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Keith White

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  • Interests (Hobbies, favorite activities, etc.):
    Fishing (many kinds), writing, plug building, fly tying, diving, kayaking.

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Jersey, Channel Islands, Great Britain.

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  1. I have turned 'ipe' or greenheart for needlefish and they are 'heavy'. However, hard material to turn and very dusty (irritant too so wear mask). So water resistant though it was worth me making a dozen and they have lasted.
  2. I've built using both too. I have little issue with screw eyes BUT, when we travel away and use the same plugs on larger or stronger fish, I simply don't have the confidence that I do have in through wired. In fact, we no longer build anything screw eyed favouring instead, handcarved and trapped wire frame/harness and of course, proper through wires. If there is an issue with through wires, in my experience and it may still be our fault, that is sealing is FAR poorer on any lure I've ever built through wired no matter the system. Something to consider if you 'care' that a plug might crack it's finish etc. We simply re-build or make a new one but it's gutting when you blow up the finish on a real gem.
  3. These are some of our 'first' round pencil bodies. Can't find any recent build pics of pencils but they are similar. Our newer ones are a bit fatter in the rear and have a shallow neck, very shallow neck.
  4. That profile is similar to the standard, round body we build. The jury still out on whether a cupped or angled straight face suits us better. We make those in both 'just floating' (eye level floater) and a quite heavy sinker. Long casts ARE often required here in the daytime due to the clarity and shallow waters. This stuff is basically why I'm asking for advice and experiences. Sure, we can build and keep building to get it right but why re-invent the wheel.
  5. Yes, absolutely. Weight? Well, there was a time we threw everything under an ounce LOL, serious. Then we figured out needlefish and darters and despite out bas being mostly sub 10lb, more often sub 5lb nowadays, these bass still crush a 7" needle and as I learned by making and fishing needles, weight doesn't have to mean BIG. These canal style pencils can, I suppose (advise if wrong), sink and maybe be 1, 1.5, even 2oz I guess and if I use the right wood, they'll still climb up and walk. A 6" model will be first as we know and use 6" alot so I can make comparisons with already used plugs. We have 4 sides to our Island that couldn't be more different really, east... dries out for 2 miles, rocks like, everywhere, fast water gullies everywhere, then west, a full blown atlantic surf beach but, backing out onto hard reef, north, cliffs and 120ft deep but, common to all side is FAST water. Why I haven't tried a flat bottom before baffles me. BTW, yes, always cast up into flows where possible and this is where a kayak helps. Our issue is the water can get so fast, you are chasing the retrieve to maintain contact. When out gullies start flowing, water speed is like 7 knots in places. Just like US gullies and outlets but, that's our water for as far as the eye can see. 1000's of features too, 40ft tides and sadly, nowhere near the bass we once had.
  6. Sure thing. Our needs are for smaller plugs as our bass are, by species, much smaller. Just as tough to catch and extremely pressured in recent years but I have been thinking for some time, fast water and we have that in abundance and you guys flat the bottoms of the pencils. Gonna build 6" to start. CC 6 and 7" work here and I often have both on tap at first light and swap sizes on blow up's or near misses. It's FAR easier from shore to maintain contact but, from the kayak, and we do alot from the yak in shallow water and fast, often choppy water, a flat PP just makes sense in theory.
  7. Yes, tip elevated. OK, so flat as in straight through the outer profile. Got it. And yes, I have made a few overweight pencils that sink and they work great here too.
  8. Hi, been a while since posting but, still fishing just as hard. OK, canal style pencil builders, and especially users, please help me out here. Some will have read my previous posts and seen the articles (********** etc) I've written on my waters. The issue I have found is pencils kill here, even fairly big stuff like guppy but, they can of course be selective for sub 10lb bass. The point is, my waters are fast, big tides and fast waters, often with wind against tide conditions and from the kayak, that means, the lures seem to get... Well, kinda stuck and they stop walking. I'm sure the braid getting caught on the wave crests across the runs has something to do with it but, how would a flat bottom help ? I am going to build these so I am fairly open to idea's. I like a bucktail rear siwash or feathered rear hook too but, even after removing these to see if it was causing this 'getting stuck' feel no difference was found. I read that a flat bottom swings in the walk much better. Is flat actually flat? or, just a flattened area that follows the profile of the lure ? Would you alter weighting to get a better planing angle or is the flatted area enough to loosen the walk action ? Thanks.
  9. Nice. One of these days I'll crack offset turning.
  10. Thanks for the comments guys. Yea, took a while and not very practical but more an exercise in what we are capable of right now. Plus, it's dead cool to play around and have some fun.
  11. A one off effort done with the airbrush and hand using bits of sticks to apply paint etc. weighs in at around 1.5oz, 6.5" long. triple sealed, barrier primed etc before 3 further primer top coats. This is for someone in the UK who has in interest in Australian folklore so we did the hand painted saltwater croc teeth, the koala, kangaroo, boomerangs etc and kept it all very asymmetrical with deliberate flaws built in. We then knocked the lure about just a bit to add some stress before etexing.
  12. We've kinda arrived at this shape, weighting etc just by making modifications as we see fit after fishing them. Trust me, these might be clean and recent efforts are coming out quite nice but you should have seen the bonfire we had before... LOL
  13. Bigger eyed one is around an ounce. Smaller blind ones around 1/2oz. All through wired.
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