Does anyone have the old 3 piece wooden osprey plug? I have it and would like to know everyones opinion on it. I have caugh a12 and 20 pound stripr on it.

Never seen one. Post pics!

I have never seen a 3 piece Osprey plug before. I thought that they only made the soft bait. The only 3 piece plug that I know of is the old TNT plug. I could be wrong but if you could post some pics for us to check out it would be nice.

The 3 piece plug was in some stores about 3 years ago for a short time. It costs about 40$ when it came out. If you look at the osprey lure logo it shows an eagle with the plug in his mouth or claw. Please give any answers or oppinions on the plug.

Doesnt anyone have this lure? Ive been told by too many people that they have never heard of it. I want some kind of opinion on there succes with the lure.

I have barely ever heard of this bait. There was some talk about it quite a few years ago at Casitas. I believe it is made by Jerry Rago and from what I understand he catches a lot of big stripers on it down at Willow Beach / Mohave. It's a 3 piece jointed wood bait, kind of similar profile to the castaic hardbait trout, but has no rubber tail or plastic appendages. Like I think someone mentioned, it is the lure pictured in the current Osprey Swimbait logo. The Osprey swimbait you can buy right now is, I believe, a co-production of sorts between Jerry Rago and Greg at Umaxco. I would imagine that Jerry Rago invented it, but I don't know that for sure. In any case I have never seen the Osprey hardbait for sale, and I've never seen one in person, so I really don't know what to tell you other than that. If you want to send me one to field test I won't complain :-)

dustin...i bet you 100 bucks that if you talk to mike long, he will know something!

M.Dlong@Home.com

Alright. Went down to Eric's and got the scoop today. He says that Jerry Rago is still making the plugs, but they aren't really available in stores. He said that his cost is like $60, so if you were to special order one through him, it would end up costing about $80, but they are available. He has an Osprey sunfish plug in the store, in the glass case next to the register. Steve Harner is the guy that makes the soft plastic Ospreys. I guess he's good friends with Jerry Rago, so when Jerry was selling his plugs, he just used the Osprey name. So, getting back to your original post, judging from what I've heard, I'm not sure I'd pay $80 for one (although I thought about it...), but if I had one I wouldn't store it in the closet... Kind of like the Castaic hard trout. It's a sweet lure, but I can't pay $125 for a trout plug. So, throw that thing, and let us know how you do.
-Brian

I really appreciate all the responses. I have caught 10,12, and 22# stripers on the bait in the last 4 outings. Like the rest of you guys i have never seen this lure anywhere besides mine. I highly recomend it. It has a great action which i believe is the best of all the big baits including the ACs and slammers. Ill be tryin Castaic tommorow and will post my results with the plug.

P.S When i purchased the lure it carried the Osprey name and ran 39.99$.

Just the facts here...

The original 3 piece Osprey was being made out of cedar wood and being cut on a bandsaw by hand by Jery Rago and Keith Chandler of Chandler' Taxidermy in Bishop, CA in Chandler's Taxidermy shop, which has always been a hand made proprietary cedar plug. Both Jerry Rago and Keith Chandler were partners in design and production of the Osprey lure with Steve Harner, but Jerry designed, prototyped and improved the original design.

I know this to be true because I was having a couple of 11# brown trout mounted by Chandler at the time, and he was behind on delivery of my fish, so I went a paid him a visit, and saw the Osprey factory in operation on West Line Street in Bishop...

I believe Greg Vella wanted to continue the market of the Osprey Hard bait in Japan, but the product was too labor intensive for the the price the market would bear in Japan... Funny a $40.00 3 piece wooden bait for sale 3 years ago, yet he wants $35.00 US for a Rago rubber swimbait in the 9.5 Inch model now, and I can assure you it is far less labor intensive, no painting, sanding, sealing, air brushing, and clear coating it, or all the hardware.


As for the new Rago Baits, there are some new items coming down the pike that are new and innovative, one of which I've fished at a few lakes around my house and it is killer if thrown up against tight brush in the late spring especially the last 1.5 hours of the day... This has been around now for 3 or 4 years in prototype phase, but you'll have to wait for Rago to introduce it to market...

Jerry Rago can be reached at 760 878-2604 if you want to see when they will be out, or if they are for sale yet.


I predict that that Osprey you have could one day be worth a LOT of money to a lure collector that know the history of Big Wooden swim baits and the cottage industry it created in Southern California for trophy bass.