Every swimmer has a pivot point in it's wiggle... some -- like those classed as finnish minnows -- are near the nose and normally can't/shouldn't be weighted without destroying or modifying the swim action. Shapes like a Danny will tend to pivot more centrally in the body, very near if not dead-on the body's balance point.

I always look for the balance point with the lip and tail that I intend to use mounted on the body, but without a belly hook. NIB says he balances them on a pencil. I use an old hacksaw blade (cutting edge up) clamped in a vice. Not real scientific, but you just "feel around", moving the body ever so slightly forwards or back, until it balances on the blade. Then I press down gently, while rolling the body side to side, and get a perforated mark that shows were the balance point is. I do this with virtually every new proto I start to work on, just to get a reference point on the body. Sometimes, that's where I want to set a single belly hook. Sometimes, as is the case with a Danny. that balance point where I would normally put a hook might be a little too far back from the head, so you need to add a bit of lead (as a counter weight) somewhere behind the weightless balance line... where and how much lead depends on how far "up" I want to hang the hook... but the objective of this is to keep the body balancing at the original point.

I'm not a big fan of multiple belly hooks, but if it's got to have them to look and swim right, then placing the hooks an equal distance fore and aft of the balance point will usually get you in the ball park of their final position.

Hope that's clear enough to give you some ideas.

P.M., dannies are basically balanced, so if like you said you balanced it on a center point on teh edge of like a hacksaw blade, it would be nearly balanced. That beings said, once you introduce current into it, I don't think it needs to be balanced dead center.

I make a large danny 7 1/2 " to fish in a big rip with fast moving water and while it is weighted dead center to act as a pivot point, its also got a small tail weight. The action of the current on the lip more than makes up for the tail weight, and just a small amount of lead in the tail will take all of the tumble out of the cast.

I do make some slope headed swimmers that are weighted up under the chin, and in that case moving the weight forward helps get the chin down so the head will dig down, and that one pivots more on its head with its tail wagging the surface but it's not a danny...

Subsurface swimmers are often weighted ahead of their balance point. Most surface swimmers are weighted at their balance point ( as NIB explained, be sure to temporarily wire the lip and hang hooks before you balance the unfinished body on a knife edge to find the center), but there is no reason you can't add weight in the chin or tail to slow the action. As explained in other threads (Jigman perhaps?), the weight acts as a pivot point (actually the real pivot point is the line tie, but the weight modifies how fast the rear of the plug wags behind it). A forward weight results in a larger/slower tail wag, a midline weight speeds things up and adds some roll. A little tail weight is also useful to make a plug more stable in the air, or to suppress the action in fast moving water.

EDIT. Took too long to type this one. Pa and dig said the same thing better.

Thanks guys.

This has been a very helpful thread for me. I had no idea when I asked for help that it would become SO HELPFUL!!! Wow! Each plug will still need its own little touch, but man, a whole lot less fumbling to get there! This thread has been copied to a word doc and filed under "how to tips". Just great!

tail weight......1/4 dia. x 2 -1/8" long.

Wow! That's a lot of lead! Slow wiggle?

yes,,,but she still floats tail up...v wake...lotta wood on these old gal's......

SteelHead:

How did you make out with the big Danny? Does it swim well?

I did several profiles and lips. One swims Pissah :-)

Thanks ,,,great info .. I usually just wing it .. take them for a swim ,then smash them with a hammer.. Your way is much better..
Hydro-orientated,balanced...gotta be some kinda wind tunnel test too..