wayne marwood
Crew Member
Use what uses, you will be busy reeling in fish I seen pictures fish he caught,and he knows the tackle he sells,there is no b.s. there
Fishing Plugs
- Thread starter TheHurtLocker
- Start date
ChilliSpoons
Well-Known Member
I prefer plugs over a toupee', especially in the wind. A strong gust of wind can make a toupee' embarrassing
RageWelding
Well-Known Member
Anyone have any pics of "rvp" tomics?
Some seem to be thinking that when fishing plugs you HAVE to go fast. I like to say that when fishing plugs you GET to go fast. Like my ex-commercial troller friend says, "yeah you can go slow, but personally I like to eat fish".
Been fishing them 30 years - never pulled the pins. Never lost a lure. I live down by Seattle & just about always travel to fish. I tend to travel to where I am confident I'll catch Salmon on plugs or other Flasherless methods.
When checking your action I let out about 10 ft of line, then bury the rod in the water so that the plug will be at 2 ft below the surface. The action you will be seeing will not be the same as when your plug is 30-50 ft behind the release clip. What you want to do is to make sure that the plug darts out an equal distance to both the right & left (this assumes you have not pulled the pin & are tied to the bar/ring). If it does not dart equally, move the knot in the direction of the larger of the two darting directions & re-test. Vary your speed with 2.5 mph at the slowest (unless you are deep & want Halibut). Make some shallow turns to vary speed/depth.
I think the disagreement a few posts back was a difference of style - fishing plugs with a tow bar is more of an art because you tune the action. Conversely, some Tomics are known to not swim properly & this tuning MAY be used to overcome this (as in it MIGHT work).
Been fishing them 30 years - never pulled the pins. Never lost a lure. I live down by Seattle & just about always travel to fish. I tend to travel to where I am confident I'll catch Salmon on plugs or other Flasherless methods.
When checking your action I let out about 10 ft of line, then bury the rod in the water so that the plug will be at 2 ft below the surface. The action you will be seeing will not be the same as when your plug is 30-50 ft behind the release clip. What you want to do is to make sure that the plug darts out an equal distance to both the right & left (this assumes you have not pulled the pin & are tied to the bar/ring). If it does not dart equally, move the knot in the direction of the larger of the two darting directions & re-test. Vary your speed with 2.5 mph at the slowest (unless you are deep & want Halibut). Make some shallow turns to vary speed/depth.
I think the disagreement a few posts back was a difference of style - fishing plugs with a tow bar is more of an art because you tune the action. Conversely, some Tomics are known to not swim properly & this tuning MAY be used to overcome this (as in it MIGHT work).
staying alive
Active Member
Well I never got to drop the lines on the weekend my crew got sick with the chop and wind ---- go away wind I need to fish----anyway kids need to toughen up. All the plugs I have are all old school with the ring on the front , with the exception of a few newer tomics with the tow bar.
Guess I'll just experiment with stacking rods on each rigger , think I'll try the first one out 40 -50' and the top one out 30' with 30' between , any opinions on my strategy
Guess I'll just experiment with stacking rods on each rigger , think I'll try the first one out 40 -50' and the top one out 30' with 30' between , any opinions on my strategy
Humpbubble
Active Member
Yes show us yer plugs..
Humpbubble
Active Member
Fine then, new to me(buddy just dropped these off from pnt), from the top...Crvp2 144ii
Rvp 2 g26ii
118
Crvp2 632ii
Heading to Nootka early July, will give these a swim.
Hb
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Mako 22
Well-Known Member
Just grab a plug and go fishing!!! That drawer is 6 inches deep. Plus three large Plano boxes of my favorites in the boat.
Below is an old 7 inch that I retired many years ago. Keep it simple, plain pink pearl color. This one was a "Highliner". Note the hook point rub, this one had great tail wagging action.
And it has a lot of teeth marks!
Some good color shown alongside 20 ounce jig heads.
Oh yea!
