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Posts: 92
| What are your opinions on wood lures vs plastic. Also, if both were offered from a particular lure company? THOUGHTS PLEASE. |
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| As the industry saying goes, “Plastics make it possible”
Many will reply with the adages of woodworking craftsmanship, and I respectfully agree with that.
Many will reply with the durability and quality of plastic, and I highly agree with that.
For me it’s plastic because of the design freedom in the shapes and geometries you just can’t do efficiently in wood. If you’re gonna do it, add more style than the average flat sided crank converted.
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Location: Illinois | Plastic baits are the fake boobs of the lure industry. They do the trick, but aren't the same quality. If both were offered from the same company, I would only buy wooden ones since it'd seem likely to only do that for so long before they switch to 100% silicone. I mean plastic. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | I'm in the same camp as Mike. The consistency of plastic... lure to lure... and durability of plastic (your "special" bait will stay special for a long long time) are why I prefer plastic. Solid plastic is even better than hollow plastic in my opinion. Frustrations from the 80's for me" My Tallywhacker got so chewed up it began soaking up water to point it sank. Lure was retired. Its replacement was nowhere near as productive. My favorite reef hawg became a favorite because it finally soaked up the right amount of water. Between trips it would dry out... and take several hours of use before obtaining the "magic". Solution: keep my Reef Hawgs in a pickle jar full of water to keep them waterlogged. The problem: fungus, rotten wood, corrosion, etc. My favorite Bagley DB-08 had the jukes. It cracked during a November trip... soaked up water... and lost its "jukes". No other DB-08 could replicate that one magic bait. The good news is.... there are plenty of PLASTIC topwaters, gliders, and cranks available today to replace... and more consistently duplicate "the magic" of those original wood lures I learned to fish with. If given the choice... I'll take the plastic version. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Anybody like plastic Pacemakers better than wood ones? |
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Posts: 1360
Location: Lake "y" cause lake"x" got over fished | Wood Pacemakers are better. the sound is different, I have used both and like both, but the wood ones seem to have a different sound that attracts more fish IMO...
I think it depends on the lure being used. Some stuff I prefer in Wood still. I have not used one of the new Plastic Suicks but I am not sure how I will like them over the wood ones. I enjoy Phantoms (obviously PLastic) but prefer Muskie Treats for my gliders (made of wood) I have had less luck with wood cranks than I do with Plastic ones.
I am starting to get to that point of really appreciating what kind of craftsmanship goes into custom wood lures. I use a lot of both. Don't really have a huge preference overall... but with certain lures I prefer wood and with other I prefer Plastic. |
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Posts: 4053
Location: Land of the Musky | I love making lures out of wood and will always make my basement creations out of wood as well as the Grunts that started my company. But for consistency of the product plastic is the way to go. |
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| There's only one good thing that plastic has over wood, every single bait of that manufacture swims the same, every swimwhiz swims the same, every perch bait/Plow swims the same, and so on. Your not getting that consistency in wood. Other then that I'll take wood any day. |
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Posts: 245
| I prefer plastic, more consistent.
As long as it's solid plastic and not hollow i'm happy, hollow plastic lures are for perch  |
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Posts: 8772
| If you can get a wood lure that has "it", there's nothing like it. The problem, as others have stated, is that there's a point where it's just worn and chewed and waterlogged enough where it works perfectly. It takes a while to get there, it doesn;t last very long, and there comes a point where you have to retire it. And then there's the issue of buoyancy, different densities of wood, paint peeling off, etc. I have a few wood lures that I would never trade for plastic versions. But sometimes you have to try 5-6 of them before you get one that runs the way you want it to. For that reason, I prefer plastic. When you get a good one, it's good right out of the box, and it stays that way. |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | I've been fishing and catching a lot more fish recently on wood lures. Most of the ones I've been using run right, well built, great paint jobs and very tough clear - Hosebaits, Modivators, Lawrence Lures. Some other great wood lures that get water time by me include Harvo's, Wiley's, Marshads, Woodie Minnee Shads. |
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Posts: 941
Location: Freedom, WI | This year a guide on St Clair was catching fish on my 6" crankbait out of wood and I made one out of plastic and it also caught fish. Same bait one wood one plastic, that would lead me to believe if a wood bait is replicated in plastic that matches the wood weight/density it should work. |
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Posts: 1504
Location: Oregon | It all comes down to how well the bait runs.....if the builder is able to put together a combination of shape and weighting that allows for an action that fish like then it's a winner whether it be from wood or plastic. There are wood baits that run great and wood baits that run poorly and the same can be said for plastic. Nevertheless, assuming the bait runs well, a solid plastic lures provides the buyer with many advantages.
