The 12 months was 1976 and the place was Brenton Reef off Newport, Rhode Island. I used to be fishing with the fiendishly intelligent and fanatically secretive striper ace, Fran Sargent, in his stealthy tin beater boat. By no means heard of Fran Sargent? That was the best way he wished it; he made the Mad Russian (the furtive winner of 4 Winery Derbies) appear to be a socialite. Even if you happen to had heard of Fran, you by no means noticed the place he fished and also you by no means, ever noticed him land a fish, although on the finish of the day, you might need observed his boat sitting a number of inches deeper within the water. If Fran had been sloppy or exhausted, you might need seen an enormous sq. tail poking out of an overstuffed fish field, however in all of the years I fished with him, I noticed him drop his guard solely as soon as. The fish consumers at Spooner’s in Westport, Massachusetts, knew the rating, however virtually nobody else knew about his unimaginable haul of striped bass.
Anyway, the circumstances seemed promising that day in Newport, with an overcast sky and straightforward rollers coming in from the southwest; nevertheless, the fishing had been dismal and even Fran, the very best striper man I ever fished with, couldn’t conjure up a bass. We had been messing round with Atom 40s and related plugs, however couldn’t get them to swim proper. We acquired a number of swirls, however no hookups.
“Effectively, okay,” sighed Fran. “I suppose I ought to strive certainly one of these plugs that Charley Soares gave me.”
Fran reached into his canvas sea bag and pulled out a big silver-and-blue plug in a transparent plastic wrapper. This was the legendary, virtually legendary plug turned by the hand of Danny Pichney himself. I had heard rumors of such plugs, however they had been principally unimaginable to acquire in my space. No deal with shops that I knew of in New England carried them again then. Robert Vasta advised me that he had to purchase his first Danny plugs within the 70s out of the again of Charlie Kay’s truck at Breezy Level jetty. Steve Campo famous that there have been a number of retailers in New York Metropolis and Lengthy Island that carried Danny plugs, however I assumed they didn’t final very lengthy on the cabinets. In southern New England, Danny Pichney plugs had been out there solely to some sharpies who had entry to Danny himself. Fortunately, Charley Soares was a type of sharpies, and he had given us a number of of the plugs within the hope that he may curry favor with the notoriously tight-lipped Fran Sargent (all for naught, however that could be a completely different story).
Fran unwrapped the plug, and I gawked in surprise at this unique Danny within the “Mullet” colour. It was essentially the most lovely plug I had ever seen because it shimmered within the faint daylight. It appeared a disgrace to threat sending such an beautiful creation into hurt’s approach, however Fran dismissed my objection, snapped it onto his line, and made a protracted solid downwind to a hidden reef, a reef with no white water displaying. It betrayed its presence solely as a slight watery hump because the seas rolled over it. It didn’t look very promising or notably fishy.
None of us had been ready for what occurred subsequent. The plug traveled about two toes on the floor of the water and wiggled a number of instances, leaving an ideal wake. It then disappeared in a cloud of spray and was the final we noticed of it. It was barely moist when a striper exploded on it and took off. Fran’s Squidder reel whizzed and his heavy, 9-foot blonde Lamiglas rod doubled over. Even with 50-pound Dacron line and the drag screwed down as tight as he dared, Fran couldn’t management the fish; it went to the underside, ran over some barnacle-covered rocks, then his line went slack. Fran, muttering varied unprintable invectives, reeled in his limp line that ended with a frazzled chief of 60-pound monofilament the place the plug had as soon as, ever so briefly, been hooked up.
Each of us had been surprised. Right here was a plug, contemporary out of the package deal, nonetheless smelling of paint and epoxy. In contrast to the Atom 40s and different plugs we experimented with, we didn’t should fiddle with the attention. This real Danny plug swam completely proper out of the bag, however not for lengthy. I had by no means encountered a lure with such a brief lifespan.
No surprise the unique Danny Pichney plugs had a mystique about them. Not solely had been they well-nigh unimaginable to acquire, they had been far and away the very best floor lures of their period. From that day ahead, I had a fascination with these creations. Finally, I contacted Danny and ordered a number of shipments. What he despatched me was a grab-bag of assorted fashions and colours (some had been experimental). Some we used, and a few I saved away as collector’s gadgets.
In addition to the floor swimmers, we additionally used a Pichney plug known as the “Conrad,” a big, weighty hardwood subsurface lure that ran deep. When the surf was heavy, we reached for Conrads as a result of they traveled beneath the white water as a substitute of wiggling round fruitlessly within the suds like a floor swimmer. The Conrad had a sluggish, seductive rolling motion that proved irresistible to very large striped bass. In our expertise, Conrads within the blue/pink/white “herring” colour had been the very best fish catchers. Probably the most violent strikes I’ve ever skilled had been on these plugs throughout pre- and post-hurricane swells off Sakonnet and Newport. It felt like my arms had been being wrenched out of their sockets.
