Custom Wooden Plugs Review and What's New

[Monty]

There are a lot of plugs out there that look incredible, the paint jobs are a work of art.
But what catches fish is a plug with good action and a surfcaster that provides a great presentation in an area with fish.
I fished metal lips made by the popular plug builders that cost 20-30 per plug with virtually no fish caught. As a mater of fact the hooks on a few of them would grt wrapped on the leader at time. I had no confidence in them.

I started using Double H Lures (Rip-Pluggers) and first time out with them I found an area that looked fishy, made the cast and landed a Striper.
Confidence, no foul hook-ups. I fished his plugs the rest of the year, had my best year by a long shot, caught fish way more often than not. My level in confidence went way up and improved all areas of my fishing as I spent more time in areas that had fish around, paid more attention to presentation, learned a lot about fishing different conditions with different plugs, metals and teasers.
Success builds confidence, confidence leads to success. It snow balls.
Its not how pretty or expensive a plug looks, its the confidence you have in your approach to catching fish.
Spending $20-$40 for a plug does nothing to enhance the chances of catching fish, there are many plugs that can be purchased for $10-$15, or bucktails/shads/metals/teasers for $5 that will out fish the expensive "custom" plugs.
Just my opinion, based on my experience.

[Rip-Plugger]

Hello all,

first,I want to say,My friend Monty mentioned his success with my work,it is in no way an advertisement for ANYONE to buy my lures!
he is only relaying the point that plugs outside of the ordinary styles we all see out there work very well.
some are afraid to try making something diff or just don't see outside the box what have you.
you all see the pix of my work,it's not what you'd see anywhere else.

I am not trying to sell anything to anyone here or anywhere else.I AM showing all here what something diff looks like,newer fresher designs and such.
Heck,I'd much rather see you guys here make your own and then we can trade from each other.

do I sell any?,,yes I do but mostly to local guys I know and to Monty.
I can count the guys I sell to on 1 hand.

my being a plug maker,I have never made money on a single one,it does pay for the items needed to create the plug but,I don't make 10 bucks on a plug,I really do it because I like making things diff from all those others out there.
I sell one for 15 bucks and hand it over to my friend that owns a B&T for a box of VMC's or a gross of split rings a spool of line or some ball bearing barrels.

SO,you and I know the game,we want to be players in it so,why complain,just go do it!

Have FUN!


NOW,about capt bills wood.
many of you may have heard all this chinese bashing because of chinese companies building plugs for cheap and trying to sell them here in the USA,some say it's stealin',some say they are junk and still some say it ain't right.
the fact is that anyone can and should be able to make a plug,money is the actual root of all this bashing and it really needs to stop.
I don't beleve any plug builder makes any money at all,in fact they probably lose money,not on the actual parts of the lure but their time,which is more valuable than money.

I tried the capt bills pro series last fall[atom's the year before] and did ok with it,lots of choppers and some bass,it didn't split,crack or suck up water,it worked well and performed as any plug should.nice waggle with no complaints from me at all.

I would recommend them to anyone that wants a plug thats low cost and if lost,just go buy 2 more,@ 9 bucks each who cares if it glances off bridge abutments or rocks,just shut up and fish!

Cheers
R-P

[Monty]

R-P,
Just off the top of my head I have Tusamis, Hahns, Domssons, Super Strike, Capt. Bills, Bombers, Tony Spinas amongst others whos plugs catch fish.
All of these cost no more that $15 (most of those for around 10).
I was caught up in that phase paying 20-30 bucks per plug.....at one time.
Some day will make my own.
And for those who want the plugs that cost 2x these, I think thats fine(not that it matters what I think), but the point I was trying to make is the confidence in the plug improves the aproach in locating fish and the presentation. When you believe you will catch fish, the odds are much better you will.
Example, Out of 100 casts with an RM Smith I catch nothing, out of 100 casts with your rip splitter I catch 2 fish. What do I have cofidence in, what do I fish better with. I just do not have a feel for an RM Smith, others probably clobber fish with them.
Others fish Bucktails ALL the time and catch 10x the fish I do.

[jimmy z]

The bass doesn't care if the plug cost 35.00 bucks. At least I don't think they do.

[DarkSkies]

^ Great point Jimmy, the bass don't care, Ha, I remember that Charlie Tuna commercial from the 70's - Starkist doesn't want tuna with good taste, it wants tuna that taste good!

Bass respond to something that swims like something they are eating, matching the hatch, or similar. A plug that swims right, or one that you are able to give it good action to mimic tha bait profile, is one that's gonna catch fish, whether it's wood or cheap plastic.

[7deadlyplugs]

Pretty plugs catch fishermen, not the fish. But I sure do like looking at them.

[Monty]

Heres a few plugs that cost between $8 and $14, The Super Strike was the highest priced plug of this group.

[Rip-Plugger]

Pretty plugs catch fishermen, not the fish. But I sure do like looking at them.

7DP,

thats fishermans porn!

R-P

[HandCarvedLures]

I have independent reviews on my website from users..
www.handcarvedlures.com

[Rip-Plugger]

Pretty plugs catch fishermen, not the fish. But I sure do like looking at them.

Dats whacha call fishermens porn!


R-P

[Rip-Plugger]

The bass doesn't care if the plug cost 35.00 bucks. At least I don't think they do.

JZ,

only the high maintenence female bass do,you know how they are,,,

R-P