Remember when this was a weekly thing?

You guys going to fire it back up?

I know Larry needs to keep his post count up!

Been doing this today

Those jointed darters are just nuts Paul.

I've only gotten as far as turning some wadd style needles and some Donny senior clones.

L
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I miss the Sunday morning bull sessions! (there....one more post for me! LOL!)

Been doing this today

Oooooooooo my favorite colors

good times. That fluorescent is :spin:

I also was wondering if anyone was thinking on the same line. Been jumping around d the shop between rod builds and some plug turnings. I'll post up pix and weekly progress..
Chris, check your PM's

I remember checking this thread on Sunday morning. Got to stoked to build stuff. I get burnt out easily and with work only have so much time but I've been messing with darters for a good month now and some of the same stuff I always build.

I spent the weekend working on some new work benches for my plug building area (basement) this weekend and am still working on getting everything organized. Will be nice actually having some room to work on plugs now.
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White, Lime green, Black and Yellow....all you will ever need.:hihi:

I could live with just white. I have given up on fancy paint jobs. I suck at it. I can never leave it alone and end up wrecking it.
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Finished some jumbo profile needles , pikes and some canal pencils. Have turned more pikes and doing g a thin erosion of same pike. Changing the stylus dimentions only. Same profile. All ayc. Will be doing a few in maple and walnut.

look great Billy

super stubbies and red heads oh my!

looking good. anyone use a dehumidifier in their basement? I've used one and then stopped and then started again. Never noticed a difference but figured why not.

I have one down there full time......it helps.

Been doing this today

nice stuff! you knew exactly what i needed lol

Rene

Awesome work guys!
I've been messing around with handcarve stuff waiting for a new belt for my lathe and my bandsaw needs new tires. Was shooting for a river herring profile slow sink swimbait with this one. Still thinking on how to go about wiring it..

Awesome work guys!
I've been messing around with handcarve stuff waiting for a new belt for my lathe and my bandsaw needs new tires. Was shooting for a river herring profile slow sink swimbait with this one. Still thinking on how to go about wiring it..

Nice Ryan - Dig that shape

Ryan,have you through drilled yet? Pending on the sharpness of the angle cut, you can recess the nose grommet in the rear section a little to minimize the gap and also get creative and double over the wire about an inch for rear loop of front section and feed the doubled end through a 3/16 " through wire hole. Make the length 3/8 " longer than body once doubled over . Once through put a block of wood under double over wire and take an awl and drive open the doubled over loop and continue until you reach a desireable loop diameter. This method lessens the gap between bodies if so desired.

Thanks Frank

Billy I haven't drilled it yet. I like the idea of doubling the wire over. Think I'll try doing that for the bottom portion of the joint and then just have a screw eye with the same size loop for the top part of the joint.Thanks for the advice.

Darter question. What wood have some of you Darter magicians found works best? I've been playing with them for a few yrs an I'm still not happy. Workin on some with mahogany right now.They are quite the challenge for sure.

Working on the garage today, hoping to have the lathe and jet dust collector all set up and running

And then start drilling weight and hook holes on the 50-70 plugs I turned a month ago, mostly Donnys and wadd needles and some odds and ends like super skinny pencils and some metal lips
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Ron, for a lot of the places I fish the AYC with a single OO buckshot in the belly work well for me.
otherwise I have has good results with maple and birch

I haven't made any in a long time

Birch for the larger and lately I have found AYC to be a great product for med to smaller ones. I select heavier pieces for this application. I am Epoxying thru wire in 30 various sizes right now.
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Thanks Bruce an Paul.I've been workin on a few that are a cross between the old Pickney and the old large Creek Chub. I've got a couple of peices of AYC that are very heavy for the wood. I'll give them a try on some smaller ones. Thanks much . Ron

I've used maple and AYC but slimmer darters have me using AYC more. Don't cast as well without weight but made a few of the same darter out of maple just for this reason.
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The best darters I made were mahogany. 1 belly weight just forward the belly hook. Great erratic action.
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i agree heavy ones out of birch for long cast or heavy current ayc for calmer conditions but they do like current too so I don't use the heavier ones as much. I also like the fact they come up faster so around structure it is a benefit. Stop reeling boom up they come.
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Mahogany. Tough drilling wood. Smokie and flutes love to clog. Turned fine on the lathe dupe. Just did some Wadds maple and mahogany. Maple was like pine compared to mahogany. They also weighed .7 oz heavier. I'm going to finish them el natural'. Nice reddish burgundy color.

