to take the adventure into darter hell and learn something new. The 9" darters were my first attempt and came out quite well after some weight adjustments. Turned a 6" out of AYC (first pic. in primer) and weighted it also and will give it a try later this week, but figured if your gonna do a darter do one in maple and unweighted. I'm happy how it came out and let's see how she works, it will hit the water this weekend.

Looks sweet Lou.

Still need my custom nikes from you too :)
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Looks well balanced to me.

The line tie is in an aggressive position but the butt of the plug looks fat enough to provide the necessary buoyancy to counteract it. The length is not excessive so I'd be guessing it will have a wide swinging but stable darting action and run fairly deep.

I would have given a little more taper to the mouth area when turning. Looks nice.
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I remember the advice 3 years ago from all of you when I started plug building to learn on other plugs before trying to build a darter. So I am also getting to where I want a shot at darter hell! Good post and good lookin plug Sgt Striper.

Numbskull, what do you mean by aggressive, is further back more aggressive?
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The higher up and further back the loop is, the more it wants to make the darter dig, thus the more aggressive. Also, the higher the loop, the more buoyant wood is below it, and will make the darter want to roll and not dart... Just come in on it's side.
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Mo better??

looks good to me!

that curve for the mouth helps the darter dig... less buoyancy and alows it to tilt forward a bit before the darter starts darting.

Mo better??

Not necessarily. I like loops well forward because I tend to fish the plugs slow and shallow. Lots of good darters use a loop further back like you had it initially (check out a Cordell seahag and see where they put their loop). I think that drilling 1/8th gives you more options on loop location as you sand the slope.

As for rolling out, I'm pretty sure that has more to do with the weight (too much is bad) and buoyancy of the tail section. When the plug gets out on a swing the diving plane becomes vertical and stops pulling the plug down. If the tail is too heavy the nose will pull up and the plug will start up and over, but if the tail is buoyant it will point the nose down a bit and the plug will start back down and across.

Talk about dumb luck, the AYC weighted one is pretty much spot on, would like a little more sweep (about 12" now) but I'll take it. Test the maple version this week.

Getting a little daring :uhoh:

LOL. Looks good. I just finished up 4 different size jointed. Got a large Pichney half done but I finished Musso's 2 small darters and his largest and a small beachmaster darter. All look decent and will give them a swim next weekend. As far as the wire set up I found that I ended making the more difficult front half wiring in 2 separate pieces and epoxied them both in from each end. I just kept breaking the wire or stress cracking the wire every time I tried to spread it as it had to be folded pretty small trying to do it the Rockfish way. So I just epoxied the front loop in like normal but with the wire long enough to also hold the swivel then did a nice smaller loop for the rear part and epoxied that in the hole also being long enough to go past the swivel. I can't see the thing ever pulling out and much easier and neater and a nice small joint between halves. I don't like the look of a big wire loop tie on the rear of the front either. So I think I solved the problem. I will post a couple pics this week if I can find the time.
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here are a couple of shots of the wiring Lou. I will fish these this year. Every time you make them you will figure out some things and eventually the assembly will get easy. Hope it helps. P.

Paul, you could get the joint even closer if you recess the loop into the front of the back half



I'll be anchoring up downstream of you incase you snap one of those beauties off :btu:

Like this!

Loops would have come out better if I had used the right wire :smash:

I have been involved in the ever evolving darter hell for most of the winter. Work on them, put them down, work on them some more. I have two of three working rather well. The small one I have to get back to after I get some yard work done. The river behibnd the next door behind the neighbors house always has a current, especially so in the spring, so I can swim them anytime.