This is the time of year I spend a lot of time in the basement getting ready for next season. After cleaning all my reels and making rod repairs, I'm ready to start tackle building.
I spent the last two weeks making a bunch of small needlefish plugs, hot numbers last season. There's nothing tricky about making a plug. For this plug, I used hardwood dowels that have a diameter of 3/4 inches. My construction is a through wire construction. The front hook hole is always drilled first. Then, with the plug body is propped up in a perpendicular position and I drill the inner with a 1/8 inch drill bit (this will house the wire). A drill press makes this job so much easier. Next, I will shape the plug by twirling it around a belt sander. My next step is to drill a couple of lead holes on the belly of the plug and later fill them with molten lead. The final step is to paint the plugs. Lastly, the wire, swivel and hooks are added. If you don't want to go through through wire construction, plugs can be put together simply by using stainless steel screw eyes.
Another project I had going last week was making bucktail jigs, another hot lure last season. I mold all my own jig bodies with molds from Do-It mold company. After molding, I paint them using durable powder paint. Last week I was making a lot of flathead jigs. If you have fly tying expertise, tying up jigs is quite easy. For those who know how to tie and are not into molding the jigheads, try buying the blanks from http://www.njtackle.com/ That online store also has lots of plug building material, hooks and wire.
I still have a load of teasers I want to tie up, but that will come later on this winter.
