4 inch Cedar plug

4 inch · Cedar plug

Close to the simplest lure in saltwater — a shaped block of cedar with a hook — and it has been catching tuna longer than almost anything else in the box.

The wood is the reason. Cedar has a density and surface that make the plug swim with a slightly erratic, unpredictable roll rather than tracking perfectly straight, and it holds a wet trail that plastic does not. Tuna commit to it when they refuse expensive skirted lures.

Traditionally run naked and close to the transom, right in the prop wash where whitewater hides the leader. Deadly on blackfin, skipjack, bonito and school yellowfin along the Gulf edge and the Atlantic stream.