Found in a pic of Mussos hanging.

Is this an example of the original "Danny" that Pichney stole from Donny and sold to Lupo? Or is it a Pichney?

I've never seen a Pichney rainbow surface swimmer before.

I think it's none of the above . Looks like Don's improved swimmer.
I believe he modified the swimmer after Dan gave it to lupo.

bootleg ?

The harware is way too new to be either. Stainless through wire with VMC hooks. I've got a bunch of old Pichneys an Mussos. All put together different. ProfessorM is probably right

Paint is far too refined to be a Pichney.
No sandpaper scratches around the body as Pichney is known for.
Thems Mustads.
Of course they used stainless wire.

Here' more evidence.

First pic- Musso's original surface swimmer (the one that allegedly was swiped by DP)
Second pic- Pichney surface swimmer (the one allegedly swiped and sold to Lupo for mass production)
Last pic- Pichney Bootleg.

"Swiped" seems harsh to me, though perhaps correct. Then again you could claim Musso "swiped" the bottle and darter from Gibbs and the needle from Boone. The Musso plug shown is not a surface swimmer (nor is the Bootleg which is a copy of it). Note the high mounted, high slot lip that would take the plug down. The Danny surface swimmer has a more central bulge and more central weight (to pivot better), and a low slot lip.....which was the real innovation that created a true surface swimmer. A real danny won't go subsurface when tuned right.

George is my hero:uhuh: :blush:

Possibly swiped.

All kinds of idea borrowing did and still does go on in the plug wars, and nothing is wrong with that in my mind, but....

FP: So how long did you work with Danny?

DM: I first started making lures with Dan in 1966. Our first lure together was the Jinx. During that time I turned about 100-150 plugs and did the painting on the emerald green mackerel, powder blue marble and some white lures. We stopped making plugs together in November 1973 when I found out that he took my 6” metal lip swimmer and gave it to Lupo.

FP: You don’t need to get into it if you don’t want.

DM: If you’re interested I’ll tell you.

FP: Tell me

DM: I was tuna fishing …and the shape of the tuna got me to thinking about coming up with a design different than anything else. If you think about it, the tuna is tapered at both ends and what happens is the middle stays still so being shaped like a football it does not take much to push water in the front or the back…so that means you can get a lot more wiggle out of a lure design like that, plus I could use a much smaller lip. In May of 1972 Dan came over to my home with his family. He said, “Let’s go down to your workshop.” He spotted my new 6” metal lip swimmer and said, “When did you come up with this new style plug?” I said about a year ago. He then put it in the palm of his hand and said, “Is it about 6” long and is the lip about ?” wide?” I said “Yes.” We talked about the plug and I told him that I caught a lot of fish on it last fall… …and then we went back to the family. About a year later… that Dan gave Lupo the 6” metal lip swimmer that I designed. I knew Dan was negotiating with Lupo about the trolling plugs which I had nothing to do with as far as the design went. But that 6” metal lip swimmer was mine! …I called Dan and spent three hours on the phone. That’s when he told me that he did give Lupo the lure. He said to me, “You’re going to screw things up with the deal, don’t say anything and I will give you half of what I’m getting.” So I asked him, “How come you’re not putting the Conrad on the
market instead of my lure?” He said, “Yours is completely different from anything else on the market.” I only saw him two times after that… I never received a dime from Dan on the lure he put out with Lupo, but the worst part about it was that by him putting his name “DANNY” on the package it made everyone think it was really Danny who designed it and that is completely wrong. That’s the part that still haunts me…hearing people call my lure the DANNY and giving him the credit for the design. After all of that, I decided to go out on my own.

FP: That’s a shame that went down like that!

DM: I agree.

I hope the folks at Salt Water Lure Collectors Club don't mind my borrowing this.
http://swlcc.com/uploads/article26.pdf

I've seen that, Woody. Sounds like Pichney saw a design he liked, that got the wheels turning, he went home (without an original) made his own version (with some notable changes), perfected it, and marketed it. Exactly what people did to Boone , Gibbs, and CCBC.

The closest Pichney plug to the Musso design was the Bootleg, and Lupo didn't make a version of that as far as I'm aware.

Can you name a swimming plug with an above center mounted lip and high wire slot that antedated the Conrad? I can't, but all the Musso swimmers had that feature after the Conrad (as did the Gibbs GTS). Who swiped what from whom?

I suspect idea borrowing (or swiping) went on both ways between these men. Both were gifted plug builders and plug fishermen, both influenced each other, and we have benefited from both.

Woody, I'll bring an original Lupo from early 70's. I guess it's the design your talking about.

and my notions are based on limited and one sided info, so I'll let it rest.

We are all fortunate men like Gibbs, Frech, Musso, Pichney and the like perfected their craft with such zeal.

Jon

PS I do hope someone documents this piece of striper history before we lose any more of the men who know what went on back in the day. IE- Guys like Flap. RIP

This one is interesting...