Plugs and Plugging

Too many anglers assume that plug fishing in saltwater is something new and only goes back to the last decade. In fact, sea anglers were taking fish on plugs before the turn of the last century. Like most things in fishing, it's not new, just undergoing something of a revival.

Unlike spinners, plugs could be said to have a uniformity of rough shape and design, but in reality there is a wide difference which manifests it'self most in plugs actions. This feature will separate those main divisions, put specific actions into appropriate fishing categories, look at colours, lure modification, and tackle.

WHAT DO PLUGS REPRESENT?
The short, fat bodied types like the Big S make a good representation of small pout, poor cod, butterfish, wrasse etc. The thinner, slim profiled bodies look like sandeels, launce and silver eels. The larger plugs over 6ins give the impression of being small bass, mackerel and larger pouting.

Those made from lightweight materials like balsa, or from unweighted plastic, are mainly floating surface worked lures or shallow diving plugs that rely on being seen as a silhouette by fish from below, or by the wake they make at surface level. Being light, they are designed for close quarter work in calm seas and settled weather conditions. Plugs constructed from lightweight woods often use threaded screw in eyes for hook attachment. The threads can often pull free of the wood and loose you fish. Gluing the threads in place with Araldite glue adds a little strength, but such cheap fittings are always suspect.

Plugs constructed from hardwood are obviously heavier and better made for casting to distance and will penetrate further into an oncoming wind when casting. These tend to be more sub surface working lures due to their heavier density. Again, many have threaded eyes screwed into the body for adding the hooks. Whilst not as weak a connection as the balsa wood plugs, the threads still need gluing into place to reduce the chances of them pulling free.

Plastic or resin bodied lures use a metal, sometimes lead weighted core to give both casting weight and to add some sinking capability. The best plugs have wire running through this that gives connection points for the hooks via small split rings. These are extremely strong and will not allow hooks to break free.

LIP OR VANE FUNCTION
Whilst body shape does have a bearing on plug action, it's the size, shape and angle of the lip or vane that has the main say in how the lure will act and to what depth it will dive.

Some plugs sport metal vanes, whilst others have plastic types. The better ones are those made from Lexan, a man made plastic that is tough and durable.

Small vanes set at a steep angle ie, vertically down underneath the plugs chin, will result in the plug having a surface action. When the plug is retrieved, water pressure is built up on the forward face of the vertical vane which makes the plug stay at surface level and no amount of retrieval speed will make it dive.

A halfway position with the vane at a mid way angle between vertical and horizontal gives a shallow sub surface working lure that will dive deeper as retrieval rate is increased.

A vane that is in line with the body, or horizontal, makes the lure dive deeper. Given different sizes and angles of vane the same plug could dive to 4ft or 20ft plus. This is caused by water flowing over the top of the vane pushing the plug downwards. The bigger the vane, the greater the water pressure.

It doesn't stop there. A thin, pointed vane can induce a slight sideways wiggle to the action, whereas a wide at the front, tapered towards the back shape of vane adds a rolling lurching gate to the body action when retrieved. Also, the larger a horizontal vane is, the deeper the lure will dive. It's all related to water pressure applied to the vanes upper surface.

Some plugs like the ABU Hi-Lo has a vane that is adjustable on a ratchet system so that you can control the angle and depth of dive.

SINGLE BODIED OR JOINTED?
Think about which type of food source is the most likely over the mark you are fishing. If you're fishing the mouth of an estuary over clean sand banks and mixed rough ground where sandeels are evident, then a slim profiled jointed plug will give the most lifelike swimming action when retrieved.

Over solid rough ground and shallow reefs where pout, small wrasse and gobies are resident, you want a short, fat, single bodied plug, preferably with a hump back that looks like one of these small fish. Change that ground for a deeper venue, be it over sand or rock, where mackerel and school bass are tight in to shore, and you need a large single bodied plug with a standard profile slightly tapering towards the rear.

Certainly, a jointed plug does give off more fish like movement and therefore vibrations that the fish can home in on. Some anglers quote this when saying that jointed plugs take more fish than single bodied ones, but this is difficult to prove and single bodied plugs are excellent fish catchers in their own right. Match your plug choice to the bait fish present and you won't go far wrong.

FLOATING/ SHALLOW DIVING PLUGS
Floating plugs are the most versatile plug in the armoury. They allow us to fish some of the most fish productive spots that are otherwise impossible to get access too.

These are the one to choose when fishing along the edge of estuary banks where the bladderwrack fronds swing across the surface layers when chasing bass. They can be worked across rock ledges, again in estuaries, or from the ledges of rock platforms into the open sea for pollack. They are especially suited to being retrieved across small rocky bays and in quiet inlets along the shore.

A floating plug with horizontal or angled vane can be made to dip down to seabed level and work across shallow reef structures and along the weed banks for shore bass. Such a lure needs deeper water up to about 6ft to work effectively and is ideal for general shore work when the sea conditions are calm so that the lures action can be clearly seen by approaching predators.

