DIY LURE MODIFICATION,
COMBINATION PARA-PLUGS
& CUSTOMISED HYBRID LURES
by John Worzencraft
with an Introduction by Deputy Editor, Brian Barwell

INTRODUCTION
Very few lure-angling enthusiasts have done more, among many other things, to develop, share and extol the virtues of hybrid combination lures, than John Worzencraft, well-known for his creative and dedicated lure-angling and as someone who's always looking at ways of developing improved methods, techniques, tackle & presentation, as well as customising lures to get maximum results!

We’re sure that many of you will have most likely read some of John's many other articles elsewhere on the 'Net and in monthly angling magazines etc., and we are very grateful to John for updating and revising this article for Nick Caine's Angling web-site. It's the sort of reference article that we like to have -- indeed, our web-site wouldn't be complete without an article about para-plugs and hybrid combination lures, and who better to write it — so here's what John has to say:-

DIY LURE-MODIFICATION
If you fancy doing some DIY lure-making, one of the best starting-points is to carefully select and modify an everyday lure; there is quite a bit of scope to improve their catch-rates and to have a whole lot of DIY fun into the bargain. There are several options as far as modifying standard LureNetQFP and other lures is concerned - for example you can experiment with any one or even combinations of the following:-

1. re-paint and re-pattern them, and/or
2. alter the buoyancy of plugs e.g. to make them less buoyant, and/or
3. combine them with spinners to make hybrid combination lures and para-plugs e.g. spinner-spoons, fly-spinners and spinner-plugs and/or
4. add hackles to their hooks

1. RE-PATTERN AND RE-PAINTING
If you're lucky, it won't be long before your lures get a good chomping from plenty of pike, trout, perch, chub and possibly even zander. Either way, all lures will need some regular maintenance to keep them on top form. After every trip, if possible, you should let your lures dry-out and then check them for damage, bent or blunt hooks and so on. For example, punctured plugs should be allowed to dry very thoroughly inside and out, and then the hole(s) sealed with Araldite Rapid or similar epoxy-resin glue.

Repairing, re-painting and re-patterning your plugs is very cheap, quick and easy. You can add water-proof white paint either as a base colour or a colour in its own right with some typing correction fluid e.g. Tippex - couldn't be simpler!

Water-proof coloured felt-tip marker pens are all you need to add spots, stripes and other patterns and there are even some solvent-based gold and silver marker pens for those extra special touches! Humbrol Enamel paints available from most toy and modelling shops are also excellent for giving lures a new, customised paint job.

Once your custom paint job has dried completely, it's time to finish-off the job with a good coat of varnish, or the ultimate, a very thin layer of transparent slow-curing epoxy-resin! Just like the customised Big S below!

2. ALTERING BUOYANCY
Altering i.e. reducing the buoyancy of floating hollow-bodied plugs is one of the oldest modifications in the game. Many DIY enthusiasts also use this opportunity to add some rattling weights at the same time - don't ask me if rattles in lures get more hits because I don't know and it's almost impossible to do proper scientific back-to-back comparisons, but if rattles give you more confidence or you just like to experiment, then that's all that matters!

In heavily-fished waters, you may find that lures which behave in a more natural way get more strikes and this idea has been partly responsible for the interest in neutral-buoyancy suspending plugs, ones that don't shoot straight to the surface when you stop retrieving.

With the notable exceptions of Manns, Rapala (Husky Jerk) and a couple of manufacturers who have mastered the secrets of mass-produced buoyancy-controlled plugs, I feel that some of my other standard floating plugs are perhaps just a tad too buoyant - a bit of added weight can transform their buoyancy and action, like this Creek Chub Pikie that's carrying some extra internal weight (small ball bearings) in its head section to make it virtually suspending.

For big hollow-bodied plugs, this is simply a matter of drilling a small hole, preferably from underneath, into the body, popping-in some small ball-bearings, sealing the hole temporarily with some Blu-Tack, attaching a trace and checking-out its resulting buoyancy in the kitchen sink or bath. Repeat this until you get the buoyancy that you want and then finally seal the hole with Araldite or something similar.

Please bear in mind that the density of water varies with temperature and this will affect the buoyancy of your lure. For plugs where drilling a hole and adding internal weights isn't an option, you can add weight via stick-on strips or spots, or by adding lead wire to the shanks of the belly hook(s), my least-favourite option though. If in doubt my advice is to err on the side of too much buoyancy rather than too little.

3. MAKING DIY HYBRID COMBINATION LURES
AND PARA-PLUGS
Of course there's nothing new about combination lures and some commercial versions have been around for decades e.g. Mepps Mino etc., but there's still huge scope for having a lot of DIY lure-making fun and improving the strike rates of your standard commercial lures,

My main approach has been a very cheap, speedy and effective one - simply to add spinners or spinner blades to normal lures, either in front, below or behind the original lure, obviously taking into account any effect on action and buoyancy.

There is a huge number of permutations and combinations: Spinner-spoons, Spinner-baits, Spinner-plugs, Fly-spinners and so on, limited only by your own individual imagination!

As far as hybrid combination spinner-plug lures are concerned, there are 4 main types i.e. blade-before, blade-below, blade-between and blade-behind.

With spoons, un-jointed plugs and wobbled dead-baits, there are obviously the options either of adding a spinner blade in front (a Blade-Before Hybrid) or behind (a Blade-Behind Hybrid), but with jointed plugs you can even experiment with spinning blades inserted between the two halves of the plug to make a Blade-Between Hybrid para-plugs

4. HACKLING HOOKS
Whether it improves strike rates or not, purely for psychological reasons to give extra confidence, I like to add hackles to many of my hooks and I’d suggest that you might like to try the same thing. If you find that hackling your hook is too much hassle, then the next best thing is to get some red catapult tubing and to slip a small section of it over the shanks of your hooks — it works nearly as well!

IN CONCLUSION
These so-called para-plugs, a combination of a spinner and a plug, have produced rewarding results for many lure-fishing enthusiasts although of course, it's virtually impossible to tell whether or not strike rates remain the same as, or better, or worse than with the original unmodified lure! For sure though, confidence and enthusiasm counts for almost as much, if not more, and this is what these DIY hybrid lures can provide.

As I've already said, there's nothing new about all this except perhaps that this quick and easy method of increasing the strike potential of your lures has perhaps been over-looked in recent years. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind from what I've seen, heard and personally experienced, that modifying commercial lures in this very simple way can often give your plug, spoon or bait that crucial extra edge when it comes to inducing those predators to strike.

BOLT-ON A BLADE AND DO THE BUSINESS !
So now you know what to do when you're not quite getting the results that you'd like, bolt-on a blade and see what happens: chances are that it'll do the business! All you need is a standard plug, or spoon (or even a wobbled dead-bait) and an Ondex, Rooster Tail or Mepps spinner ..... simply link one to the other with a split-ring and there you go!

Have fun!

John Worzencraft

Please click the Key-Chem logo button
to go back to our Home Page