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Old 02-13-2018, 01:59 PM   #1
DZ
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Darter Talk

For your reading pleasure.

Classic Surf Plugs…That Have Made a Difference - Part 3

by Dennis Zambrotta

In the past two issues of Surfcasters Journal we have discussed the Cotton Cordell C10 Series Red Fin in solid black and the 1 ¾ ounce Gibbs Needlefish in Block Island Green. In this issue we look at the next plug that can make or break a casting session. That is if you didn’t have one… you didn’t catch. Unlike the Red Fin and Gibbs Needle this plugs historic reputation was validated all over the Northeast surf. Meet the yellow back/white belly darter.

Plug #3. Gibbs Darter & Super Strike Zig Zag

During my early years of surfcasting for striped bass during the late 1970s I was exposed to the use of bucktail jigs, popping plugs, and then minnow swimmers such as Rebels, Rapala’s and Redfins. As I read more and more about plugging for striped bass I discovered the Atom Junior Metal Lip and then the Gibbs Darter. During that time period many of my local tackle shops didn’t carry a wide assortment of plugs so I would purchase hard to find plugs through mail order catalogs such as The Salt Water Tackle Box in Falmouth, Massachusetts, or Dwindling Acers in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
The very first darter that I started using was at the urging of my surfcasting partner, the late Ezidro “Zeke” Silva. It was the 2 ¼ ounce yellow back/white belly three hook Gibbs Darter.
It was during the beginning of our early summer bass run around Memorial Day that Zeke called me up and told me about the great bite he had the night before. He had caught so many bass on Newport’s Cliff Walk that he had to take two trips to lug all of them back to his truck. We were shipping (selling) bass at the time so everything we caught went to market. He then told me most of the bass came on a Gibbs Darter of which I didn’t own. Fortunately Zeke purchased plugs like candy and gave me a few to try the next night.
On my first casting session using the Gibbs darter I kept trying to impart an exaggerated darting action to the plug and was having no joy with the bass while Zeke was having no problem building on his next paycheck from the fish dealer. Zeke finally told me to slow down my retrieve by just giving the plug a short jerk after it hits the water so as to get it to “dig” then slowly retrieve it for ten turns of the handle, then repeat. I learned the effective action for a darter was not an exaggerated dart but more a slow glide from side to side. That was the ticket for retrieving the darter and once I learned it I also began to put some bass on the rocks. The Gibbs Darter was a very efficient plug during our squid runs in Newport as it seemed to imitate the squid much better than the normal plug we had used which was the old Rebel Windcheater Super Minnows. The Gibbs Darter came equipped with three 2/0 trebles and because of that when a bass would strike it we rarely missed the take. We did have a few problems with the Gibbs Darter, one was that when we hooked larger bass they were able to gain leverage on the three trebles and would often straighten them causing lost fish. We eventually smartened up and began removing the middle treble and fishing the plug with only two trebles. This improved our hookup to land ratio with larger bass. Another problem was the plug was constructed using screw-eyes which were not stainless so they would rust. The screw-eyes that the hooks attached to were adequately strong but the weak point was the smaller screw-eye on the Darter’s nose for attaching the plug to your line. It was a thinner wire and often pulled out as the plug got older. Zeke tried to thru-wire a few of the Gibbs Darters but it ended up more trouble than it was worth. The last problem was not with the plug but where we were fishing it. The coastline of Newport, Rhode Island is very rocky with lots of shelf rock ledges. The straight front edge on the face of the Gibbs Darter would often be gouged out when we had to retrieve it over the rocks. Eventually the front end of the plug would be so worn and damaged it wouldn’t dig in to the surf and glide effectively. Zeke developed a method of adding some sheet metal to the front face of the Gibbs Darter and also the Gibbs Casting Swimmers to extend their life but we still ended up with quite a few unfishable plugs after each season. Eventually we would just buy more darters when the plugs began to look tired.