Yup mahogany sure does look a lot closer to squid when natural.

Yup mahogany sure does look a lot closer to squid when natural.

That was the logic. Added big silver eyes near the tail.
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Finally turning some wood! Until recently, we hadn't had cold weather so I just kept fishing. Hard finding time to make noise with a 14 month old, when he's up I want to be with him and when he's napping, I want to do the same.

My Winter plans are:
8" Darters
BM Jr's & some variations in lip / wood
various needles
Gary2 Slims
(if time provides maybe some oddball plugs)

Sunday afternoon I turned some bodies
62525

And a while back I was able to finish some, awaiting a sealer bath
62524

Paul and/or George,

On your AYC darters are you adding weight? Also, what length darter is your cutoff for not using AYC? Or, if you are using it for any length darter, more specifically on the larger side (7"+), would you add weight to counter the plug's buoyancy? I'm giving this a shot but would appreciate your thoughts and experiences
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I can speak for myself. No weight in mine. If you want more of a sinker use birch or maple. I have made them up to 10" out of Ayc. Upper water column darter. The larger darter i make copied after Pichney's large darter i make out of birch no weight.
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Ok cool, thank you.

I'll give it a shot, it'll be nice to have a large darter in shallower water and that fast recovery after bumping a rock.
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I tried adding a small tail weight to one (Hydro'd after epoxying in the weight) and had better results than any belly weighted version but still went unweighted.

I tried adding a small tail weight to one (Hydro'd after epoxying in the weight) and had better results than any belly weighted version but still went unweighted.

Frank you did this on an ayc darter but still deviced to go without the weight? What about the weighted darter made you give up on the plug?
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The tail on the darters I made were really tapered so while they swam fine once the plug started going they seemed to hang up right when I started to retrieve them. I'm sure if the tail was bit thicker it would work but really they cast fine without any lead.

If you're using maple and thicker profile like you have a above I'd go without weight.

Ok cool. I did a few AYC today no weight and put 2 belly weights in 2 other AYC darters equally spaced from center to see what happens.

2 more I set the cutting point in more just to turn a thinner profile.

I fished the maple darters all last year and was happy, so this is a cool test to see what happens with a different wood
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I'm sure they'll work for you. Options are always good
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I agree I often make a few out of a few different species for different sink rates and situations once I have it set up to do my regular run. Sometimes they suck sometimes you get surprised for hardly much effort since it is already set up to go.

Now I'm pumped. I can't wait to throw my duds or studs into the drink.

Still waiting on George to weigh in... Or does he put weights in his darters? I think he likes cutting cross grain on the slopes and lip, no?
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Didn't take these out for swim but rather a sink. Took a needle I had good success with last year and made them a bit thicker so they'd have the same sink rate but with a 6X 3/0 in front and 6/0 in back.

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/studio_up/th_video-1456027042.mp4 (http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/studio_up/video-1456027042.mp4)

Good god. Frank that's the one. That's the plug you will find your Bertha
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Not sure about a lip but I messed with a darter needle thing. Doesn't seem to dart if it sinks and I never done well on needles that float so they sit in a box.

Some slim darters I finished last week and some others I wired up tonight.

All beauties. You going to make me beg. Got no Nanook of the North darters
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nice looking stuff. big girls love datas

Didn't take these out for swim but rather a sink. Took a needle I had good success with last year and made them a bit thicker so they'd have the same sink rate but with a 6X 3/0 in front and 6/0 in back.

