We always have at least one cedar plug in the spread.

Natural and purple/black work best.

We rarely lose hooked fish on cedar plugs, but we do get a fair amount of short bites.

I have some rigged with fluorocarbon and cannot tell the difference between the ones with mono. At 7 knots I don't think the tuna are taking a lot of time to inspect our plugs.

If I was losing a lot of fish on cedar plugs I would look into re-rigging them with better hooks.

The chrome hooks on most of my cedar plugs are pretty lousy, but they work, so I have not changed them out.

Only 7 more months until tuna and I can't wait.

Mike C

 

Only 7 more months until tuna and I can't wait.

Mike C

I'm with you on that one Mike, but I hate cedar plugs with a passion!

Cheers,

 

Eagle claw and Mustad both make O'Shaughnessy Non-Offset hooks in 9/0, but they are tough to find. I found them on line.

CB

 

search this site for 'tuning cedar plugs' from several years ago. invaluable.....

 

If you are losing many fish, you might try a bit more drag after you sharpen the hooks. Mike nailed the advice with the addition of an occasional Dorado color getting slammed. I've been curious about the aluminum milled plugs but as the natural work, I've not tried them.

Sent from my SM-T537V using Tapatalk

 

Randy,

We have used the aluminum cedar plugs but have not done that great on them.

We need to fish them a bit more next year and track their success.

I totally forgot about the drag issue.

My deckhand, Clark, always beats me over the head when I do not set the drags tight on our troll rods. Light drags equal short bites.

This thread got me thinking, so Clark is tearing down all of our cedar plugs and putting better hooks on them and is going to tune them (google it).

If we see a noticeable improvement in 2016, we will let everyone know.

Mike C

 

I almost always run daisy chained cedar plugs for albacore (if we ever get them again in central CA). I run 100# mono (flouro is a waste in my opinion) and leave the front 3 plugs natural, and paint the one in the back black. Outfishes everything else I have ever used, and has been the most productive on slow days out there. A single Mustad hook is all I use, and have not lost very many fish on it. I highly recommend experimenting with it.

 

Sharp hooks and firm drag settings will solve most of your hooking issues with cedar plugs. I use quality mono leader; never had a need for expensive fluoro leaders for tuna troll gear.

For those of you who like to fish spreader bars, daisy chains and jumping chains, cedar plugs make the very best chase baits in my experience :flowered: fished 25" - 28" behind the last teaser.

 

Ever tried the double prong fang hooks or just large singles? That daisy chain cedar sounds interesting.

 

cedar plugs hook alot of fish.. my problem is i also loose alot of fish... seems like about 30%... am i the only one... any ideas ?

I haven't noticed this problem.

 

I bought some double pronged hooks for dorado and tuna and other weird fish that bite from time to time. Worked well for me.

 

I collected a bunch of plugs a few years ago, including some antiques. The hooks were tinned Mustad Needle Eyes in 10/0 and 9/0. The plugs varied in length from approximately 4" to 7". They were all made from cedar, the popular colors being red head/white body and natural wood.

The plugs were on display at the Saltwater Sportsmen's Show last year and will be at the show again in February.

 

Natural cedar , Black & Purple , Tuned ,tight drag , running them the farthest back on each side of the spread works the best for me . About one tuna a season doesn't stick that I recall. Always a hot lure !

 

How does one tune a cedar plug?

 

I run at least one cedar plug at all times. I put some long shanked 10/0 mustads at englund's and they stick out the back of the plug a bit more than stock hooks.100lb mono tied with San Diego knot. Dorado and plain cedar. Ths tuna get harpooned with those hooks. Agree with outside rods getting the cedars and clones.

 

I will run a cedar plug on both sides and two plugs out back with a skirts on

 

http://www.bdoutdoors.com/cedar-plug-pacific-edge/

interesting read bout cedar plug tuning

 

wonderful responses and answers to my problems i will give these a try... we dont need schools or teachers all we need is ifishers .... thanks again know in a couple months can i remember all this info....

 

:agree: above on the tuning method and the sharp Mustad 10/00 long shaft hooks

 

woops, I did not put any two prong hooks on cedar plugs, I put them on lures. Tuned up to drag correctly...

 

Thanks Saltaddict. I learn everything on the screw up first then learn the lesson method. I didn't know you could or should tune a cedar plug. Learn something new everyday!

 

We sometimes drag troll caught fish onto the boat by the leader, this works well with double hooks and clones. Our cedar plugs are all rigged with singles so these fish are always gaffed never handlined over the rail.

Fins

 

never had any luck with ceder plugs and don't even bring them on the boat any more. Tried them a lot the first three years of chasing tuna. Have had a lot of people tell me how great they are and ask to put them out in the spread. always tell them go ahead and the dumb things just sit there without catching fish. They take room in the spread that a swimbait could be out there catching fish. Just my take in using them for the last 5 years.

 

A thought, maybe you are mixing cedar plugs with lures or bait that works best at different speeds.

 

Could be, I run at 6mph most of the time. Works great for me and everything I troll (swim baits, xraps, dredges and more swim baits lol), when I troll. Tried running them short, long way back, natural, black/purple it did not seem to matter. Although I don't troll clones hardly anymore either

 

6 is good. they should be bouncing in and out of water

 

I feel like we lose more fish on cedar plugs too. I tune the plugs before they go in the water and we run tight drags.

We usually don't have a lot of drivebys but we do lose a lot of them after a good fight. I always figured it was because of the way a fish can put leverage on the hook if they get to make a couple of runs and get turned around.

I always run cedar in the troll spread though. Too many fish caught on them to ignore their worth. I really don't think color matters much. It's the action IMO.

Chass
ct

 

I used to hate cedar plugs because they always seemed to tangle with my other gear, but Mike converted me. They just kill too many fish for them to stay in the tackle box.

CB

 

That's one of the reasons they get run way back.