Is this the Place?

[ProfessorM]

put a pair of glasses on them. Very nice job Ed.

[Tagger]

Giving a plug building lesson to a kid and his father today .. I fish with them down the canal .. more the kid than the father ,, He's a natural . Won a Jr. State pin for Albie .. Good kid ,, there's still hope in the world ..

[mfm22]

Numb has a good point about back hooks .. couldn't figure out why but have had occasions where bass where on back hook .
Had one eve where 4 bass up to 25# ended up rear hook??
conditions where shallow rocky Ripping water . I'll keep my back hooks. And tha plug only had a siwash

[Tagger]

no pics guys ??? .. George what is that Pichney plug you speak of ,,. I saw a real long thin danny type i wondered if it was pichney ??

[Tagger]

Looks pichney .. minus eye .. I like this long thin stuff .. I think fish are more keyed into it with present bait available ..

[Tagger]

George is the blue tape one the pichney ? ... love that Pred/Head bottle ..

[mfm22]

Is the lipless going to be tweaked ? I was hoping to get to some sort of lipless .
I'm going to try and conjure up an original musso

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Tagger

George is the blue tape one the pichney ? ... love that Pred/Head bottle ..

The taped one is a small version of my "skinny donny" swimmer.
The bottle darter is too aggressive and needs different face angles.

[WoodyCT]

Originally Posted by Tagger

Looks pichney .. minus eye .. I like this long thin stuff .. I think fish are more keyed into it with present bait available ..

I'm thinking that is a Salty kit plug because of the eye, paint, newness factor. BMs were all blind I believe.

DP Eelis for comparison. Non-sloped 5.75" and 7". Sloped 5.75" and 7".

[mfm22]

from what i have heard Don's favorite lipless was a smaller one

[Diggin Jiggin]

Good morning everyone. George reading your posts makes me realize just how much of the science behind this I don't know.

I wanted to try some of the big donny surface plugs. I didn't have pine so I made a prototype of white cedar and 1 of basswood that I hadn;t been using for anything. After tweaking the weighting I got the basswood one weighted to do what I want. I'm sure its not set up 'correctly' but it looks like it will work where I will fish it. I guess until I get it into some moving water I won't really know for sure. Its amazing how much current changes how a plug works.

My current project is a polaris. I made some bigger ones last year for the canal and when you really leaned into a cast they'd get that slight wobble that costs you 20 yards.. I gotta get that figured out.

I had 2 smaller 5 1/2 inch ones that I used a bunch last fall that cast great. At the end of the year I brought them into the shop so I could copy them this winter. When I went to look at them yesterday the epoxy had lifted off the paint. Thats the only 2 plugs it happened to, so frustrating..

[numbskull]

Originally Posted by Tagger

no pics guys ??? .. George what is that Pichney plug you speak of ,,. I saw a real long thin danny type i wondered if it was pichney ??

Pichney made an eely, and BM copied it (that is what you just posted).....those are common and the plugs you are thinking about. Turns out Musso made one, too. Mike asked me about it earlier this winter. I told him it didn't exist as far as I knew. Two days letter the link to the Musso articles appeared and lo and behold there it was!

Using the picture, and what I've learned about Musso from copying his plugs I was able to make a good guess how it was set up. When the weight came out right, and the plug floated as I thought it should I was pretty sure I had it. Yesterday when I swam it I became sure. There is a jointed version as well....got one in sealer to test soon.

[numbskull]

Hello. Tested a bunch of stuff this week (the break in the weather was great).

Medium Pichney dannys with tail weights (and the available oversized lips) were fine.

Small version of my skinny donny was fine (but now I wonder why I want them anyways)

The Musso lipless swimmer and Musso bottledarter were unimpressive (probably just not right since I don't have originals)

Swam an original Pichney A40 that is much bigger than his more common version (looks like it was built on a conrad body). Very impressed.....off to the xray and cloning dept for that one.

Tried out Back Beach's rumor plug, the Musso Eely clone, that I'd never had heard of until he sent me searching. Jackpot there! Big time I suspect. Came home and started a mess more immediately. Way cool bringing something like this back to life. I'd thank Mike, but to think I learned something this good about plugs from an eel guy is more than I can bear.

The plug that was a disappointment was the large Pichney SS. Although as exact as I can make them, they don't swim like the BM versions (that have a slight concavity to the front 1/2). I think the flat/convex forward shape of the Pichney may be planing the head of the plug up and lifting the lip requiring a faster retrieve to keep it working. Whatever, it means more tweeking.

[numbskull]

Some pictures. The yellow is the BM original.

[Jigman]

Originally Posted by numbskull

Some pictures. ...

Interesting lipless. What design is that based on? I have a Lex version, feels real light and no lead in it as far as I can tell. Messed with them on and off, but have yet to get something that I am satisfied with as far as swimming action. Tried some with a tail weight, but they don't seem to swim well. Some belly weight they do ok. The face of the Lex is cupped a little and the angle is different than the one you show. I still have some work to do to get one right.

Jigman

[eastendlu]

Originally Posted by Jigman

Interesting lipless. What design is that based on? I have a Lex version, feels real light and no lead in it as far as I can tell. Messed with them on and off, but have yet to get something that I am satisfied with as far as swimming action. Tried some with a tail weight, but they don't seem to swim well. Some belly weight they do ok. The face of the Lex is cupped a little and the angle is different than the one you show. I still have some work to do to get one right.

Jigman

Yes Lex made a version of the lipless swimmer my memory sucks but it was different than the Musso.Next time i talk to Scotty and his friend i will have to ask again i remember talking about it for a while
about it at Diggers house last year.

[wrikerjr]

Originally Posted by numbskull

The Musso lipless swimmer and Musso bottledarter were unimpressive (probably just not right since I don't have originals)

I have worked off and on with a Musso Lipless swimmer for years unable to get things just right. I have an original that you can borrow. If you are interested shoot me a PM. I also have a bottle darter from Musso but Digger has borrowed that and i have not seen it in a while.

Your work is very inspiring.

[eastendlu]

Originally Posted by wrikerjr

I have worked off and on with a Musso Lipless swimmer for years unable to get things just right. I have an original that you can borrow. If you are interested shoot me a PM. I also have a bottle darter from Musso but Digger has borrowed that and i have not seen it in a while.

Your work is very inspiring.

I was wondering when you were going to chime in.

[wrikerjr]

Originally Posted by eastendlu

I was wondering when you were going to chime in.

I just sit around and look as i can't contribute much with my skills and everyone else pretty much has things down pat here. I learn as much as i can and if i can contribute i will, but the members here are very very good and know there stuff.

The lipless swimmer at Digger's house and the musso bottle darter were both mine that were floating around. Digger still has them don't know where he is with them.

If there is one thing i have tried like hell to make and that has escaped me is the lipless swimmer, at this point i am afraid to even get it right because i don't know what i would do.

I think you know where i want to throw that lipless swimmer Stay well.

[eastendlu]

Billy if when you get it back from Digger send it over so i can take a crack at it and yes i know where you want to throw it .

[wrikerjr]

Lou,

If you are going to the NY Coalition show stop by i will have a booth. If not i will give the plug to Larry or Rob and they can give it to you. I think i have 3 left, about 8 years ago i had 15 that i got from a lucky garage sale find. I miss living in Long Island

Kindest,
Billy