Darter Family
 

Here is the gang.
Musso clones.
Guess what color works for me.

3 oz
2.25 oz (body by Paul)
1.5oz medium
1.5oz small

There is a little tiny one I've not built.

To those who got the 1.5 medium version at plugfest, it works with either 2/0 or 3/0's.....and it looks like it will work very, very well indeed. Kudos to Mr Musso.

Sweet family with great genes... I am working on a similar family that I am painting this evening and will post in few days... some of my starting DNA is your 1.5ozer you gave me at PF.

BT

real nice.. real real nice. :drool:

I put 3/0's on mine & it swims beautiful!

I was so excited I built a Rockfish9 style darter jig & a Professor style table saw jig, test swam a few & was thrilled, just finished sealing them, I hope they swim the same!

Thanks George

really nice work on those George!

Holy Moly..

The Doctor is in

Really nice. The loop right out front really allows them to bite and swim right, at least that's what I noticed on the ones I have versus the darters with the loop further back. Bet each will swim a litttle different, some deeper, some more erratic. That is where testing and noting (with a sharpie) deep, medium, wide wobble etc. as you can't tell by just looking at them and I have ton of darters, all different.

George, is the top one 6.3 inches long and the 2nd one down 6.2 inches long.

those are amazing !!!!!!!!!

Lengths are
6.5"
6.5"
5.5"
4.5"

numbskull my arse. look great.

Look forward to finishing mine, someday:rollem:

Very nice line-up. Oddly enough, I have never done well with a parrot color scheme in the places where I fish. I can't wait to fish the white one I got from you at PlugFest though!

Great looking plugs as always.

I hate darters! I hate fishing them, mainly do the fact I have no confidence in them what so ever.

Hopefully I'll break out of that this year.

I've yet to attempt to turn one, maybe conquer that this year too.
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Take what darters you own (the bigger the better) to a shallow sandy beach near low tide (it helps if you have a rock or jetty to stand on so you see better) during daylight and wear polarized glasses. No current, 4 feet or water is ideal.

Now cast each one out and find one that you can work slowly, as slow OR SLOWER than a needle. Twitch to get the nose down, take three sloooow cranks, stop and twitch/shake, pause, then repeat. When you find one that looks like a fish or squid struggling along the surface, gaining 12-18" of depth, then losing it and coming back to the surface.........put the other darters away, take that one and try fishing it that way somewhere shallow at night (even better if there is tiny bait around). It will get hit when it is paused and the fish will be big.

The idea that darters are meant to be cranked against current keeps you from using them where and in a way that they work best.

Wicked looking. Love the parrot. Do you find the siwash effects action at all with the darters? I notice only the smaller one has got it

:drool: I know where that will work. :uhuh:

Nice Dahtah family George :btu:

Very nice, and thanks for sharing how you fish them. I bet atleast 1/2 my hits on darters are triggered by a small twitch.

Wow. Another parrot-a-holic. Those are awesome george.
Very nice work
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Thanks for that explanation, I am asuming that is why the maple works so good, as it returns back to the surface much slower than other woods do, thus able to work it slower, I have been building a bunch of darters w/ different woods & also weighting some, even triple weighted some ayc to match the weight of maple, they swim great but float to the surface so much faster.

Beautiful work and generous sharing.

Very nice set of plugs and explanation of how you like to use them.

George, Thanks for sharing! Never been a producer for me but will give your advise a try. Thanks again. Can't wait to see your mini.

They look good George.. nice sizes too...... I've got a family of them myself... unfortunatly they are hanging out in a nudist colony... some day... if I get them clothed.. I'll put up a family photo myself...

Who built them?

My advice to you is to stick with red and white spoons.

Not only do they look good but they work some sweet too. Your the best with those Darters George.

Great post, and really sweet looking darters.

Hidden gem in the PB forum. One thing I'd like to do this season is fish darters more often in 'nontraditional' waters- that technique sounds like an excellent place to start.

Nice meeting you at RISAA, the darters look great. Can't go wrong with parrot!