After our explosive first expertise with the Danny floor swimmer, Fran Sargent and I fished completely with unique Pichney plugs after we may get them. As soon as, we even bumped into Danny himself, who was fishing with Charlie Soares off Cuttyhunk. Danny was utilizing a traditional Penn Squidder with a stiff casting rod. He advised us how the fish had been on a “wooden eating regimen” that day, which we didn’t doubt.
I fished huge Danny floor swimmers and Conrads for a decade or so till I used to be fortunate sufficient to get in on the legendary striper blitzes on Block Island within the 80s. Though Danny had reluctantly made a number of needlefish, it was the Gibbs, Gags, and Tremendous Strike needlefish that dominated Block Island throughout these glory years. The one exception gave the impression to be the stubby, single-hook needlefish Danny made for Tim Coleman. The golden age of enormous wood swimming plugs had began to wind down. After that, curiosity within the unique Dannys waned, and so they pale away, aside from lure collectors who prized them above all others, particularly the rarest fashions and colours.
One of many causes that Pichney lures are so valued by collectors at this time is that Danny ran a small operation out of his basement and made a restricted variety of plugs. As he defined in an interview with Tim Coleman, when he first began promoting plugs, he tried to maintain his operation beneath wraps so he didn’t get overwhelmed with orders. It took Frank Keating, a fishing author for the Lengthy Island Press, three years to seek out out who was making these amazingly efficient lures. After all, this secrecy simply enhanced their mystique and desirability.
As we speak, there are numerous plug builders churning out lovely Danny-style plugs, and it’s simple to overlook the way it all started. Danny Pichney (1921-1988) was a machinist from Jackson Heights, New York. He labored for Con Edison in Lengthy Island Metropolis; in his spare time, he loved fashioning his personal fishing lures. In addition to, as he defined to Tim Coleman, within the outdated days he couldn’t afford commercially out there plugs. Danny was a resourceful scrounger, amassing outdated pallets from Con Ed or discarded props from native theaters to make use of as wooden for his lures. If the wooden was not thick sufficient, he glued two slabs collectively to get one thing thick sufficient to activate his lathe after which fastidiously place the heaviest wooden on the underside of the plug. In line with Steve Campo, Danny bartered for all types of supplies comparable to grommets, hooks, bucktails, stainless lip materials, and plastic packaging materials. Because of this, there was some variability within the supplies utilized in his lures. In contrast to at this time’s tremendous glossed, air-brushed plugs, Pichney plugs have small diagnostic marks, streaks, and nicks, however the end is extraordinarily sturdy and lengthy lasting. Nobody is aware of, or is prepared to say, what Danny used for his secret paint and epoxy coatings, however it was some form of risky natural compound that’s most likely not authorized at this time. Or at the least I hope so.
In 1966, Danny teamed up with one other legendary lure builder from that period, Don Musso (who went on to create Tremendous Strike lures). Sadly, this collaboration ended acrimoniously in 1973. One problem was a dispute over the 6-inch floor swimmer. In line with Musso, Danny bought the design to Lupo Lures with out consulting him first. The 6-inch swimmer, a scaled down model of the 7½-inch floor swimmers that Fran Sargent and I used, was supposedly an unique design by Musso. He realized that by tapering each ends of the lure (within the form of a tuna, as he defined), he may make it journey with a greater wiggle and a smaller swim plate than the Atom 40 or different related lures; thus, a legend was born. Sadly for Musso, from then on, this lure was named the Danny when perhaps it ought to have been known as the Donny.
By all accounts, Danny Pichney was a beneficiant and really personable lure builder and fishing companion. I discovered him very participating within the lengthy telephone conversations I had with him, and others who knew him higher felt the identical approach. Robert Vasta stated this: “He would make any plug you wished. He would at all times work with you. Truly, he seemed for enter from fishermen on a regular basis.” Steve Campo knew Danny very effectively and known as him an “superior” individual.
The Pichney Conrad plug had a special genesis. It was named after Conrad Malicoat (1936–2014), a talented artisan from Provincetown, Massachusetts, who was well-known for his artwork and elaborate brickwork. Malicoat was a resourceful craftsman; he constructed one of many historic dune shacks at P-City from scrap lumber and driftwood. He additionally cherished to fish the Bottom Seashore and Race Level, typically with the crew from the Striper Surf Membership in Brooklyn. Conrad wanted a lure that will run deep within the rips off the Cape, so he created an enormous oak plug for his personal use. In line with a surfcaster from the membership named Timmy “Tuna” Lendino, in about 1972, Joe Caparetta, a fellow membership member, discovered certainly one of these lures on the seaside one evening at Race Level. It was a breezy night and Joe wanted a heavy plug that might minimize by means of the wind, so he snapped on the Conrad. He caught an enormous bass (at the least 50 kilos, in line with Lendino) on his first solid. Joe introduced the lure dwelling, confirmed it to Danny, and requested him to make one thing comparable. After numerous enhancements by Danny and Don, one other legendary plug was born. By all accounts, Malicoat had jealously guarded his lure, refusing to point out it to anybody, together with his fishing buddies within the Striper Surf Membership. In line with his niece, Orin Dunigan, Conrad had a “sizzling Irish mood,” and when he came upon {that a} business model of his plug was being made, he was livid. He gave up striper fishing ceaselessly, snapped all his fishing poles in half, and by no means talked to his mates on the membership once more.
