mar 2023, 23:42 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
I have a matched pair of Heddons for bass.. 200 baitcaster rod and Mark IV reel, Lucky 13 fly rod 2 1/2F (7wt) and 320 reel..



been trying to get a pike on the baitcasting outfit but they are hard to find here in CO.. do have a nice wood Creek Chub from the same neighbor that gave me the rod, here with a modern shiny thing. Neither worked, ha.



Earlier got a bass from the local pond, on a Heddon Tiny Torpedo (but not a wooden one unfortunately).. it's a 1/4oz plug and the old bamboo casts it surprisingly well.



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Post 12 Mar 2023, 12:33 • #13 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Nice rods, reels and lures Ron and Doug.


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Post 13 Mar 2023, 09:42 • #14 
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Joined: 12/05/06
Posts: 2087
Location: US-PA
You guys are making me jealous, especially Ron's Thomas which I have lusted over from the first time I saw it on FFR almost 20 years ago... :)

That being said I own a bunch of Orvis bamboo spinning rods which I fish all the time with Orvis spinning reels and small Rapalas to keep OT. However finding a vintage bamboo casting rod in good condition has been something I've be looking for a while.

Nice stuff guys!!


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Post 13 Mar 2023, 15:36 • #15 
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Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
I run across cane casting rods fairly often.If i find any nice ones i will pass them on at cost to anyone here.We have a lot of old gear around here and some in very good plus condition.A lot of folks bought stuff and used it for a week or two on their annual fishing trips and thats about it.Same reason you can buy 20yo boats with low hours on them.There are few places to use them locally.The younger people,my own kids included want nothing to do with older stuff.Most of my stuff will be fire sale prices this summer at the local flea.Sad to say but around here it is older guys selling stuff to other older guys and there are less of us every year.


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Post 13 Mar 2023, 21:40 • #16 
Sport
Joined: 01/02/23
Posts: 25
Location: Metro Detroit, MI
the hersh wrote:
Sad to say but around here it is older guys selling stuff to other older guys and there are less of us every year.

That's how it is where I am as well. I go to a lot of tackle shows and me being in my 40s am one of the younger guys around. I can appreciate some of the latest rods and reels being objectively better than what we had 20+ years ago, but I also love the charm that comes in fishing older gear so much that I prefer it, or even modern stuff with a vintage touch. As the years pass the desirable older stuff grows less. When I was a teen and young adult I used to find a lot of gold at garage sales and estate sales, but now it isn't the same. The general fishing culture around here has evolved into quantity over quality, whereas the opposite was true in the past. It's us old and "semi-old" guys keeping the dream alive.


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Post 13 Mar 2023, 23:04 • #17 
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Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
the hersh wrote:
Sad to say but around here it is older guys selling stuff to other older guys and there are less of us every year.

redmeansdistortion wrote:
That's how it is where I am as well. I go to a lot of tackle shows and me being in my 40s am one of the younger guys around.

at the Denver flyfishing show, the demographic was split - plenty of young bearded dudes, and then gnarly old curmudgeons like me..
It does occur to me to wonder what will become of all my lovely vintage tackle, carefully restored and fished.. ah well by then it won't bother me I daresay.


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Post 14 Mar 2023, 07:22 • #18 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
I gave this pretty Hutley as a Christmas gift to my BIL a couple of years ago, and it was well-received.



Of course, the Haneda Craft frog isn't wood...
Don't you gnarly old dudes have a camera...


Last edited by bulldog1935 on 14 Mar 2023, 12:56, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 14 Mar 2023, 11:55 • #19 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
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Location: US-IL


Heddons and Daltons will post more later


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Post 14 Mar 2023, 12:57 • #20 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
thanks - we need more

I wish I could identify the prop-tail, from a contemporary maker on ebay, though I bought it 20 years ago - this has caught bass on the Thomas Talbot combo



The Creek Chub and Fly Rod River Runt are original, but I've never fished either.


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Post 14 Mar 2023, 13:14 • #21 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL


Creek Chub Darters and Carrot tops,these caught a lot of bass before i was born.I never could work a darter like the old guys.The carrot Tops i did get a bass or 2 on.Notice the one darter was "refinished" not by me but an old long gone freind who parachuted into France on D-Day.What a cool guy he was and a fantastic bass fisherman,he loved his Darters and red shad culprit worms.


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Post 15 Mar 2023, 06:31 • #22 
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Joined: 08/10/05
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Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Darter, like Zara Spook, is the most basic dog-walking plug. When done right, the lure makes a perfect side-to-side zig-zag, which is the natural evasive maneuver for all baitfish.
It's all in the rod, a short pull and a long pull, only using the reel to take up line slack.
Suspending twitchbaits now make the same horizontal zig-zag subsurface, which can be really effective.
Almost cheating, our go-to salt flats lure is TSL Grasswalker, a soft suspending twitchbait, which dog-walks subsurface in the zone - right in the top of the shallow grass.


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Post 15 Mar 2023, 07:40 • #23 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Always was able to work a spook really well .The guys who taught me were artists with what ever they were using.But they pretty much stayed with 1 or 2 baits.Maybe it was due to not having much growing up in hard times.I wonder what they would think about 10 rods with different baits for each layed out on the deck of a 70k bass boat.And yes there are many baits you can walk subsurface.A white senko Texas rigged can be great when hybrid stripers are busting shad and other scenarios.I got away from throwing crankbaits all day.I still have at least 200 of what were the best of their time.I got more coming.


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Post 15 Mar 2023, 09:20 • #24 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19078
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
We heard you the first time. I was simply making sure our fly fishing audience understands what we're talking about - you can't dog-walk a fly rod.

@fishhuntmike
Back to black Jitterbug. This blue Hutley is my choice for dog-walking in black dark.
Blue is the one color in the dark that does more than make dark shadows.

Image

Since I brought up frogging impenetrable veggies,
The Nories Ebisu on top is a perfect crawfish imitation.

I showed these before, graphite MH frogger, glass MM plugger, glass ML for finesse spinnerbaits

and those impenetrable veggies


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Post 15 Mar 2023, 13:41 • #25 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/23/18
Posts: 614
Location: Eastern Wa
Good stuff!!! Keep em coming.
Good to know about blue/night Ron.


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