More darters..

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

AHHH, the eye loop is critical, actualy, on a very slow retrieve I can get them to stay on top or just sub surface, because of the location of the pull eye, it is not necessary to sweep the rod tip to get them to dive, simply crank...I believe the fatter body has alot to do with it, the slimmer , more traditional models do not do as well with the eye loop as high up on the plane.... in the picture there a re a few that are actualy mistakes, as you can see, the dive plane extends just beyond the hook hole. and the second cut is higher on the back, those ones, were more suited for the fast water and were still OK in the slower water, but dug real deep in the rip....BTW, the ones I tried with the nose loop closer to the front of the plug displayed a tendency to roll out, something the higher loop does not do....

Cool, thanks for the info and again nice work!

[numbskull]

Interesting stuff.

[gone fishin]

Joe - I hope you can have one handy for plugfest North Shore. I am still having a devil of a time getting a dahta right. We have to talk. Beautiful work and perfect color.

[cutchogue]

Very nice Joe. I want to try making some Darters this winter myself.
Yours are a piece of art.
Al,

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by gone fishin

Joe - I hope you can have one handy for plugfest North Shore. I am still having a devil of a time getting a dahta right. We have to talk. Beautiful work and perfect color.

you betcha...I'll have one for ya.

[redhead7]

NICE WORK...............

[Tagger]

very interresting line tie .. Did you try it in heavy current ? ... Very Curious how birch did as a darter .. was going to try it ,, maybe you can spare me the agony .. Hard maple is very lively ,,,good weight ,, cast great ... splits if you fart ... Thanks for posting pics and any heads up info ..

[Rockfish9]

Originally Posted by Tagger

very interresting line tie .. Did you try it in heavy current ? ... Very Curious how birch did as a darter .. was going to try it ,, maybe you can spare me the agony .. Hard maple is very lively ,,,good weight ,, cast great ... splits if you fart ... Thanks for posting pics and any heads up info ..

I wouldnt have called it heavy current, I guess it's a realative term, maybe 2 knots, they dug deep on a faster retrieve in the faster water... more testing is in order for sure, what you said about the mnaple is all very true, my reason for the mahogany was for several reasons, 1st as you stated, maple is a major PITA to seal, I thought I could solve the splitting issue by "super " sealing, I heated the wood to abpout 80 degrees and dropped it into the BLO overnight.... they sank, they sucked! and with out a good seal,we all know the score....

the birch was good, about the same as the mahogany weight wise, action wise the same,I made it from a few logs of white birch that had been delivered in my fire wood, so my supply was limited, I have a ton of mahogany left from some furnature and a deck I built, so it was a great choice of convience, it finishes well, seals well and plays well with water....

This summer will be the first full summer fishing those wide body darters, so by next fall, I'll have a good idea if I have stumbled onto something... for now it's just time to have some fun...

Here's the prototype, I fished with last fall that these( the purty ones in this post) were modled after, finished with rattle cans and varnish, they worked well enough to warrant making some a little more boutique like, I fished, the main river, mouth of the river ( last of the outgoing) and the beach front, these prototypes were birch, I only have one left, the other swam off attached to a bluefish....