Stayin Alive, Stayin Alive

[likwid]

Its what darters are based off of.
If I remember what Chet and another ex-Cuttyhunk charter guy told me, they showed up in the 60's here after someone took a trip out west.
Brought about 40 of em with em.

They SLAUGHTERED fish on em around the islands.
One of the guys had his boat broken into one night and about 20 of em were stolen. Not too long after that they showed up on store shelves left and right all over this region, eventually (as we see currently) they fell out of favor.

I have 4 or 5 of the origionals from that group that came here to New England that have now been in my family for about 15-20 years now.

They don't really cast worth a damn (they flutter bad.... plastic and light) but I'm sure if someone copied the actual ace hi in wood with the single they could weight it correctly to fly and float.

Take a look at the pic in the plugs section on the site of my popper, you can see one of the origionals sitting behind the popper.

Silver Horde seems to have bought the rights and molds to the origional Ace Highs.

I just picked up a darter of similar size today so I'll swim it this weekend against the Ace Hi and give you a good comparison.

(At this rate with the people I've asked, I may have to get a lathe myself and spin a couple)

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by likwid

I

(At this rate with the people I've asked, I may have to get a lathe myself and spin a couple)

I could take a few minutes to turn some but I have no time to experiment with the weighting. I see problems with weight that helps the cast and then it will not swim right. It may be worth a try though. Maybe next week someday.

[likwid]

If ya spin em, I'll swim em. (and weight em)

Bernzy, I'm pretty sure the Ace Hi's came before the J-Plugs?
They were made for comm salmon fishing.

The single hook makes them far easier to deal with.

[Bernzy]

Originally Posted by likwid

Bernzy, I'm pretty sure the Ace Hi's came before the J-Plugs?
They were made for comm salmon fishing.

I think you're correct. The J-Plug came about in the late 60's early 70's.

I've never used the Ace Hi's, but I have a bunch of Silver Hordes and J-Plugs that I used for Trout and Salmon while living near Lake Ontario from 80-89.

Bernzy

[likwid]

Incidently Silver Horde bought Ace Hi when they went out of business.
That was a smart move.
Or atleast one good enough to keep some of us from committing sepukku from losing one of those plugs.