Where did you get the eyes from, look nice.
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I like floating needles. 6x because you are fishing rocks? On a beach I don't think that would be necessary.
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Where did you get the eyes from, look nice.
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They're from Lisa and Ed's eyes, Frank. Cheap and have plenty of sizes and colors. I buy the clear eyes too and occasionally paint them what I what (I painted the bone eyes on the bone pencil).
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I like floating needles. 6x because you are fishing rocks? On a beach I don't think that would be necessary.
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The Nanook darters work on ice too.

The latest 4x hooks from VMC seemed to just crumpled all last season. Started using the 6x on most at least the belly hooks on anything I was fishing.
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Just curious. Thanks
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Took some maple Donnys for a swim today. They weigh in at around 3.2oz with no added weight and sit with the entire nose of the plug slightly subsurface and the water line about mid way at the tail. No hook on the rear of them when I tested. They swam with a lot of side to side action but didn't seem to dig for the bottom as much as I had expected. I didn't play with tuning the line tie or lips (pikie 3 and lefty high slot) yet.

Has anyone fished and original that could can give me some idea of how they swam?
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I swam a maple junior (I think it was weighted) with a lefty 2 high slot and although it swam deeper it didn't tag bottom where I swim plugs and its only 5'.

I bet a maple rattler slope head would go deep.

I swam a maple junior (I think it was weighted) with a lefty 2 high slot and although it swam deeper it didn't tag bottom where I swim plugs and its only 5'.

I bet a maple rattler slope head would go deep.

Thanks maybe I'll have to cut a slope head on one and see how it swims.

I got some info from someone who fishes the originals pretty often and he said they probably get down around 8' or maybe more. Not sure if these will get that deep or not. I still need to swim them in some open water.

Jay how much weight you putting in. 8-10 grams?

Jay how much weight you putting in. 8-10 grams?

Hi Billy,

Right now I've got no weight in the maple Donnys. From what I've been able to find out the originals were unweighted.
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Small belly wgt. Not much though. Kind of inconsequential
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Thanks maybe I'll have to cut a slope head on one and see how it swims.

I got some info from someone who fishes the originals pretty often and he said they probably get down around 8' or maybe more. Not sure if these will get that deep or not. I still need to swim them in some open water.

The original large maple I x-rayed has a 5/16 x 1/4" wt 3 3/8" from the nose. It weighed 3.55 oz rigged but WITHOUT hooks
I would not, however, focus on building exactly to these dimensions.
Maple varies a lot in weight. To start I would float your plug rigged with hooks in water and, using a rubber band to hold on different weights in different locations, weight it to float with only its back just proud of the water (the buoyancy in saltwater will be greater).

I have built a number of maples in both sizes and fished them but without much success. If you are trying to get deep the conrad is a better option (I think).

Neither the conrad or the maple are great in current because of their wide wag (which increases resistance and pulls the plug up). You might try a lefty2 high slot lip on the bigger maple body (+/- adding a slope to the head) if you want to stay stable in current. I've not done this but I have had success doing so with the large pine body and I think Musso may have actually made some special pines this way (just a guess based on a story I heard about a special pine he built).

Paul and/or George,

On your AYC darters are you adding weight? Also, what length darter is your cutoff for not using AYC?

I have not used AYC for darters (too allergenic).
I use soft maple and adjust time in the sealer to get the body weight I want.
I have experimented quite a bit with weighting smaller darters.
Even when exactly the same weight don't think they swim as well as their unweighted cousins made of heavier wood. That said, the three hook Gibbs was weighted and fishes well.....which is no surprise considering the genius of the man who developed it.
You also want to be careful thinning the tail of darters.
Insufficient buoyancy in the tail will make the plug more prone to roll.
You usually can't get a darter to run much deeper by making it heavier (they just roll).
If you want deep then you need to fool with the slope and line tie position.

