Finished some lipless swimmers I was doing for the challenge swap. Here's one next to Numbskull's version which I believe is a Musso copy. Top one I screwed up the face on so I threw a lip on it Jinx style.

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2bcb4176.jpg

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...psf62cdd49.jpg

Very cool, Ted. How do they swim? Do they stay on the surface or dive subsurface?

I also notice the difference in the line tie location. The musso clones seemed to be set too low which created too much roll. Bending the eye up helps (and I noticed he did this on the ones he fished that are now on his display board). Musso's smallest version ended up with a midline eye so he must have been thinking like you. I like your sleeker shape a lot, the clones I built seem unnaturally short and fat in the water.

Gets me all excited to experiment some more.

They are subsurface. They will not stay on top. They will hang around just under the surface with a slow retrieve. They are belly weighted, not heavily and no tail weight. The line tie is on center and right below where the two cuts meet 30 degrees on the lower 60 degrees on the upper. I also have a small shallow scoop on the face that is only below the line tie. Don't know if it helps or not as I have not done these without it. I was real excited when I swam the first one. I liked it so much I didn't want to mess with it by trying to tailweight it. here is a pic of the face.

http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps363f59cd.jpg

Awesome work Ted, really nice profile on those!

Great stuff. That jinx style rules.

Still had no time to test my versions of the Musso lipless yet, Ted yours look great. I'm going to belly weight one of them as Musso did and also try a Nike style weighting also. Keep seeing stuff on the boards about BIG darters so I gave one a shot last night. Totally winged it on this one, used one of George's for reference. 9" and 1.75" dia. looks like right about 5 oz. finished.

No harm in trying anything, but just for the record it was Frech who weighted his darters (following Gibbs lead). Musso didn't weight his. Too much tail weight will make the plug roll more easily.

And for heaven's sake fish that green thing and see what you can do with it. If you lose it I have more.

No weight in the Darter, was referring to the Lipless Musso which I really want to get to work. As far as the green thing it was in the water quite a bit before the storm and worked good, just no fish around to give it a taste! The small one is good also, :love: them!

A whole lot of awesome plugs and info being posted in this thread guys. :kewl:

I have not posted much but I have been busy building some plugs and a bit of collaboration stuff. Mostly non-lipped plugs which I like to make and fish but also a new swimmer I am happy with and eager to fully test this Spring. I just need to get some pics taken and posted.

still making a few more Musso darters including the long skinny one that I had not made before

That blue Mac is sweet lookin Chris
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Sweet looking plug. I'll be curious how you do with it and how it compares to the Gibbs. I have a copy that was given me but was not impressed by its action and never understood why Musso picked it to be the model for his plastic super strike (which has even less action in my hands).

this is my first attempt at blending colors.....next step epoxy!

Don't know, but the plastic ones crush fish.

I wondered this after getting my hands on the 3oz. In that recent article he mentioned they started doing better on the Gibb's darter when less larger bait was around and that's when he created his own slimmer version.

With the volume of plugs he put out I wonder if he kept the square ends on his bodies.

great stuff

I have made a bunch of those skinny darters but like George I was never really impressed with them compared to his other sizes, especially the size under that. Each one has its favorite conditions. My favorite is the large Pinchney for action but that is me and I am in no way saying Musso was, is, not a great darter maker. I would take a wooden one over a plastic one though any day but they are hard to come by and expensive so it is hard to throw them at that price so next best is to make them yourself and try to get them to perform like the originators wanted.

It is all relative. Unless you have fished the bigger darters you have nothing to compare the plastic one to. The plastic work, but more like a subsurface needle than a darter in all but the fastest water. The wide wooden plugs are a class above that.

Then again, I never liked the skinny Gibbs darter either and that is a very good plug for some people so there is always more to learn.

This is what I have been building for last few months. Still need to buy jaws but pretty much done. Just need to assemble them. Got some plugs going too but not far enough along yet to post anything.

You can engrave my name into one of them. I'm feeling lucky this year!

Some of this years spins.
 

Conrad Jrs, 9" .3.5oz needles and the reknown "Billy D" stubby.

WOW...
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device