[QUOTE=Grapenuts;645571]
Quote:
Originally Posted by steve
Speaking of plug buying, how are the NORTH BAR BOTTLE plugs and their unusual looking DARTER? QUOTE]
History running amuck again...If you do any research at all, you'll find that Stan Gibbs came out with that bottle darter first in his quest of the bottle plug[ the one you see today] that style/shape was Stan's first try, the top without lip..then came the next style with a small upper lip, till he was happy with the last almost full lip on top . Stan rejected the the first try and never looked back, never haveing put a patten on it..it was picked up by another and had a patten taken out on it in 1995-6, long after Stan came up with it.....Yes Mr. Welcome can claim having the patten, but the style/idea/shape was NOT his.
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http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...=bottle+darter contains a picture of the early Gibbs patterns that led to his invention of the bottle plug (i.e.casting swimmer). I suspect he ended up with the bottle design because he was primarily looking for a plug that holds at a medium depth in the canal's current. The bottle darter tends to keep diving and might be hard to get back up over the edge in the canal (I've only made a few casts with one there so I am unsure). I prefer the bottle in current, and the bottle darter in weak current or none at all. Certainly Gibbs (or someone before him) experimented with the design. I do think Welcome deserves credit for recognizing its usefulness and running with it (even if the patent thing seems a bit strained).
Ever wonder why Gibbs (or Pichney and Musso for that matter) didn't just stick with eels?
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