Plug Questions

[westercoaster222]

Good day all. Hoping to ask a few plug questions, and gather some wisdom from the group here.

First off, I am in the pin puller camp. Had sucess with some plugs last year, and looking to use them more.

A few questions:
1. Hook sizes. Is going with the 3/0 recomodation from the catch and release study too small?
2. Placement. How far back? Back tip of plug? Tight to the hole? In between?
3. Elastic band trick. Worth it or a gimmic?
4. Anyone use scent on their plugs?
5. Speeds. What I have been reading is generally run both sides plugs, and more in the 3-3.5 range.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Adrenafin]

When running 4 rods i often run a favorite plug on my deepest line and about 30 feet back from the wire. (15 feet farther than the other 3) it gets hit often and never a problem running with other types of lures.

I always try my plugs OG before modifying them, often work fine but have had some that didn't catch until the elastic band or other mods came out. If you tie to the ring, always have your knot directly oppsosite of the weld and this will give you a more eratic action as the weld bump interferes with the natural cadence every now and then. 7 inch Tomic number 203 is one of my favorites.

 

[SpringVelocity]

This is some great info. I am doing same this year going to smaller hooks.

 

[eroyd]

Recently caught the plug bug. Been doing well with unmodified plugs, tied to the ring, so why wreck them. Unfortunately new packaged plugs don't come with rings. I tried fishing with a pin pulled plug last weekend, and it came up on a check with the hook wrapped over the tail of the plug.

Seems some really beat up plugs from the bottom of a garage sale bucket do better.

Lingcod leave a lot more "tooth marks" than salmon. Hook rash, logically tells you that a particular plug was worth leaving in the water any amount of time.

 

[EstevanPoint]

1) 3/0 Big River Gammy Siwash work great. They hold fish really well and they really don't damage the fish in the same way a typical plug hook will. Like the ones in Kai's video. They are smaller, but the style of hook matters in how and where the fish is hooked. The classic plug hooks were meant for commercial trollers and were meant to kill fish. They are good at it. So with all the slective fishing we have to do these days it makes sense to limit the damage and use the smaller recreational style of hooks.

2) I usually run them on a 6-bead chain swivel for the 6 and 7 inch plugs. Or you can just use any swivel and put a few beads on the line to get the hook spaced back a little. It doesn't need to be right at the tail, but in that general range. 6-bead swivel is nice to protect from wear and tear on the leader.

3) I've never tried the elastic band, but it seems a little gimmicky to me.

4) I typically throw a little scent or WD on them, but without ever really testing it, who knows? If you put scent on spoons, why not plugs?

5) 3 to 3.5 is great. Some plugs will work better slow, for whatever reason, and I know guys that like to troll them "slow" 2.5ish, but the general rule of thumb is you can't go too fast with plugs. I'm happy in the 3 to 4 range, depending on the current. They all work differently, so you often need to find the right plug for the speed you prefer, or vice versa. I think the guys with the plugs that work with other gear have those rare finds that shine at slower speeds.

 

[tubber]

I have about 75 plugs and have caught fish with most of the ones I've tried, which is about 12. I've run them offshore WCVI and at Sandheads where everything works at times.
My question is do people run them in structure close to shore like at Wya or Swale type places? I don't but maybe should.