Techniques -- Fishing a Danny or similar top water wooden plug

[bunkerjoe4]

Several of our newest members have mentioned they appreciate coming here, but feel somewhat intimidated by our members who have years of experience.

That's a good point. If you are inexperienced, you can be near an angler who is using the same setup as you, and outfishing you 5 to 1. I decided to set up threads to help our newest members learn "How" and "Why". The "where" will be your responsibility. :learn:

If we can teach you how and why, then we have helped people to become better anglers. Anyone is welcome to join in, and give their feedback on what works for them in different conditions.

[stripercrazy]

How I fish a Danny or big-bodied metal lip swimmer: I usually fish them at night, or in darker times of the day. If at the beach, I just throw out and fan cast, trying to cover as much ground as I can from where I am. I retrieve very slowly, straight retrieve, and let the body of the plug and the lip take care of the action.

I prefer to use them when it's calmer, I have other swimmers to use for rough surf. If fishing from the jetties, I try to run the plug parallel to the jetty with test casts when I first get there, and then try my fan cast method as described from the surf.

[skinner]

People make mistakes by swimming a Danny too fast. It's meant to be retreived very slowly, you should be able to see the V wake.

[nitestrikes]

Very good plugs to use with teasers, at night once the fall run starts. :thumbsup:

[surfstix1963]

Metal Lipped Swimmers:One of my favorite plugs to work in and around rocks and along side of jetties.

Some of these plugs have tight wobbles and some have a roll and a little wider wobble.

The most important thing when fishing these is not to lose contact w/ the lure at all, bass like to follow swimmers and often whack it when they realize its getting away.

When you buy one of these lures take it for a test swim make sure you know what that particular lure is made to do when you buy it if you don't know ask.The reason for test swimming these is you will be more than likely fishing in the dark and you want to know ahead of time the lure is swimming right.

You can make adjustments to the line tie if you want it to swim higher on top bend the line tie down and up to dig deeper.I would suggest to you not to mess with the metal lip if the plug is swimming that badly take it back to where you bought it and get it replaced.

There are quite a few of these on the market and every builder has made subtle changes in their performance if your buying custom swimmers ask the builder what you should expect the plug to do before coughing up $25-$30 it may not be what you are looking for.

[stripercrazy]

The most important thing when fishing these is not to lose contact w/ the lure at all, bass like to follow swimmers and often whack it when they realize its getting away.

When you buy one of these lures take it for a test swim make sure you know what that particular lure is made to do when you buy it if you don't know ask.The reason for test swimming these is you will be more than likely fishing in the dark and you want to know ahead of time the lure is swimming right.

You can make adjustments to the line tie if you want it to swim higher on top bend the line tie down and up to dig deeper.I would suggest to you not to mess with the metal lip if the plug is swimming that badly take it back to where you bought it and get it replaced.



Good advice you gave there, I love fishing dannies at night.:fishing:
Here's a video I found. It was filmed by Mike Laptew the stripers gone wild guy. It's interesting to watch the plug from below, great water shots.
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[DarkSkies]

Bump to the top for Mike O. :HappyWave:
To all the other members, a Danny as I call it, or a metal lipped swimmer, is a good profile to use when bunker are around, and herring as well.

It's mainly thought of as an early-season plug by some folks because of this...another thing to remember, is that late season (now), in addition to the small bait profiles you need to match, we have had pods and pods of bunker, and sea herring, coming along as part of the fall migration. (many times there are little or no fish under them, though)

If you fish at night in areas of current, or just adjacent to them, this is a great profile to use, and could result in a larger than average fish....

The only problem with that is the "belief" that larger fish will be there...with the spottiness we have had for most areas, you could concievably fish a Danny all night without a hit....smaller fish will hit them as well, but the size of the plug sometimes skews the catch toward bigger fish...


Also remember that a Danny is primarily an "in the dark or low light" plug...

So if you have patience and the drive to do what it takes to get a bigger fish, by all means fish a Danny this time of year, and read some of the suggestions above.....but if not, a needlefish, rubber that matches the size of the sand eels, or rubber that matches the small forage profile, and the always versatile bucktail tipped with small grub, are a good choice as well for night fishing this time of year, until the water temps drop to where there's no point in looking for the night bite...

[skinner]

Thanks dark and surfstix, very informative.

[DarkSkies]

You're welcome Skinner. I haven't contributed that much to this thread, it has been mostly Surfstix. :clapping: :HappyWave:

I'll add this for Cold water presentation:
A Danny is a good way to "cull out" the smaller fish WHEN the water is colder. If temps are warm and there is a lot of different bait putting the fish on the feed, bass of almost any size will hit a Danny, even if it appears they wouldn't be able to eat it...

When the water is colder, it's my general experience that smaller fish tend to be forage-specific eaters, meaning that since there's usually only small bait they're eating around that time they are less likely to hit a Danny. The bigger fish will slam it, though, which makes it an ideal profile for those seeking only bigger fish.

I used such a strategy the other night because initially all I was catching was very small bass... I switched to a Danny and after a very long time of no activity

(2 1/2 hours)....
Raised a bass in the mid teens class, but swung and missed. ( I also knew that herring were around, which Danny fits the profile) I got some nice fish after that on the Danny Surfstix's purple Danny with purple tail. :drool:.

My point is, that for the average surfcaster, some may not be willing to cast that long, without results, for a "questionable chance" at a bigger fish..... but it does work, as a strategy, IF you have the patience....


That's why a friend of mine, JimmyZ, and some other guys, exclusively fish with big profiles because they figure they should catch consistently catch bigger fish. :learn: