Lucky louie plugs
- Thread starter Summerrun
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fogged in
Well-Known Member
And the Wooden Shovel Nose for Tyee Pool in particular, even more valuable.
paguy
Well-Known Member
That's very cool, How's it fish.
Fish Camp
Well-Known Member
I fished elk bay 2hrs kitty colman 10 hrs .re furbushed and quatsino 4 hrs .not a lick.the plug looks to be doing as it should .but perhaps the oder of freash paint might not make them bite.need more oppertunity? too fish my dreams in the 14' er an 9.9 no rod holder ,or sounder .wit beyond measure will be our treasure.
wolf
Well-Known Member
very wrong most were made from wood have many that are still in box,
and fished many with awesome results in knight inlet
paguy
Well-Known Member
Yes Lucky Louies were made of wood for years, But the true shovel nose plugs were only made of plastic. They have a completely different nose than a regular louie. The nose closely resembles a Wallace highliner, Very wide and flat unlike a normal lucky louie.
My understanding as to what makes certain Louie plugs much more valuable than others falls into two separate streams.
The first stream is that of the true collectors. They are looking for rare models including early wood plugs in rare colors etc. Original condition is critical to high value with value being related to being in mint or as close to mint condition as possible including having the original packaging/box. There were a great many Louie plugs made over the years but very few with the Shovel nose and the company that made them has been out of business for some time.
The second stream is that of what I think of as the highly sought after plugs to actually be fished, specifically in the Campbell River Tyee Club row boat fishery in the Tyee Pool. One of my brothers rows in the Pool and he is always looking for undiscovered true Louie Shovel Nose plugs. The club rowers want the true Shovel Nose Louie plug because that design gives the plug a great action for enticing the non feeding terminal fishery Tyee and does so at the very low speeds that the rowers are able to provide to give action to the plug. The non-shovel nose Louie plugs cannot be rowed fast enough to make them nearly as effective.
My impression is that many factors go into how much one of these plugs will sell for and pedigree or provenance of the plug can play a big factor, even more so than original condition of the plugs. Sometime these plugs can be modified such as being repainted in modern or glow paint etc without hurting the value of the plug. What seems to effect value is the plugs history. Has it been previously owned by one of the historical Legendary club rowers. Has it been owned by one of the current top rod rowers and used to recently win a top guide/ largest fish for the year award etc. In its history of being fished in the pool, how many Tyee has that plug caught and been registered in the club book? I suspect that there are some minor differences between plugs that may account for some plugs being more successful than others but the skill and the experience of the rower/guide is likely the big factor.
A lot of what people may be willing to pay for an old well used lucky Louie Shovel Nose plug is psychological. Owning one that is covered in Tyee teeth marks and formally owned by a legendary Tyee Club guide and is known to have put a lot of very large Tyee into the club record book is likely going to be in demand. Perhaps some are hoping the luck and the spirit of that plug will rub off on them and help them put a 50lber into their row boat and into the club record book. Perhaps in a small way, it is a little like owning the well used guitar of a famous rock star that was used in a number of legendary concerts.
The first stream is that of the true collectors. They are looking for rare models including early wood plugs in rare colors etc. Original condition is critical to high value with value being related to being in mint or as close to mint condition as possible including having the original packaging/box. There were a great many Louie plugs made over the years but very few with the Shovel nose and the company that made them has been out of business for some time.
The second stream is that of what I think of as the highly sought after plugs to actually be fished, specifically in the Campbell River Tyee Club row boat fishery in the Tyee Pool. One of my brothers rows in the Pool and he is always looking for undiscovered true Louie Shovel Nose plugs. The club rowers want the true Shovel Nose Louie plug because that design gives the plug a great action for enticing the non feeding terminal fishery Tyee and does so at the very low speeds that the rowers are able to provide to give action to the plug. The non-shovel nose Louie plugs cannot be rowed fast enough to make them nearly as effective.
My impression is that many factors go into how much one of these plugs will sell for and pedigree or provenance of the plug can play a big factor, even more so than original condition of the plugs. Sometime these plugs can be modified such as being repainted in modern or glow paint etc without hurting the value of the plug. What seems to effect value is the plugs history. Has it been previously owned by one of the historical Legendary club rowers. Has it been owned by one of the current top rod rowers and used to recently win a top guide/ largest fish for the year award etc. In its history of being fished in the pool, how many Tyee has that plug caught and been registered in the club book? I suspect that there are some minor differences between plugs that may account for some plugs being more successful than others but the skill and the experience of the rower/guide is likely the big factor.
A lot of what people may be willing to pay for an old well used lucky Louie Shovel Nose plug is psychological. Owning one that is covered in Tyee teeth marks and formally owned by a legendary Tyee Club guide and is known to have put a lot of very large Tyee into the club record book is likely going to be in demand. Perhaps some are hoping the luck and the spirit of that plug will rub off on them and help them put a 50lber into their row boat and into the club record book. Perhaps in a small way, it is a little like owning the well used guitar of a famous rock star that was used in a number of legendary concerts.
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Dave H
Well-Known Member
At the end of last Tyee season I was gifted an old wooden Lucky Louie originally from the Van Egan estate, and it sure looks like a Shovelnose to my eyes when compared to the plastic ones.
I haven't rowed it yet but will this year for sure.
I can understand why wooden plugs weren't generally made in the Shovelnose variation though, given the extra work involved and the fact that nearly everything worked in the days of many fish.
But I might have one.
Take care.
I haven't rowed it yet but will this year for sure.
I can understand why wooden plugs weren't generally made in the Shovelnose variation though, given the extra work involved and the fact that nearly everything worked in the days of many fish.
But I might have one.
Take care.
nootkaassassin
Well-Known Member
Hey Dave, are you able to post a photo of this Louie.
Dave H
Well-Known Member
I'm going to try, although I'm now second-guessing my eyes. The pic of it by itself looks slightly like a Shovel-nose but side by side with a plastic one the woody looks less so.
I'll tow it around this season to check it out.
For some reason it appears I can't upload the pics I took as I get an error message.
I'm going to take a couple more pics and re-size them before downloading so we'll see what happens.
Take care.
nootkaassassin
Well-Known Member
Thanks for photos Dave. I have never heard of a wooden shovel -nose. I have a few 5 1/2 inch Slope -Nose wooden Louie’s .Here is the comparison of a 5 1/8 inch plastic Shovel -Nose top picture,plug in the middle is the wooden Slope-Nose and the bottom plug is a standard 5 1/2 wooden Louie. a slight variation in styles and body’s with each plug.
Summerrun, From the photos I don’t see a Shovel in your collection,but I would fish them.
Summerrun, From the photos I don’t see a Shovel in your collection,but I would fish them.
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I have wondered why one of the current plug manufactures such as Tomic does not simply clone the plastic Louie shovel nose plug. One would think there would not be a patent issue as the original manufactures are not around anymore. I know Tomic came out with their tubby plug series that I understand are designed to work at slower speeds but they are really not the same, don't work as well in the pool or carry the same status as the shovel nose. I know developing and putting into production a new plastic injection mold is expensive so perhaps that is the reason for what may be a small market. I wonder if someone still has the original Plastic Louie shovel nose injection molds? Between the Tyee club and ocean Kayak fishing which is beginning to take off, perhaps there is more demand than they think.
The other two items that seem to be in high demand by club rowers are the original large (slow speed version) of the Stewart Spoon and also the very small slip weights used in the pool which I understand are also no longer made and hard to find. My brother recently acquired an original slow speed Stewart spoon that has been refurbished and gold plated.
The other two items that seem to be in high demand by club rowers are the original large (slow speed version) of the Stewart Spoon and also the very small slip weights used in the pool which I understand are also no longer made and hard to find. My brother recently acquired an original slow speed Stewart spoon that has been refurbished and gold plated.
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