Jed
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Posts: 1710
Location: Mt. Zion, IL | As stated by some previously, I prefer plastic baits over wooden ones. I fish baits of both, but I am adamant about epoxying over the holes in the baits that develop holes or chips from fish, rocks, use, etc. Plastic baits are also very consistent. I do prefer solid plastic baits over hollow ones. I would like to see someone make a solid bait like a DDD with a rattle chamber.
My favorite baits are SS Shads, DDD's, Depth Raiders (baby, regular, and jointed regular), Shallow Invaders, Chubby X, Baker Shads, Tuff Shads in plastic, Super Shad Raps, and 9" Grandmas. I almost exclusively fish crankbaits for muskies. Durability is definitely one of the biggest issues when fishing muskie baits to me.
If a lure manufacturer can develop a through wire, solid plastic, neutrally buoyant crankbait line with loud rattles, I'll buy a ton of them. (super shallow 1-3', mid depth 4-8', deep 8-12' and super deep 12-16' deep). Did I mention that I am available for development and testing purposes because we have power plant lakes close to home? |
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Posts: 944
| I like wood ones best. I can tune them easier to do what I want. All of my biggest fish have all come on all wood cranks.
Jeff Hanson
madisonmuskyguide.com |
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Posts: 8772
| jlong - 12/7/2012 12:53 PM
[...] My Tallywhacker got so chewed up it began soaking up water to point it sank. [...]>
They have pills for that these days, Jason.
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Posts: 1529
| theres differnt woods also that can slow or create more action. plastics nowadays are cheapened by using re-cyled plastics. old believers are superior they were virgin plastic. wood as we all know has magic,but the trade off is life cycle.. we have been building wooden baits for a couple decades. we have had the plastic option. the reality has been guys want wooden lures that have custom paints. thats why there will always be the mc,givers in there basements,garages trying to make the magic musky bullet.its actually very, impressive if you think of it. |
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Posts: 1937
Location: Black Creek, WI | No doubt wood lures will always be of value and catch many fish each season. However, if given two identical lures that perform exactly the same.... I'll grab the plastic one first. Durability that leads to consistent performance throughout the lure's lifespan is the reason why. I like wood because I can work with it myself. I've tinkered with thousands of lures in my time. I've also made my own lures from scratch too. Fun stuff for sure. But, the frustration of needing to retire a hand-made lure that has earned its keep and then not being able to duplicate that lure with its replacement has its price. I don't think any of the wood lure craftsman have to worry about lost business due to the availability of plastic lures. |
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Posts: 752
| Personally I think it depends on the type of lure. I prefer the plastic Phantoms because as a whole I think they are much more consitent. As far as prop baits go give me wood 10 times out of 10. I have consitently great results with the Big Mama baits and my old wood Pacemakers. I will pay a premium for hand made wood trolling cranks (like yours) but I also like the option of some cheaper plastic ones for ripping and running into rocks... |
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Location: 31 | Paul - 12/7/2012 3:46 PM There's only one good thing that plastic has over wood, every single bait of that manufacture swims the same, every swimwhiz swims the same, every perch bait/Plow swims the same, and so on. Your not getting that consistency in wood. Other then that I'll take wood any day. Haha, make that two things. A muskie (especially a big one) can't sink it's teeth into a plastic bait the same as it can with a softwood. There are a lot of variables at play here and it's not just as simple as wood versus plastic once you start peeling back the layers. Both have a place in my tackle box. However, as a general rule (all things being equal), I absolutely prefer plastic for price, durability, consistency, and yes... better hookups.
BTW, I have plastic baits that have holes and even teeth still stuck in them, but the amount of times that seems to happen pales in comparison to when I used a lot of softwood baits back in the day. Lastly, I completely disagree that all plastics "swim the same"... but even so, I'm still willing to do one of my least favorite jobs for my better producing plastics when they leak... foam.
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | If you are a fan of wood pacemakers I have a few for sale in the "buy forum".
Corey Meyer |
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Posts: 63
Location: Minnesota | It depends on the type of bait, I prefer plastics for Cranks and Jerkbaits, but wood for topwater. |
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