470 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1918 
PLUG MAKING AS AN ANGLER’S PASTIME 
THE SIMPLEST OF MATERIALS, ASSEMBLED WITH INTEREST AND AN IMITATIVE EYE, CAN BE 
TRANSFORMED INTO LURES WHICH MAY PROVE IRRESISTIBLE TO THE LURKING FISH 
By EDWIN T. WHIFFEN. Illustrated from drawings by the author 
I HAVE read many and interesting arti¬ 
cles on this subject, from which I have 
derived much pleasure and profit. There 
is always a periodic demand for literature 
on this topic, however, and, as the art of 
plug-making and plug-casting is still rather 
young, the field may be beneficially sur¬ 
veyed from time to time. 
For the novice, who is ambitious to be 
an out and out sportsman, and make his 
own equipment as far as possible, there 
has been one cardinal defect in all the arti¬ 
cles which I have read, that relate to the 
subject in hand. List of materials, varie¬ 
ties of plugs, weather and water conditions, 
drawings or photographs of the finished 
products have been ample, but the minute 
description, step by step, of the making of 
plugs, such as may guide the beginner to 
success without over-much experimentation 
and discouragement, has been lacking. 
The action of the plug in the water is a 
highly essential feature. Those marketed 
by the large manufacturers have all been 
thoroughly tested under a variety of con¬ 
ditions and can be relied upon. At this 
time the amateur experimenting with new 
plugs or introducing new ideas is cau¬ 
tioned to try them out on different days 
and in various waters before trusting to 
them implicitly for the success of a fish¬ 
ing trip, or claiming for them any unusual 
superiority. 
Red cedar is the best material for the 
bodies of the wooden plugs. It may read¬ 
ily be obtained at the expense of a little 
trouble in hunting up an old stump, or a 
few large branches. Sheet aluminum is 
suitable for the spinners and metal colors. 
An old kettle or pan of this metal furnishes 
a-plenty. Stout copper wire is used in 
making some varieties of lures. Roman 
enamel is good material for coloring and 
preserving the wooden plugs; and brass 
screw-eyes are useful in attaching hooks. 
Some triangle hooks, or single hooks, if 
you think them more sportsmanlike; num¬ 
ber two for the belly hooks, and number 
three for the tail hook, if you use triangles. 
The size of the single hook varies some¬ 
what with the style of the lure; but num¬ 
bers one to 2/0 will be suitable. 
There is still a dispute going on between 
the ‘‘one-hookers” and the “three-hookers,” 
or sponsors of the triangles. Some good 
fishermen claim that a single hook is more 
sportsmanlike, as it does not tear the mouth 
of the fish so badly in case of a get away, 
that it puts the fish on more even terms 
with the angler, as it makes escape more 
possible; and that it gives a better trim to 
the lure, and makes it swim more evenly. 
Others argue for the triangle, claiming 
that it is really more humane, as its use is 
more likely to result in the capture of the 
fish, thereby preventing toothache and large 
dentist’s bills for the game. They claim 
that they go fishing to get fish, and not to 
almost get them; that the triangle hook, 
being heavier, steadies the plug, and secures 
better action. 
What is the beginner to do? If he lives, 
or expects to fish, in a state where the tri¬ 
angle hooks are practically proscribed by 
law, then by all means he will be wise to 
use the single hook. In other states it 
would be well to have hooks of both kinds, 
which can be easily attached and detached. 
Then the learner may try both kinds until 
he decides which is the better for him. 
In the line of tools, provide pincers, file, 
a pair of shears for cutting the sheet alu¬ 
minum, and sandpaper; also a sharp knife. 
There are various style of baits: The 
wobbler (including the tango), the under¬ 
water bait without a sideways motion; the 
surface bait with a collar of wood or 
metal; and the surface plug with a spinner 
in front or rear, or both. This classifica¬ 
tion gives four main kinds of plugs; to 
which may be added feathered lures of one 
kind or another. 
The tango is an easy plug to begin with. 
A large size is four and three-quarters 
inches long and seven-eighths of an inch 
in diameter. The body is made of red 
cedar. The beveled front is one and one- 
half inches long, and the flat front face 
has an angle of twenty-five or thirty de¬ 
grees. The bottom of this part is suffi¬ 
ciently rounded to give a suitable grip to 
the brass screw-eye which is attached in 
front about two-thirds of the distance from 
the bottom up. The location of the screw- 
eye is a matter of adjustment; before 
painting the plug it should be properly 
placed; then remove, paint the plug, and 
refasten the screw-eye. 
The body of the plug is cigar-shaped. A 
white body with a red head makes an at¬ 
tractive combination. Two triangle hooks, 
size number two, each attached to a brass 
screw-eye, and fastened, the first three- 
fourths of an inch from the front, and 
the second an inch behind the first, exactly 
at the bottom of the body, will be satisfac¬ 
tory. 
The taper of the rear part of the body 
should begin about one and one-half inches 
from the end, and should diminish so that 
this part is fairly pointed. The different 
parts of this plug are well represented in 
the drawings—top, side, bottom. 
A smaller size of this variety is four 
inches long, slenderer and smaller propor¬ 
tionally. One triangle hook, number two, 
attached to the middle of the bottom of the 
body, is sufficient. This bait has a pecu¬ 
liarly sideswing motion, with an up and 
down dip, that makes its progress through 
the water appear startlingly lifelike. 
M Y favorite underwater bait is adapt¬ 
ed from the body of a toy butterfly 
which the baby demolished one day. 
It is four inches long, and cigar-shaped, 
with a diameter of three-quarters of an 
inch. The taper of the rear begins one 
and one-half inches from the end. The 
front is bluntly rounded. This end is red; 
the body is yellow, with narrow black rings 
one-half inch apart. On the bottom of the 
body are short horizontal black lines. 
There are two triangle hooks, attached by 
brass screw-eyes, at distances respectively 
of one and one-half and three inches from 
the front end. A third triangle is attached 
in a similar way exactly on the pointed end. • 
In order to make this plug submerge, 1 
when reeled in, there is an aluminum collar 
attached to the bottom, about three-quar¬ 
ters of an inch behind the front. The mak¬ 
ing of this collar is the only difficult part 
of the work; as the body may be quickly ,1 
shaped from red cedar with your knife, 
and then sandpapered. Cut out a piece of ' 
sheet aluminum of the shape indicated in 
the drawing. A piece measuring two inches 
on the outside curve will be about right, , 
for this size of the plug. By rolling up 
the points slightly, the collar will receive 1 
the shape of a section of a cylinder. It 
should be attached to the body in the posi- J 
tion indicated by three small, round-headed 
tacks, about half an inch long. At the 
front is fastened a wire so bent as to allow 
for three different attachments of the line. 
