Does anyone rig them without the needle eye hooks inside the plug? I’m thinking of a 9/0 or bigger live bait and hook rigged behind the plug with a bead or two in between. With the tendency for pulled and thrown hooks and twist associated with misaligned long shank hooks inside the body of the plug, it would seem to me that setting it back a bit would help. Also, if the fish hits the plug and not the hook, the trailing LB hook could snag the fishes mouth as the plug pulls through it’s bite. Also, sperhaps eparating the hook from the plug would make it easier for the plug to ride up the line while fighting fish. Is my theory valid and has anyone had experience with this method?
From my limited experience…the cedar plug design and the way it works would change if you had beads behind it with the hook behind them. Normally rigged it works as a composite unit wiggling around wherever you have it in the spread. I have had very good results with cedar plugs and having it hit without a hookup has never happened, not once. Sharp long shank J jooks in size 8-10 should work fine. The problem I have had to adjust for is getting the cedar plug cut off and then particular rigging techniques to avoid that happening. Cedar plug moving up the line to fight the fish is not an issue I have thought of or had a direct problem with. Experiment with your theory and see what happens. There are just so many small factors that affect the perfect scientific experiment which makes it hard to narrow down your results from whatever you try. You aren’t gonna learn by not trying so give it a go!
I have seen people use beads and the hook outside the cavity. Doesn’t have as good of action but some folks think it has a better hook set
Pat Condon
“Carla Dee”
You need to tune the plug by working a notch into the top of the tail end 180 degrees (up) from the plug’s natural bottom side when placed on a flat surface and allowed to roll to where it stops rolling. You then have the heavy side down, and you keep the hook pointed up.
If you do anything different, the plug won’t swim right.
http://www.sustainablefishing.org/
www.joinrfa.com
Luke 8:22-25
^^^ Exactly the way I was taught to do it.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
“Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.” -Robert N. Rose