These are best worked where the tidal current is slight, or fished at slack water. Retrieved against an oncoming current they may look lifelike, but in practice that are behaving completely opposite to how a baitfish would and this alerts the survival instinct in predators and warns them off.

SINKING PLUGS/DEEP DIVERS
�A rough guide is that they need a good 6ft depth to really come into their own. This gives enough space at seabed level for the predatory fish to view the lure as a silhouette from below which is when the lure (any lure) is most effective.

Very effective worked to represent wrasse and pout over rough ground seabeds and around the edges of weed banks etc. A large deep diver worked underneath a shoal of mackerel that are harassing baitfish within a few feet of the shore can pick up large bass interested in any careless mackerel.

Another big plug hot spot is around the mouths of estuaries where numbers of small school bass congregate. Big bass are true cannibals and readily eat their own king. Cast from the rock ledges along the open coast, a deep diving plug will take large pollack and even surprise coalfish.

PLUGS FOR TROLLING
Whilst plugs cast from dinghies drifting across shallow reefs can be excellent for pollack, bass and mackerel, their real boat forte is when trolled at slow speeds, usually in the UK at less than 3 knots, some distance behind the boat.

It's important to know the average general depth of the reef route you intend to take and to choose a plug that will troll at a depth a few feet above the seabed. If the depth is around 30ft, then a plug set to run at 20ft is ideal. Also remember, that the more line you have off the reel the deeper the lure will troll.

The same rule about running the lure with the current applies just as much when boat fishing as it does when shore fishing. If you work the lure against the current you'll catch no fish.

The best way to work a plug along a reef is to use the tide to pin point the overfall as it passes over the reefs upper structure. This is shown as a line of roughened water which is actually several yards (depending on tide strength) downtide of the actual top of the reef. The plug should be drawn along this line at speeds just above engine idling ie, 1-2 knots. This is especially effective for bass and pollack when mackerel shoals are resident over the reef in high summer.

LURE SIZE
Fishing with plugs The smallest plugs to consider for shore fishing would be 70mm ones for school bass and mackerel, but weight is important for casting so let the ned for distance rule on the day when after bigger game, unless fish are preoccupied ie, with small sprat shoals tight inshore. Even a 3lb pollack and bass will hit an 8in Bang-O-B or the Yo-Zuri L Jack Minnow which is over 6in long.

In deeper water darker colours that highlight the silhouette when viewed from below should be chosen, especially greens, blues and even black. The latter is a colour not easily available in commercial plugs, yet it's the most killing colour in all conditions.

Also worth carrying are plugs with gold or bronze in the colouring as these represent pout and small pollack over rough ground. Several plugs do a Boston mackerel (UK mackerel) colouring which is ideal for trolling behind the boat and for general shore bassing. Having some red in the overall makeup, especially in the gill area, is an advantage in clear water. Scale effects printed onto the body may add some attraction in clear water as it breaks up the outline and creates the illusion of movement.

Whilst the best plug fishing is in clear calm seas, by choosing jointed plugs or those with an erratic action, bass especially can still be caught in shallow coloured seas immediately after gales. Colour is unimportant, but vibration is. Some plugs have propellers in front of the nose and these are worth trying in such conditions.

MODIFICATION
You can alter the way a lure runs by bending the eye that the reel line is tied to. If you use pliers to bend it to the left, then the plug will run with a right side bias, bend it to the right and the plug veers leftward. If the eye is straight and in line with the head, the plug runs a straight course.

Some larger plastic vanes can have the action altered by dipping the vane in boiling water and adding a kink to it. Not generally recommended though, and pruning vanes down is another modification that rarely produces good results.

Different vanes can be made from Lexan or even plastic ice cream containers and then glued into place with Araldite or similar. This latter approach does allow some experimentation regards action before final gluing.

Treble hooks can be reduced by one size which gives a better strike ratio than the too large hooks generally supplied with plugs.

If the hooks are attached by a secured wire, when the hooks are worn out, cut through the hooks eye, add a small round split ring to the plugs eye and the attach the new hook. This has no adverse effect on the lure regards catching fish.

TACKLE AND RIGGING
Most shore plug fishing when some degree of distance is required needs a rod between 10-11ft long with a medium power tip section, but quickly giving into a powerful mid and butt section. Match this to a fixed spool reel and around 8lb line.

An alternative is to go American and use a short 6-7ft crank handled bait casting rod like the Cotton Cordell supplied by Harris Angling and small multiplier with 6-8lb line. This is a good choice for short range over rough ground with little surface weed and also when working small bays and inlets inside estuaries.

For trolling from the boats, then an 8ft stiff actioned 15lb class rod is okay, but when working the biggest lures at depth, then a 20lb standard 7ft rod is a better choice.

Rigging, in all situations, is simply tying the lure on to the reel line. Avoid adding weights infront of the plug as this spoils action.