First ever attempt story and pics

[Zeal]

Top, side, closer view on side. Black stuff is from the dremel and not fine sanding.

[Zeal]

Other side, mouth.

[numbskull]

Do yourself a favor. Start with a hardwood dowel. Find the center and use a compass to draw concentric circles on each end. Use a rasp (or microplane tool even faster) to bring your diameters down to the line, draw another concentric circle and bring it down some more, until you have the shape you want. Then mark off your slope and chin shape (use a papertowel tube, cut it length wise and reduce the diameter to what you need, draw a profile and cut it out). Use a coping saw (they are cheap) to rough it out, then your rasp and sand paper to get it right.

Better yet, start with surface plugs that use softer wood and leave the darter for later.

[Rockfish9]

I admire your bravery... that is a tough undertaking for a first plug.... numbskull has given you some good advise, start at the bottom and work your way up... most of us started with surface poppers made from dowels ( or broom handles) and latter worked our way into swimmers then lip less plugs.... only after we understood how each process ( weighting, hook placement, plug shape etc.) affected the plug we desired to make did we advance to the next round... keep up the effort,you will be rewarded...

[Tagger]

One of Mac's first plugs was a (working) darter with a jacknife ,,but he got lucky . That plug can be very discouraging to a seasoned plugbuilder . You can make that plug as pretty as a picture only to have it roll out . (come in upside down ,hooks up ).. I applaud your bravery . Starting with a popper or even easier a spook will have you catching fish and learning a few things .

[ecduzitgood]

It's your first attempt; I think it's just not finished yet. You could find easier way about getting an end result but then you won't learn as much. I would shape it till your happy then put some hooks on it and see how it swims, use screw eye's so you can remove them and reshape untill you either get what you want or have gone too far and can't fix it. My first attempt wasn't very pretty but I learned alot from seeing it through till the end.
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