The old retired 7 inch on the bottom:
Mmmmm at least 20 feet of this to the plug:
Below is an old 7 inch that I retired many years ago. Keep it simple, plain pink pearl color. This one was a "Highliner". Note the hook point rub, this one had great tail wagging action.
And it has a lot of teeth marks!
Some good color shown alongside 20 ounce jig heads.
Oh yea!
The old retired 7 inch on the bottom:
Mmmmm at least 20 feet of this to the plug:
Attachments
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Breaking_Shimanos
Member
I've been thinkin about trying plugs around van, howe, and off bowen. Thinking the 5" size plus or minus an 1".
Any recommendations on sizes and colours?
Any recommendations on sizes and colours?
Mako 22
Well-Known Member
My all time favorite for the Port Angeles area for the feeder blackmouth is the 4 inch 158 with a 5/0 Mustad 9510XXSS hook. Another of my "Highliner" plugs. Do not have to pull them as fast as the bigger plugs.
When the bigger Chinook show up I size up the plugs to 5 or 6 inch, sometimes a 7.
Try the stubbies: A 4 inch stubby would be ideal.
Rigging:
Cannonball has 5 feet of tuna cord to a swivel, then the attachment swivel to either your braid or wire.
5 feet of 100 pound mono from this connection to the release clip.
At least 20 feet from the clip to the plug, often more.
I run the cannon ball as close to the bottom as I can without snagging.
I normally fish near the ledges where it is 160 to 200 feet deep.
I often run a flasher on a release clip 20 feet above the plug release clip. No tangle problems. 20 foot leader from clip to the flasher. 42 to 60 inches of leader to a favorite hoochie or squid.
I will take a photo or two of the plugs and some rigging later tonight and post.
I bought some 6 inch "Turds" last fall, anxious to try them out this summer behind a Hot Spot.
This type of gear and rigging has been very effective for me over the years. If the fish are slow to sniff out my gear I sometimes will rig up 6 inch herring in a style taught to me by a commercial troller, on 48 inches of leader behind the flasher. A killer. I always have herring in the cooler for backup.
When the bigger Chinook show up I size up the plugs to 5 or 6 inch, sometimes a 7.
Try the stubbies: A 4 inch stubby would be ideal.
Rigging:
Cannonball has 5 feet of tuna cord to a swivel, then the attachment swivel to either your braid or wire.
5 feet of 100 pound mono from this connection to the release clip.
At least 20 feet from the clip to the plug, often more.
I run the cannon ball as close to the bottom as I can without snagging.
I normally fish near the ledges where it is 160 to 200 feet deep.
I often run a flasher on a release clip 20 feet above the plug release clip. No tangle problems. 20 foot leader from clip to the flasher. 42 to 60 inches of leader to a favorite hoochie or squid.
I will take a photo or two of the plugs and some rigging later tonight and post.
I bought some 6 inch "Turds" last fall, anxious to try them out this summer behind a Hot Spot.
This type of gear and rigging has been very effective for me over the years. If the fish are slow to sniff out my gear I sometimes will rig up 6 inch herring in a style taught to me by a commercial troller, on 48 inches of leader behind the flasher. A killer. I always have herring in the cooler for backup.
Dogbreath
Well-Known Member
Nominated for Coolest post on the thread
Smaller white is what works during winter rarely tried plugs locally in summer but this Green White warrior is what I'd start with first.
The Bad News is that I seem to have lost my favourite old white plug can't find it anywhere and I spent a long time looking.
fishin_magician
Well-Known Member
I have a plug collection which rivals most on the coast...could easily outfit a small fleet of commercial boats in August.
I have used plugs around Vancouver for years with mixed results and StormTrooper has some great advice for all. They are deadly on the Westcoast, Eastcoast and in the Gwaii too...lots of chewed plastic treasures in my arsenal! Even more now thanks to RVP and StormTrooper!
The RVP series works well and a few are available at PNT in Richmond but the Parksville Store is a Candy store!
If you're fishing in winter the 4" and 5" are good sizes for around here. Go to the Tomic website and pick the popular colours. I would recommend the popular ones in the 600 series due to the water clarity issues we get in Spring and early summer. As for the winter the low 400 series can be very productive right off the bottom.
