Starting rotation for 2026

[TheHurtLocker]

Here’s the starting rotation for 2026. Some new ones, some new oldies that I have always used. They’re all in the plug box 1 for the start of the season at least.

 

[seachicken]

Looking great to my inexperienced eyes. I had 2 new plugs I wanted to try this weekend but we never trolled.

 

[Sharphooks]

I had a very vivid dream last night that I was vac-packing my plug collection so they wouldn’t thaw out and the paint would remain fresh

The only problem—-I was in a commercial airliner 30,000 feet up in the sky and I knew if I popped open a window to troll one of them the pilot would have been pissed

Sounds like a mid-winter “summer-can’t-come-soon-enough” nightmare…

 

[Squire]

Here’s the starting rotation for 2026. Some new ones, some new oldies that I have always used. They’re all in the plug box 1 for the start of the season at least.View attachment 124535
View attachment 124536

Great line-up! What number is that glow one second down from the top? It looks like a gooder!

I’ll post up my own starting six once a couple of the new ones I ordered show up in my mail box. Anyone else want to share theirs?

 

[Howzer]

Lookin' way too clean and purdy... gonna need some hook and teeth scrapes to get some credibility...

 

[TheHurtLocker]

Great line-up! What number is that glow one second down from the top? It looks like a gooder!

I’ll post up my own starting six once a couple of the new ones I ordered show up in my mail box. Anyone else want to share theirs?

407g It’s a Marine Trader plug out of Powell River. My top producer over the years.

 

[Squire]

407g It’s a Marine Trader plug out of Powell River. My top producer over the years.

Thanks, that one looks fishy.

 

[EstevanPoint]

Thanks, that one looks fishy.

Don’t bother, it doesn’t work…

 

[terrin]

407g It’s a Marine Trader plug out of Powell River. My top producer over the years.

Is Marine Trader a maker of Plugs?

 

[Squire]

Is Marine Trader a maker of Plugs?

The answer to that question is no, but anyone can ask for a custom colour of plug and Tomic will make it. I just assumed the 407g is a Tomic plug custom made for Marine Traders. @TheHurtLocker ?

 

[TheHurtLocker]

The answer to that question is no, but anyone can ask for a custom colour of plug and Tomic will make it. I just assumed the 407g is a Tomic plug custom made for Marine Traders. @TheHurtLocker ?

Yes correct. I’ve only seen it there and at Tomic in Gold River.

 

[jackfish]

Spoons vs Plugs. Spoons!

 

[Samnjoe]

Spoons vs Plugs. Spoons!

Not always. My 5" 600 classic destroyed my son and his guide buddies on the back side of Malcolm and they were all using bait. The old man layed a hurtin on them for a few days many years ago. if only we could really think like a fish.

 

[Squire]

I thought TheHurtLocker had a great idea with this thread so I’m going to try to keep it going by showing my starting six for 2026. They are all 5” classics but I have other sizes in some of them. Only three of them got wet last season because I’m new to using plugs on my own boat and generally only ran one on one side with a flasher and lure/bait on the other. The fish I did catch on plugs seemed to be mostly a better grade, making me think there’s something to them that just attracts bigger fish (Chinook and Coho). This season I plan to dedicate more time to fishing plugs exclusively with the option to switch them out if I’m having no luck after trying them for at least a few hours or through a tide change.
From the top: 602g, 639g, 700g, 403, Hunter 602, 500

 

[TheHurtLocker]

I thought TheHurtLocker had a great idea with this thread so I’m going to try to keep it going by showing my starting six for 2026. They are all 5” classics but I have other sizes in some of them. Only three of them got wet last season because I’m new to using plugs on my own boat and generally only ran one on one side with a flasher and lure/bait on the other. The fish I did catch on plugs seemed to be mostly a better grade, making me think there’s something to them that just attracts bigger fish (Chinook and Coho). This season I plan to dedicate more time to fishing plugs exclusively with the option to switch them out if I’m having no luck after trying them for at least a few hours or through a tide change.
From the top: 602g, 639g, 700g, 403, Hunter 602, 500

Very nice starting line up! 700g always a great choice. Hunter 602 looks dangerous.