This "Is" the Place - 2012

[Rowhunter]

MS, I think right now you still have too many variables. I'd seal that baby up and use it as as tester to find out what all those options can do for this particular piece. Most Lucky 13's I've seen have the line tie set high to let it dig, I would think that mounting it low with rear weighting might give you a surface skimmer. Also a large cupped popper mouth with a dressed tail hook will certainly put the brakes on any WTD. Be flexible on the front hook mount location as well as it's position will also have a lot to do with it's ultimate action.

Douglas

[Muskyslayer96]

Douglass,

Will do, thanks for the tips, and I agree with the too many variables. Also thanks again for the help last week, it's very much appreciated.
I was looking for more of a surface "chug" like a dying fish, and then a subsurface swim, so the high line tie and dressed tail hook make more sense.

MS

[Sgt Striper]

Morning everyone! Had a super time yesterday at SurfDay. What a great show it was. Spent some quality time talking with Gary S, Don Musso, Roy Curley, Don G. Also John Jr's plugs were amazing, paint and finish was flawless!! A GRS below from Gary and a large Nike Jr. for him. Funniest thing was guy's were trying to buy the Nike from Gary, geez talk about clueless

[Sgt Striper]

And, Gary brought me 2 Surf Darters for reference. I will get all the measurements and post them up so we can start the build challenge! He also had his proto of a Pike Darter which is based on this plug, interesting

[Sgt Striper]

Take a look at Creek Chubs fix for the original Surf Darter which was a turd in the pic's below. They just pulled the wire back into plug, drilled down from the top and added grommet and hook hanger for a line tie!

[Sgt Striper]

Originally Posted by Sgt Striper

And, Gary brought me 2 Surf Darters for reference. I will get all the measurements and post them up so we can start the build challenge! He also had his proto of a Pike Darter which is based on this plug, interesting

Here are the measurements I took, If you can't decipher my chicken scratch let me know.
Also did a 8.5" Nike Jr., first proto I did swam very well with a little darting action mixed in.

[Muskyslayer96]

SS,

Cool darter, no weight though? Love the color of the nike!!

MS

[Sgt Striper]

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

yes... through trial and error I finally got one to do what I wanted with a tail weight( wlike the original)... I've got several on my bench in need of final paint... hopefully for plugfest...

Originally Posted by Rockfish9

no sir.. WRC... I've tried them out of everything reasonable.. best results were with WRC.. the original was White cedar..they scrapped it when there was a WC shortage so they could continue to make more lucrative plugs like the Pikie...

Originally Posted by Muskyslayer96

SS,

Cool darter, no weight though? Love the color of the nike!!

MS

As Rock said they are tailweighted, how much??? Would be nice to have a beater to cut apart but remember the orig. did not swim that great so it's going to take some time with weight placement as Rockfish did to get what you want out of it.
Here's a pic of a GRS proto Pike darter that Gary has been fooling with for some time. Had my hands on it this past weekend and I like the idea.

[Rockfish9]

My original swam like crap too... I ended up usuing around 6 grams of weight for the tail( as i recall with WRC).. if you notice.. the original uses 5/0 hooks.. I believe they did that to get the nose down.. the tail weight was also used as a means to get it to cast "way out" as they put it in the book... if i used the 5/0 I didnt need any chin weight.. with 4/0 they wanted to flip over.. predictable when you look at the shape of the plug... chin weighting and no tail weight would probaly make a better swimmer.. but for now, i want to try and make the original theme work.. after i fish it this summer, I'll make the needed adjsutments to suit my situation..