allways have problems with darters I built a kit and it had a wide S swim when reeled in slow but when cranking it tracked alittle and rolled out... once noticed rear hook was caught up(fixed it ) its got 3/0vmc's and rings not happy with it really.....a couple questions i have is what would cut 4/0 do? not much weight difference between 3/0 w/rings....bend loop the way its tracking?....whats the first thing to try? thanks....ed

first thing I would try Ed, is tie the plug to the leader or use a clip, whichever you have not tried. Then shorten the leader or lengthen it.

once those options are done, then mess with hooks

last maybe bend the eye as last resort.

got a picture?

If it is a Salty Kit his holes tend to be large and back up the slope a ways. Repositioning your wire closer to the brow of the slope and epoxying it in should reduce roll. Bend your wire into a P shape 1st.

The second issue is plug weight, more specifically tail weight. Lighten your tail hook and you will get less roll.

you could switch from a 3/0 tail treble to a 5/0 sparsely dressed siwash

thanks...i'll post a photo....it is a salty's kit......I epoxy sealed it...no lead in it....used a breakaway clip on a 30 inch leader...I'm learning allready :)

the line tie like G. said would have been my first question. In my smaller darters. Musso design, I too prefer a siwash so maybe one for the Pichney style Scott makes.

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o454/stripercrazy/100_7536_zps22bba188.jpg

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o454/stripercrazy/100_7537_zps41beb051.jpg......linetie is back :( lol

That looks sound,,, rewired and epoxy the line tie in the correct place and she should hold,,, Also try and remove any paint from inside the hole where the line tie goes so the epoxy penetrates the pores of the wood... only what I would do,,,

Yes..line tie is currently too far aft....re-wire and epoxy the line tie position and make sure you do not pull it back when pulling your wraps tight at the back end of the plug...


If the old wire is hard to remove ... heat it up with a hair dryer to loosen the old epoxy

If the old wire is hard to remove ... heat it up with a hair dryer to loosen the old epoxy

Better yet, hold a soldering iron to it until it softens and save your paint. You may need to redrill a path for the doubled wire through the old epoxy once the wire is out.

Yup. do all that and your problem should be solved.

I noticed the same with the small kits. Aggressive line tie position on the end. It does swim and sway on a slow retreive. Moving it toward front will calm it down. On the other hand the nice sway fishing it in slower current may be what the fish want. Do some in a forward and rear position and definately epoxy before wrapping tail wraps. P bend wire too.

If you want to keep the tie end of the wire from cutting into the plug put a nose grommet on and you'll amazed how much it will keep the wire from cutting into the wood.

You are not epoxying the front in? You really need to. Too far back for sure. Make sure you use the 2 ton epoxy not the 5 minute stuff it is way to brittle and will not hold after you wrap it up. I know I did it and had to remove them all and redo with devcon 2 ton.
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"control the head.... control the horse".. as others have said.. the problem is with the line tie...I've done a ton of expermentation with line te posistion... high line tie makes it sway like a drunken sailor prone to falling ( in this case troll out)... move it forward it will wriggle and dart..

thanks for the replys...i used thinned etex in the loop hole lol it might not be pretty but I'll get it out :)....warm weather had me epoxying yesterday

You are not epoxying the front in? You really need to. Too far back for sure. Make sure you use the 2 ton epoxy not the 5 minute stuff it is way to brittle and will not hold after you wrap it up. I know I did it and had to remove them all and redo with devcon 2 ton.
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Agreed. Epoxy the nose loop into the correct position with a quality epoxy and let it sit overnight. Once the epoxy has set, then do your tail wraps. It looks likes doing the tail wrap sucked the front loop way too far back. I would try getting the front of the loop even with where the mouth cut starts.

I've seen those kits before and the hole is A BIT too far back on the head. The hole should start where the lip is cut, not behind it.

Repositioned and epoxied the wire tie on a kit small darter. It sways nicely slow retreive w/o roll and as Joe said, it's not swaying "Like a drunken sailor".I agree now the groove is too far back.

I swan the 2 i made today, the dove like hell, needed a slow retrive and it had some swagger but no darting action, im thinking by the depth they went the line tie needs to go back further, thoughts?
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Maple darters or cedar darters ?
They have to swim tight like Ss only with more action. :)
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Are you weighting your darters? Maple requires less weight because it's very dense to start. Cedar is very very bouyant and requires much weight and tuning to get them to move right. I usually use poplar. It's sort of in the middle of maple and cedar. If your not weighting them you should try it. You don't need much to get the lure to do what you want.