Stan Gibbs, legendary plugmaker and founding father of Gibbs Lures, used his testing grounds of the Cape Cod Canal to hone an excellent many lure designs within the years following World Struggle II. A number of of these designs survive at the moment, not simply within the choices of Gibbs Lure Firm, however by means of different plug builders who’ve additional honed Gibbs’ designs to their waters and fishing types. It’d be troublesome to decide on which of Gibbs’ lure types has had probably the most lasting influence on striped-bass fishing. It’s tempting to select the pencil popper, the long-casting topwater that introduced stripers past depend to the floor. Nonetheless, ask a surfcaster who plies his commerce beneath the duvet of darkness crucial Gibbs design, and he’ll absolutely let you know it’s the darter.
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Historical past of the Darter
The primary darter pre-dated Gibbs’ design by some 30 years. The Creek Chub Darter was initially made in freshwater sizes within the Nineteen Twenties, however bigger fashions for saltwater quickly appeared within the catalog. The Creek Chub Darter had a smaller, much less dramatic flat spot on prime that doubtless brought about it to swim shallow and favor calmer water. Gibbs took this design and exaggerated it, making a steeper angle on the slope and increasing the flat spot midway down the plug, which helped it maintain in present and swim deeper.
Whereas it was the waters of Cape Cod that impressed Gibbs’ darter design, it was Montauk that made it well-known. For a few years, some fishermen believed the darter labored solely at Montauk. The sweeping currents, altering depths, and ample boulders across the East Finish of Lengthy Island do make it textbook water for the darter.
With the darter’s success at Montauk, extra plug builders started making them. Within the Sixties, Jack Frech, revolutionary Lengthy Island surfcaster and plug builder, made a model of Gibbs’ darter that was heavier and a bit wider, permitting for longer casts. However a darter is a troublesome plug to make properly and imperfections within the wooden led to inconsistent actions. With no dramatic lip to present the lure life, a darter have to be balanced to realize that zigzagging motion.
Growth of the Plastic Darter
It was frustration with the inconsistency of wood darters that led Don Musso to start producing his personal darter, the Tremendous Strike “Zig Zag” in plastic within the mid-Nineteen Eighties. The plastic supplied the consistency and sturdiness lacking from the wooden and allowed him so as to add weights horizontally contained in the plug, which higher balanced it.
Immediately, there are a number of darter choices in each plastic and wooden. North Bar Lures makes a plastic “Montauk Darter” modeled after Frech’s design. Tactical Anglers makes the 7-inch, 3-ounce plastic SubDarter, and even launched a smaller model, the Jr. SubDarter. For a short time, Cotton Cordell—maker of the timeless Crimson Fin minnow plug— additionally produced a plastic darter, the hilariously named “Sea Hag.”
Wood darters stay obtainable from Gibbs, in addition to various boutique builders who promote their wares at flea markets and thru social media flash gross sales.
Fishing darters is easy, supplied you’ve chosen your location properly. A sluggish retrieve throughout the present places the plug to work. Most frequently, you gained’t really feel a darter working by means of your rod tip, the best way you’d really feel a metallic lip or bottle plug thumping. As a substitute, a gentle resistance because the lure digs into the present lets it’s working. Sometimes interrupting the retrieve with a snap of the rod tip will help persuade a following bass to strike, however usually, a slow-steady reel is all you want.
Relying on the form of the darter, the motion might be a meandering S-turn or a tighter zigzag. Select the previous model for faster-moving waters and the latter for sluggish water.
Whereas darters are an absolute must-have lure for Montauk, they’re additionally required for any nearshore rips, inlets, or current-swept factors. Even open seashores with a great sweep will be fertile floor for swinging darters. In truth, many seashore fishermen report an improve within the dimension of the fish they hook when switching from minnow plugs to darters.
The darter design has persevered for 100 years and can proceed to catch for so long as there are transferring waters and striped bass inside them.
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