For late summer jaunts off the Fraser the RVP series with something pink or pale popular colours DO work well. However, there are days that for whatever the reason, they will not bite a plug....been there before. Staged Fraser fish can be very short on the bite and a lazy Anchovy some days is the only ticket.
However, I have had a few some outstanding days with plugs locally...and other guides don't endorse them all that much around here because it's very difficult to stray from an Anchovy which will hook anything on any given day when there are inexperienced guests on board who think a Chinook has their name on it just because they paid for a charter.
This past weekend I fished RVP T-Rex for an hour off Bowen in the rough stuff on Saturday and it did take a hit of something but fishing was slow and the other side did get a bite too. The control was the other boats around who also had a tough time with production. They were fishing spoons behind flashers. Another pal of mine fished a 5" 600 or 601 off the bar last weekend and had a fish on a plug as well.
Not sure how many rods you fish but buy a match set of plugs for mature spring/summer (6" or 5") and then commit to fishing them correctly for a few trips at the right time of year. Take other tackle and bait along just in case because if you notice other boats hooking up and you can't get a bite after making a few passes by, then when in Rome...do as the Romans do.
A 500 or 232 catches fish everywhere and a 602 is almost foolproof for mature fish anywhere on the coast for mature springs. Plugs aren't cheap and do cost dollars so count on an investment. Also buy the correct hooks...do NOT cheap out or reinvent the wheel...it's not worth it. RVP ii series probably get my vote now for winter plugs...the plugs incorporate key colours and fill a BIG void in the plug lineup which existed for a long time.
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staying alive
Active Member
Where do you buy replacement hooks for plugs , the hooks that came on my plugs from the commercial guy I bought them from must be made out of superior steel as they don't seem to ever rust.
Have tried a few stores but nothing comes close, guess I'll have to try PNT
Want to rig all the blanks I have
Have tried a few stores but nothing comes close, guess I'll have to try PNT
Want to rig all the blanks I have
As for replacement hooks I prefer a Mustad model 95170 - SS. The point is slightly upturned towards the shaft. Use the same size hook as the length of the plug (6/0 hook for a 6 inch plug). Just ordered a bunch from Tomic & they have gone to a VMC Siwash because the Mustads have been breaking for sports fishers. I am not a Gorilla fisher so not a problem. You can buy them on Amazon. If a store does not carry mass amounts of these hooks, you are in the wrong store.
Mako 22
Well-Known Member
4 inch 158 plugs. The two not in the box have 3/0 hooks, a bad choice, too wimpy. The new plugs in the box as from Tomic are rigged with 5/0 hooks. (I use Mustad 9510XXSS).
This hook is on a hoochie, but I do the same to the plug hooks. I bend the point on the 9510 hooks to give a beak effect. Note the tip of the hook points to the eye. The old school Duranickle hooks come with the beak.
Sticky Sharp!!!!!
Modification to the Scotty release clip. I remove the two position spacer and install a hard plastic spacer. Really tightens up the grip on the line, important when pulling the big plugs. The line is 6 feet of 100 pound mono.
Rigging to the cannon ball. The strange 3 way swivel is home made, if needed I will post a photo on how to make. 5 feet of tuna cord to the snap that holds the cannon ball.
This hook is on a hoochie, but I do the same to the plug hooks. I bend the point on the 9510 hooks to give a beak effect. Note the tip of the hook points to the eye. The old school Duranickle hooks come with the beak.
Sticky Sharp!!!!!
Modification to the Scotty release clip. I remove the two position spacer and install a hard plastic spacer. Really tightens up the grip on the line, important when pulling the big plugs. The line is 6 feet of 100 pound mono.
Rigging to the cannon ball. The strange 3 way swivel is home made, if needed I will post a photo on how to make. 5 feet of tuna cord to the snap that holds the cannon ball.
fish brain
Crew Member
Thanks for sharing your secrets Mako. But why the funky swivel? Why not just clip right to your braid or wire?
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