Our initial success with the Gibbs Darter had us purchasing more in various color patterns such as mackerel, blue back, and all white. We had very limited success with anything but yellow/white which further added to our confidence in that color. (Authors note: After changing ownership a few times in the past 30 years the Gibbs Company has since changed their darter design to a two hook model. Although still productive at times the two hook model is not nearly as effective as the original three hook Gibbs Darter.)
With our success with the Gibbs we began looking for other darters. Our searching brought us to the famous tackle shop Murat’s in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It was there that we found the very unique Floyd Roman Dart N Dart plug. We picked up a half dozen of them but as good as they looked they never panned out for catching more than a very few striped bass for us.
We continued to fish the Gibbs Darter until the mid-1980s when we discovered the plastic constructed Super Strike Zig Zag advertised in The Surfcaster Catalog. We ordered a bunch and were blown away at our success with them. With the Super Strike we had a darter built from plastic that could withstand the abuse of our rocky coastline much better than the Gibbs, was equipped with only two trebles and had wire thru construction, cast much better than the Gibbs, and had action that was always consistent from plug to plug. It became the work horse darter for us and saved us lots of plug money by not having to keep purchasing new plugs each season. We tried all sorts of color patterns with the Zig Zag but the yellow/white continued to outperform all the others. We also learned that it wasn’t just a springtime plug and had success with it anytime we had larger baitfish, especially squid, in the wash. It was highly effective in Newport when we had good white water sweep from heavy surf. Newport doesn’t have much tidal current so moving water from sweep was important to its effectiveness.
Our Block Island crew began using the SS darter effectively in the Block Island surf which was considered primarily needlefish country at the time. On one particular pre-dawn morning I met two New York surfcasters at Dories Cove who were both casting Super Strike darters (Zig Zags) along with a Red Gill Rascal as a teaser. They were cleaning up on almost every cast as I went fishless using my assortment of needlefish and Cotton Cordell Redfins. During other nights my surfcasting partner “Darter” Al Rispoli would often school me using his assortment of darters at Block Island’s Graces Cove. On one particularly memorable occasion he must have taken over two hundred pounds of cow sized bass on his darters while I was casting from a rock mere feet away and could only go through the motions. This wasn’t surprising as Al grew up fishing in the land of the darter; the Montauk surf with its multitude of rip currents where yellow darters were THE PLUG for many years. Al had fished them all including the Danny Pichney darter, Jack “The Professor” Frech darters, and the Donny Musso slim and fat wooden darters. Al Rispoli knows better than most the idiosyncrasies and magic of the darter having had years of fishing experience with some of those famous names of the past. As with any plug oftentimes it’s only as effective as the person who is casting it. For those not familiar with fishing a darter my advice is to also seek other surfcasters opinions on how they fish the darter and what kind of conditions are optimal for their use. There are now multitudes of darters made of various materials to choose from in today’s market. But if someone were to ask me to recommend just one I’d have to go with the instant classic – the darter which has shown consistent quality and effectiveness and has withstood the test of time - the Super Strike Zig Zag with a yellow back and white belly. Still have doubts about the color? When I asked Steve Musso of Super Strike Lures which color Zig Zag has been historically the most popular in sales? Well the Super Strike company records for the past 12 years speak for themselves:
1. Yellow back/white belly
2. White
3. Yellow
4. Blurple
So there you have it. The top three plugs which have made a huge difference in much of the surfcasting community. The black Redfin, BI green Needlefish, and yellow/white Darter can make or break a tide and should be somewhere in your surfcasting tool bag.

