More on Plugs

[numbskull]

[QUOTE=Grapenuts;645571]

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.

This thread 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?

[Joe]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Ever wonder why Gibbs (or Pichney and Musso for that matter) didn't just stick with eels?

They probably wanted to make lures.

[Crafty Angler]

Originally Posted by Joe

They probably wanted to make lures.

...and you can't make as much money selling eels since they only come in two colors...

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Joe

They probably wanted to make lures.

Really? Considering the quality of what they developed, I'd guess they were very good fishermen long before they started building plugs commercially. It seems to have been demand for their plugs that led them to their business, not internet hype, or a brilliant business plan. So if they were such talented fishermen, why were they wasting their time with plugs in the first place?

[NIB]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Really? Considering the quality of what they developed, I'd guess they were very good fishermen long before they started building plugs commercially. It seems to have been demand for their plugs that led them to their business, not internet hype, or a brilliant business plan. So if they were such talented fishermen, why were they wasting their time with plugs in the first place?

Why?? Some one was constantly looking for the better mousetrap..
Or the same reasons many of us tinker. That mother of invention thing...Necessity.
Talking with Donny he had heard these guys where trolling this lure in NJ and having good luck with it.He had got his hands on one, long with a blunt nose he had never seen one like it before.He toyed with the design, being long it did not cast well so he shortened it from the tail end.The Danny was born.That is why in Musso's designs the thickest part is aft of center on the plug.
They made lures because there was demand for items that could catch and hold up to catching.From what I understand Steve Campo is as responsible for pushing Donny and Danny as anyone..He was the original plug Ho.Constantly wheeling and dealing.Using the one against the other to get what he wanted.Basically scoffing up all that they would make of some runs.One of the original hard core surfman..There is so much in today's surfcasting that he is responsible for..

[Sea Dangles]

Hey NIB, I got a nice lot from Campos before he went North. I have Musso's with Campo lips on them, they swim better than the originals. I am assuming the majority of the original plug designs had their genesis in the off season; the period in a fisherman's calendar known as Winter. This is when real fishermen dream of the one that got away while pluggers concoct designs to catch more legal sized fish. You know, they daydream and then go in their basement with an idea on whose plug should be resurrected for old times sake. They proceed to do their best to make a duplicate of an outdated design in order to recreate yesteryear.The resulting product may be offerred to those with similar interests on a predetermined weekend to garner oohs and aahs. The gathered obelisks will then be hung on respective walls to be admired by those in the know for the purpose of receiving complements on paint schemes and finish. I guess an idle mind IS the Devil's workshop. I prefer to go the grassroots method and abstain from paint schemes and fake eyes on wood that could heat my humble abode.
Viva la eel!!!!

[NIB]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

Hey NIB, I got a nice lot from Campos before he went North. I have Musso's with Campo lips on them, they swim better than the originals. I am assuming the majority of the original plug designs had their genesis in the off season; the period in a fisherman's calendar known as Winter. This is when real fishermen dream of the one that got away while pluggers concoct designs to catch more legal sized fish. You know, they daydream and then go in their basement with an idea on whose plug should be resurrected for old times sake. They proceed to do their best to make a duplicate of an outdated design in order to recreate yesteryear.The resulting product may be offerred to those with similar interests on a predetermined weekend to garner oohs and aahs. The gathered obelisks will then be hung on respective walls to be admired by those in the know for the purpose of receiving complements on paint schemes and finish. I guess an idle mind IS the Devil's workshop. I prefer to go the grassroots method and abstain from paint schemes and fake eyes on wood that could heat my humble abode.
Viva la eel!!!!

`

I remember, you showed me a few..
I oooed and aahed..
Hell ain't a bad place to be..
I heard there are snakes there also..

[numbskull]

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

[Sea Dangles]

The plugs were and still are conversation pieces. Fodder for cold months.People have been known to plan parties around them.
Picture a coffee table book.....

[Sea Dangles]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

There are times when bait is not practical or attainable. I have set out to fish and if I can't make bait I go home. I can't reach the center of the ditch with a pogie head so in this instance I swallow my pride and throw a painted piece of wood with hooks stuck in it. Different applications call for different methods.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Now I'm really confused. So if Steve Campo was such a good fisherman, what did he and his friends want the plugs for? Wouldn't eels do instead?

Tony C. knew and knows Campo very well. We have talked at length about him. Campo was a rabid bass fisherman and just like when we fished eels and bait we (at least I) still had to have every plug that came down the pike. It's an obsession. You think you had to have it because it might be that one thing that gets you better catches than the next guy.

Tony told me that when his shop (Bass Run)was out of Pichneys or Musso's wooden creations that he could always ge a bunch from Steve C. because it was unbelievable that someone could carry that many plugs on a fishing trip plus the eel live and rigged. He was simply obsessed, aren't we all when it comes to Striper fishing in some sort of way?

Tony said Mr. Campo lives in Canada now looking for better bass grounds as far as he knew.

I'd love to meet him.