Of final note, classically most darters are about 1/8" thinner at the nose than the belly. When the face is the widest spot they tend to want to swim more than dart (not that that is bad).

It's Sunday morning. I have my coffee and planning my stay in the "cave" today. Finally the minimal lures I did are primed and will put some colors to them.Made up some "bone" white to shoot for belly. I have a few color requests but the rest I don't know. Usually once I get the paint in front of me I brainstorm what to paint. My new scheme is lime green w/red head, Black over sprayed with red, purple and misted w/gold is my new dark color. I have pikes which will be painted in blackfish, porky and sea bass colors. Blackfish and sea bass was a producer last year. I paint the blackfish white then scale black then over spray brown in blotches vertically. Sea bass is light blue to silver belly over sprayed with black scale. I use a thicker net to show more blue. Trying to find some net similar to clementine netting but with smaller holes and wider net lines. Enjoy your day guys. I post some pix soon.

heading to rissa show.......i don't know why lol.....look for hooks lol

Hmmmmm...... I have a couple dozen poplar spook bodies that I turned either last year or the year before. Might see if I can get them drilled out today and then seal. That would be the most I have done in over a year.....
I remember using the poplar, A. because I had it, B. it was fine if it absorbs a lot of sealer as the added weight helps, at least on mine. And C. because if they are fished, as intended, they weren't designed to last a lifetime....

The original large maple I x-rayed has a 5/16 x 1/4" wt 3 3/8" from the nose. It weighed 3.55 oz rigged but WITHOUT hooks
I would not, however, focus on building exactly to these dimensions.
Maple varies a lot in weight. To start I would float your plug rigged with hooks in water and, using a rubber band to hold on different weights in different locations, weight it to float with only its back just proud of the water (the buoyancy in saltwater will be greater).

I have built a number of maples in both sizes and fished them but without much success. If you are trying to get deep the conrad is a better option (I think).

Neither the conrad or the maple are great in current because of their wide wag (which increases resistance and pulls the plug up). You might try a lefty2 high slot lip on the bigger maple body (+/- adding a slope to the head) if you want to stay stable in current. I've not done this but I have had success doing so with the large pine body and I think Musso may have actually made some special pines this way (just a guess based on a story I heard about a special pine he built).

Thanks George! I did try a version of the maple with the left 2 lip which I preferred over the pike lip on the pine version but it seemed to swim almost identically to the one with the pikie 2 lip. I will try adding some weight to the ones I've built to see how it impacts the action and depth. The slope head is a nice idea as well that I'm going to try out.


I did finally get around to building some larger needles and test swam them this weekend. They are 9.25" and depending on the version I was testing they ranged from 3oz up to 4.3oz. I'm liking the skinnier 3oz version the best so far.

Time to apply the finish coat. E - text . Also trying a concrete sealer on some personal plugs. I'm trying to find a better finish. Harder and durable. I have a few needles from an unknown builder which show virtually no wear. He was a boat builder but would not reveal his finish. Always in search of the "Holy Grail" of finishing.

Some of that stuff those boat builders use is some caustic. I tried a couple when I started an they gave me a doozy of a head ache even with a mask on.

got a game dinner today but might turn a couple Donny body's off to the lathe

Here's a few pikes and wadds.

System 3 clear coat Billy give it a try
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That will be my next move if this DIRECT COLOR - AC 1315 doesn't pan out. I did one coat , I'll do another tomorrow and possibly one more. Stuff flows .I keep water. What system 3 clear coat do you use? I see there's a couple different ones in our Woodcraft catalog.

Got my dust collector all set up finally, couple different hood systems to mess around with.

Used the big 16x13 one this week while turning, did a nice job of catching the smaller pieces but with no clear plexi piece to knock down the actually large chips like the PSI one it still made a mess.

So will play around with the PSI one this week, and see how that works, or build a clear plexi piece to knock down the chips.