DZ
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"Limit Your Kill - Don't Kill Your Limit"

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Old 02-13-2018, 02:09 PM   #2
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Thanks Dennis

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Old 02-13-2018, 02:20 PM   #3
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Thanks for sharing that Dennis, great stuff!!!
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Old 02-13-2018, 09:15 PM   #4
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Thats very interesting. Now we only need 3 plugs in our bags. LOL
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Old 02-14-2018, 05:24 AM   #5
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Great read thanks Dennis. Just started fishing darters last year and had similar experience. It wasn’t until I really slowed things down and let the plug work when I found any success. Just picked up a yellow over white from blondterror and can’t wait to fish it this spring
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Old 02-14-2018, 06:47 AM   #6
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I love darters, especially yellow over white which is second to parrot for me. Good read DZ

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Old 02-14-2018, 09:18 AM   #7
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Darters are magical.

I too have shifted from yellow over white to parrot. It is a versatile color scheme.

DZ's article really touches on a lot of aspects that are critical to finding success.

A real game changer for me the last couple seasons is categorizing darter brands for
their depth and motion. I know that sounds silly as often the diving depth
difference of most darters is only a foot or two....maybe less, but that
difference can make a huge difference in extending a bite.

Guys who only fish one brand or only fish Super Strike are missing out.

As water drops out using darters that can operate in shallows, and
as water floods in, darters that can be coaxed to dig deep. This may
sound elementary to some, but I know a lot of anglers who only fish
one brand of darter.

If fish are taking darters these sorts of adjustments can keep you on
the fish. Sort of like how when bucktailing, half ounce and even
quarter ounce adjustments can make the difference. Funny how fish
will hold on structure and have an invisible line of how far they are
willing to go for a plug.

To exend the variation subject further. Some darters dart more than
others. Super strike darts the least...from my findings, where
others seem to create more resistance and water pressure. The
differences in darting action can also convert fish that darter x
cannnot convert but darter z can. The ones that have more
resistance can also be fished in sloppy conditions and dig better than
others.

they are all different tools.
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Old 02-14-2018, 10:42 AM   #8
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Although my late friend Zeke was the first I ever saw implement sheet metal to protect the face of his wood plugs it's interesting to note that one of our members here, ProfessorM, uses a metal reinforcement on the face of some of his wood darters to protect them from wear in rocky environments. Surprised not many others have experimented with the idea.

DZ
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"Limit Your Kill - Don't Kill Your Limit"

Bi + Ne = SB 2

If you haven't heard of the Snowstorm Blitz of 1987 - you someday will.
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Old 02-14-2018, 10:53 AM   #9
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Mike fixter darters have the metal.

I suspect the metal working step is an extra expense and changes
the balance of the plug, so a builder has to commit to everything about that addition.

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Old 02-14-2018, 10:55 AM   #10
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I am a darter fanatic, I usually carry at least 3 with me at all time. I normally carry two SS darters and a 3oz BM darter (recent run). There is 1 spot where I will also toss in a 3oz Tattoo.
It seems recently there are more builders making darters these days. Finding them can be difficult though, as not many builders make enough to sell on a large scale. I have also used darters by Wallys, Woodys, CCW, Surf Asylum, Sporting Wood, Gibbs, Northbar. I recently bought a Big D darter at the Narragansett tackle sale.
What other darters are people using out there? Who makes a good deep running model?

It all started last year during a terrible thunderstorm, when I locked myself out of the house. Shelving myself with a large piece of sheet metal, I ran for cover under the tallest tree I could find!
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Old 02-14-2018, 12:32 PM   #11
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Interesting I will read when I get to a computer. Thanks.
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Old 02-14-2018, 12:40 PM   #12
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I think smaller darters are very good and often overlooked. I somehow was lucky enough to be able to get a Numbskull 5 inch darter that is a Musso clone maybe 1 3/4 ounces. Light green over white. That small darter is a killer in spots that I fish in CT. I spoke to Dave Anderson and he is going to do a run of smaller darters.

I have had luck with the Tattoo 2 ounce and Beachmaster 2 ounce which are smaller. Choopy also makes a smaller darter.
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Old 02-14-2018, 08:22 PM   #13
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nice read Dennis. Thanks .

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Old 02-22-2018, 12:32 PM   #14
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I enjoyed this article. Thanks DZ
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Old 02-22-2018, 02:30 PM   #15
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Have never caught a fish on a darter. I have tried in the same waters where I have crushed bass on SP minnows and Eels ... I have no faith in them..

But am glad they produce for others
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Old 02-22-2018, 03:00 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdmso View Post
Have never caught a fish on a darter. I have tried in the same waters where I have crushed bass on SP minnows and Eels ... I have no faith in them..

But am glad they produce for others
I used to be in the same boat, but a much better angler told me to toss one in my bag in May and leave it there. He said, eventually a time would come where I was getting skunked and would have cycled through all of my plugs (except the darter). He said, you will see it there and figure that you might as well throw it.
I decided to take this advice about 5 years ago.....and I had one of those nights in early June...so I put the darter on and caught a fish pretty shortly thereafter, then another and another, and so forth. From that point on, I had confidence in it...and now carry at least 3 at most times.
Force yourself to use it and develop confidence; you'll be glad you did.

It all started last year during a terrible thunderstorm, when I locked myself out of the house. Shelving myself with a large piece of sheet metal, I ran for cover under the tallest tree I could find!
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