Something constructive - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

numbskull · 02-09-2009, 09:58 PM

After making an unpleasant mess of the video thread

I figured better get back to plugs. Finally finished these. A mutual aquaintance (not Lu) tells me that in the spring, when visiting the Vineyard, Donny Musso likes to fish a small @ 4" swimmer he builds but never marketed. Based on his other swimmers I guessed it would be something like this. 5" 1.75 oz. I put a small tail weight in it since I don't like swimmers with tail hooks. Second shot is the plug with normal sized copies of the medium and large Musso swimmers.

BigFish · 02-09-2009, 10:13 PM

Those are beauties George! Beautiful work guaranteed to trigger a strike!

striperman36 · 02-09-2009, 10:21 PM

I think a live eel would work almost as good

Tagger · 02-09-2009, 10:50 PM

1.75 ounces ,,, guess you'll be breaking out the ZB to fish those .. look pissa ...

eskimo · 02-10-2009, 12:52 AM

wow. not much to say besides great, as always.

Raven · 02-10-2009, 05:32 AM

shack Nasty plugs.... well made too

cheer up George

Slipknot · 02-10-2009, 09:39 AM

lookin good George

I have an eelskin that would fit that large one

eastendlu · 02-10-2009, 09:59 AM

Man those look sweet George

I will be talking to you soon about a question you asked me over a year ago i have an answer

NIB · 02-10-2009, 10:11 AM

Very nice work as usual Geo.You are a great inspiration.I hope you keep it up..
I have a Question for ya.
Why did you decide to go with 2 belly hooks on the small swimmer instead of one.One hook allows you to go 3/0.With 2 your limited to maybe a 1/0 or Maybe 2/0 front 1/0 back.

numbskull · 02-10-2009, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NIB

Very nice work as usual Geo.You are a great inspiration.I hope you keep it up..
I have a Question for ya.
Why did you decide to go with 2 belly hooks on the small swimmer instead of one.One hook allows you to go 3/0.With 2 your limited to maybe a 1/0 or Maybe 2/0 front 1/0 back.

These will carry 1/0's. Not expecting anything massive on them....more of a "something to toss while walking the dog" kind of a plug .

I got a theory that danny/donny style surface swimmers balance better with two hooks and a central pivot point (ie weight). I also think the two belly hooks do a better job of hooking both fish that nudge the plug half heartedly and the ones that hit hard from the nose (I'm pretty sure the lip of the plug often deflects the fish off the front hook). I'm still undecided if I like compensating for the lack of a tail hook by using a small tail weight or not.....it tends to make the tail swing more once the plug gets moving but also require slightly more speed to keep it working. Plugs that use a surfster lip are different. BF's Prey, for example, has a great action with the one belly hook.

Subsurface I'm OK with one belly hook. One hook and a weight behind seems to give the plug more of a wag from the head as opposed to a pivot around the belly (which is also why surfsters do well in that setup). Interestingly, Sauerkraut (on those rare occasions when he can't fish his beloved snakes) will use needles with only a single belly hook and no tail hook (which goes to show how important balance actually is) and catches enough large fish that way to embarrass me and all my hard formed "theories".

steelhead · 02-10-2009, 02:06 PM

Virtually the same dimensions as Numbskull's.
I won't be walking a dog, so I guess that means I can catch big fish.

Raven · 02-11-2009, 07:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eastendlu

Man those look sweet George

I will be talking to you soon about a question you asked me over a year ago i have an answer

secret

go4broke44 · 02-10-2009, 10:27 AM

Nice job! I should send you one of the peanut conrads I made using the same thought process (pichney copy though) they are about 4-4.5" and 1.75oz as well.

BIG TIM · 02-10-2009, 10:36 AM

My oh my!!!

ProfessorM · 02-10-2009, 10:57 AM

nice G. I will be trying to ho one of those as I like small stuff. Epoxy looks good too. I am still struggling with the CC this year, so far.

Flaptail · 02-10-2009, 11:02 AM

Very nice G-Man, can't wait to try the one Santa dropped at my door!

go4broke44 · 02-11-2009, 10:10 AM

thanks for the info numbskull, I was messing around on the lathe last night and ended up turning one of these, will let you know how it works out.

another thing I think helps with castability is putting the belly weight slightly aft of center, so that the weight is more towards the tail, where as if it was on center the plug could more easily "helicopter" trying to decide which end it wants to fly foward with.

Ryan560 · 12-11-2010, 08:32 AM

sorry to bring back an old thread, I have a question regarding the measurements of this plug..The weight is placed at 2-5/8",is this also the widest point at 1-1/8"?I tried one of these on some leftover pine the other day and it doesn't look quite right.Thanks

Also diameter at the tail? I based it on a medium tail grommet..think I used .435 as my tail diameter

numbskull · 12-13-2010, 05:58 AM

The weight is at the widest point, but this does not have to be a hard fast rule. The larger real Mussos have the weight slightly behind the fattest part of the plug. The key is to get them floating level and at the depth in the surface film you want when they are rigged the way you want (at least to start...then experiment from there).

Ryan560 · 12-13-2010, 01:08 PM

Thanks for the help george. I made a few in pine and some awc, I'll mess with the weighting this week. Thank you again for sharing your wealth of knowledge, it's been a huge help and I'm learning alot from these builds.