Did get some more Donnys turned and some slim version wadd needles I want to mess around with.
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Sys 3 clearcoat, not mirror-coat. I like 2 coats. First coat goes on crappy, I don't sweat it, 2nd coat fixes everything. Do 2nd coat before 72 hours or you have to scratch 1st coat and wipe with isopropyl alcohol. I prefer to do second next day if possible so no scratching. It is a 2 to 1 mix. Dries to a hard clear Very durable finish. It is used in boat building. Not a bar top epoxy like e tex or similar 1 to 1 mixes. There is a learning curve but worth the effort IMO.
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I looked at some of my plugs today, then grabbed my gun and went to the range. Spring is almost here, no motivation to make time to build anything, I wish I had some, oh well. You guys stuff looks good

Don't worry Bruce I got plenty

I have plenty Paul
Just miss making them
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I'm working with some cherry ballister stock for another squid color option. The soak brings out a nice color. Gonna be heavy as I'm looking for something to dig into fast water so making a couple swimming spooks and super spooks out of it. i'll try to get some pics up when done.

The original large maple I x-rayed has a 5/16 x 1/4" wt 3 3/8" from the nose. It weighed 3.55 oz rigged but WITHOUT hooks
I would not, however, focus on building exactly to these dimensions.
Maple varies a lot in weight. To start I would float your plug rigged with hooks in water and, using a rubber band to hold on different weights in different locations, weight it to float with only its back just proud of the water (the buoyancy in saltwater will be greater).

I have built a number of maples in both sizes and fished them but without much success. If you are trying to get deep the conrad is a better option (I think).

Neither the conrad or the maple are great in current because of their wide wag (which increases resistance and pulls the plug up). You might try a lefty2 high slot lip on the bigger maple body (+/- adding a slope to the head) if you want to stay stable in current. I've not done this but I have had success doing so with the large pine body and I think Musso may have actually made some special pines this way (just a guess based on a story I heard about a special pine he built).

I added a little over 10 grams of weight to the belly of the maples and they both swim much nicer now. I'm not sure that they will be great plugs in fast current but definitely seem to want to get down deep in slower water. Still want to try one with a slop head to see if it will swim better (tighter) in fast moving water.

Sys 3 clearcoat, not mirror-coat

thanks Paul.

System 3 clear coat Billy give it a try
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Paul as of now I assemble , coat ,heat with gun to get epoxy flowing ,flip 3 or so times. Can this still be possible due to the longer set time or is a spinner with heater needed?

Painting my "silent George" remakes. Simple colors fluorescent green w/white & chartreuse bellys , dark greenw/silver belly. Try to find is my yellow mackerel pencils and blue cloud. Weather being so nice, trying to push the next few weeks in finishing up. Time to fish!

Paul as of now I assemble , coat ,heat with gun to get epoxy flowing ,flip 3 or so times. Can this still be possible due to the longer set time or is a spinner with heater needed?

I would make a spinner with a little heat just makes it easier in our climate but Mike Fixter uses clear coat and flips his plugs, he is in Northern Cal., so it is possible.
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I'm finally getting around to turning a few.
Just needles for now, maybe some pencils if I can get to them. I've been fishing a lot more needles the past few years.

I still like really the turning part of it but kind of dread the rest of the process. I just hope i can get some of these done by the time the fish are here...

I'm finally getting around to turning a few.
Just needles for now, maybe some pencils if I can get to them. I've been fishing a lot more needles the past few years.

I still like really the turning part of it but kind of dread the rest of the process. I just hope i can get some of these done by the time the fish are here...


I have a box myself, I need to finish up.

happy easter

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o454/stripercrazy/jointed_zpsmbyrg0we.jpg (http://s343.photobucket.com/user/stripercrazy/media/jointed_zpsmbyrg0we.jpg.html)

http://i343.photobucket.com/albums/o454/stripercrazy/pikiejointed_zpsrer0esys.jpg (http://s343.photobucket.com/user/stripercrazy/media/pikiejointed_zpsrer0esys.jpg.html)

playing with jointed pikies maybe seal today