andy, u get the pic's I sent?

vb

i don't remember? (know ) why, but i suddenly
got a wicked rush of de ja vu :huh:

nice fat swimmers for sure...

Got pics. Where are the big ones you have. I know you have more than you showed :beat:

What would the dia. in front of the front hook at the end of the slope coming down in the front, it kind of looks like it is a straight turning before the angle is milled on? Anyone know what the hell I am saying? Also dia. at the back end? Thanks Paul

paul go eat a meatball :jump:


Nike: 71/2 inch long 3 ½ oz
(The MISSILE that guides you to good Striper and other Big Game fish)

Nike Jr: 6 ½ inch long 2 ¼ oz
Little Nike: 5 ½ inch long 1 3/8 oz
Slick Nike: 4 inch long 1 oz
Fresh Water Nike: 4 inch long ¾ oz
Spin Nike: 3 inch long ¼ oz

Skindiver: 6 ¾ inch long 3 oz
(Long distance casting deep swimming plug which is very effective with eel skin drawn over plug for night surf casting, or without eel skin for day-time casting)


Slzzler: 7 ¼ inch long 3 ½ oz
Sizzler Jr: 5 inch long 1 ¾ oz
(Real Hot Popping plug for all Salt Water game Fish)


Dart N Dart: 6 ¾ inch long 3 oz
Dart N Dart Jr: 4 inch long 1 ½ oz

(Darts on surface when line is attached to bottom eye. Darts deep when attached to top
eye)

Sandee: 1 ½ oz and Lil Sandee: in ¼ oz size

(cast up stream at an angle .Let sink quit deep ,twitch rod tip 2 or 3 times. Retrieve 2 or 3 turns let drop back and repeat for best results. Very effective with eel skin at night.)

Hey you Irish Puerto Rican :scream: you got those dim. You must have a few hundred of those things hanging around..break out the calipers.. P.

P A Surfer.. u already make a very fine and unique darter.. holds in the ditch..I'm scared of loosing this one .. VB pics ?

Paul jump on 495 north and come on up !
I am sure you wil like dinner, stuffed cabbage, Italino style.

ps , bring some parmesian :bl:


VB

A Few Colors :humpty:
VB

Sorry for the hijack, but thanks for the words of faith, Tagger, glad you like it... and you'd better hang on to it 'cause it's one of only seven :uhuh: ...maybe the only one that works that well. :rotfl:

Back on topic... looking at VB's stats, the erstwhile darter -- formerly a popper body design -- that I'm fooling with falls right between the Slick and Freshwater versions, weight wise with no lead, and swims down to 3-4 feet in sweetwater. So I'm gonna cut a couple with straight face slopes between 30 and 40 degrees, and see what that does. Worst case, I could swim them with the darter cuts, but it just goes against nature... you look at it and say "darter", but it swims more like Ester Williams than a drunken sailor. The belly bulge is not as pronounced on mine -- I just liked the flow of the curves -- and maybe that's why I never made the mental leap to a Nike, until I saw Capesams' pic... now, I've got try it, too.

Dang you, Jake. :p Thanks for bringing this up. :cheers:

I really like the looks of that thing so I guess I will have to make a road trip. I will bring my dial calipers. Maybe after Thanksgiving.. P.

Hello. Here is some info to help build a big Nike. I x-rayed one.

The wood is soft, light, reddish and quick growing (big growth rings), probably red cedar.

The weight is only in the tail. It is roughly 7/16 x 13/16 long. It appears to actually be a lead strip wrapped around a narrower lead plug. There is no belly weight.

The plug is not, in fact, through wired. The wire extends in from each end as far as the nearest screw eye which, in turn, passes through a loop in the end of the wire to anchor it. Clever.

The angle of the diving plane appears to be 35 degrees. The plane is 2 1/4 inches long and 1 inch wide. The protrusion on the front of the plug is obviously also 1" dia and projects forward about 1 1/8 inch.

The plug is 7 1/2 " long. It is 1 3/4 ' wide at it's widest, about 3 " from the nose. The last 1 1/4' of the plug is a straight barrell, 3/4 " in diameter.

The tail hook is 2 1/4 from the rear, the front hook is 2 1/2 " from the nose and there is 2 5/8" between them.

I have a smaller Nike, 5 1/4" long that does not seem to be weighted (I haven't xrayed it) but carries large 3/0 or 4/0 hooks instead.

I haven't seen these plugs in the water. If you are interested in a very productive lipless swimmer, I suggest copying the Magna Strike Predator (an out of production plastic plug) I have made several that work well and the dimensions do not seem critical.

Good luck.

Thanks, and great name :bl:
ANy chance you can post a pic of the x-ray ?
VB

Wow, thanks for the tutorial! And welcome to S-B. Nifty bunch of guys hang around here. :jump:

WOW ask and you shall receive!!!!!!!! Thanks very informative!!!!!!

Thanks for info Numbskull . Name is definately not fitting . I been thing about the Predator too ,, Wich one are you making the big one or the little one .?

Tagger. I've had good luck making a loose copy of the larger Predator. I've made them about an inch longer and a bit wider than the original. I use pine and don't weight them, other than big hooks. The design is very stable in rough water, keeps it's head down when dannys don't, and fishes well, at least from a boat during the day.

Vineyard. Here comes a try at posting a picture of the Nike xray.[IMG]fishpict2.jpg[/IMG]

nice ...you beat me to it...the lead on the ones I have look to be poured around the tail wire right up into the loop itself. no hole for the wire to go through.

Thank You :jump:
Great Pic
VB

This is the same on mine, what I think they did was pour a lead plug in a mold around the wire and through the grommett. Around this they then wrap a lead strip. On the xray you can see the inside end of the lead plug, as well as the lead strip over-rap. The grommett itself is full of lead. I'll bet the weight in the next smaller model is the size of the central lead plug without the extra over-rap.

I'm very close.. A tad more tweak I think I got it. I'm using swamp pine..The grain is very tight in this stuff.. I weighed orig Nike at 3 ounces and had to add .5 ounces to arse to get the weight up to 3.. I never arse weighted a swimmer nevermind 1/2 ounce..I'm afraid its going to sit in the water like a popper.. Anybody ever swim one of these plugs ? I really enjoyed building these, lightly sanding the curves reminded me of my first girlfreind..:drool:

:bl:

u r on to something Eddy :smokin:

vb

Very interesting plugs. Tagger, how does one get on the "plugs for life list?"

I really like this smaller size too. You can see it has a belly weight and a tail weight too. Front is shaped differently. 6.5" long. Thanks Peter.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y91...8/000_0335.jpg

Hey Eddy - Swam my original and my copy a couple of weeks ago. They get down like a bottle plug but seemed to dart like a darter.

PA,

Mine works just fine. :D

Mine darts fine PA.... it will pop out in a super strong rip, but for most cases, it is a great darter :kewl: it fills its niche niceley

Eddy ya killin me :laugha: :rotf2:

Hey Andy... mind telling me how much u put in the arse...i got a half ounce in there.. don't seem right ..