Steve Sylver, a extremely expert cabinetmaker and lure builder from Cape Cod, made a number of reproductions of the unique Malicoat Conrad for some mates. These replicas bear little resemblance to the Danny Conrad. The Malicoat plugs are enormous, robust, beastly affairs of oak with large brass screw eyes to carry the hooks as a substitute of the extra elegant thru-wire development that Danny and Don used for the Pichney Conrad.
There’s a mythology in regards to the supplies that went into Pichney Conrads. Everybody assumes that they had been all made from rock maple, however Steve Sylver advised me that Danny used no matter hardwood he may scrounge, not simply maple, however oak and, particularly, ash. The primary handful of Pichney Conrads had been thicker than the later ones. The rumor is that Danny made them from axe or sledgehammer handles, which signifies that these early fashions had been made from hickory. In any case, the Malicoat and Danny Conrads share the identical identify and similar deep-diving means, however the development appears fairly completely different to me.
One other little bit of Pichney mythology entails the one tail hooks on the swimmers. Through the heyday of massive plug fishing, the story was that Danny had invented the usage of a single hook on the tail to reinforce the lure’s motion. Steve Campo has a extra prosaic rationalization: Danny by no means used a vice to tie the bucktails to his tail hooks, however used his hand to carry the hooks as a substitute. Campo stated Danny discovered it a lot simpler to tie them onto a single hook as a substitute of a treble. Steve Sylver famous that this “innnovation” can be utilized thus far Pichney lures for the reason that earliest Danny plugs have treble tail hooks whereas the usual later plugs have single tail hooks.
In addition to the floor swimmers and Conrad plugs, Danny made all kinds of different lures comparable to darters, trolling plugs, and needlefish in varied shapes and colours. He revamped 20 fashions and over 90 mannequin/paint combos, lots of that are fairly uncommon. The most typical Danny plug might be his 6-inch floor swimmer or the 5½-inch Conrad. The rarest and most collectible Pichneys are his needlefish, sandeel, reverse squid, pencil and common poppers, and jointed plugs. There are numerous completely different fashions between these extremes.
Danny made many metal-lipped swimmers. The floor swimmer got here in at the least three customary sizes: 7½-inch, 6-inch, and the lovable little 4½-inch swimmer. Steve McKenna additionally has a 5-inch model that Danny known as the Small.
The Conrad additionally got here in varied sizes: 7½-inch, 5½-inch, a small measurement at 4¾ inches, and the Peanut at 4¼ inches. The Conrad Peanut was a skinny, heavy plug and normally had a groove across the head for an eel pores and skin. This was a favourite plug of the Narragansett crowd. Often, Danny minimize a pointy angle on the face of the 5½-inch Conrad, lures known as Slope-heads which are pretty uncommon.
The so-called Bootleg subsurface plug appears like a floor swimmer that has been on a eating regimen. Bootlegs will not be widespread, however Danny made even rarer, thinner plugs known as the Sandeel and Jointed Sandeel that had been his reply to the Insurgent and Redfin plugs well-liked within the 70s with the Cape Cod crowd.
A extra widespread household of lures from Danny is his Trollers, which he made in lots of colours and three sizes, the biggest of which is a whopping 8 inches lengthy. A Troller has a protracted, step by step sloping head and Pat Abate offered some background on it: “The troller was influenced by Ronny Lepper, a New York firefighter and constitution captain. The boat sharpies within the New York Bight had been modifying Creek Chub Large Pikies by planing or sawing sloped heads on them and repainting them. Ron went to Danny and requested him to provide you with a greater model. He did.”
Simply to complicate issues much more, Danny additionally made a swimmer with a rounded head that was form of a wood analogue of the Atom plug. There have been at the least 4 sizes starting from 7¼ to 4¾ inches. The size of the mid-sized Junior model seems to have some variability, like so many different Pichney lures.
Danny additionally made darters in varied colours and sizes, together with a 7¼-inch darter with three hooks and a smaller one with two hooks.
Danny’s needlefish are laborious to come back by however had been made with 1, 2, and three hooks. Danny known as the single-hook model he made for Tim Coleman the Shorty Feathertail, however it was nicknamed the Pocket Rocket by the Block Island crowd. Tim additionally known as it his wood Hopkins. Danny was not too eager on needlefish, so there will not be a number of them on the market. Those in colours beside his stable white or black are like hen’s tooth today and extremely prized by collectors.
In my conversations with Danny, he advised me that the lures he actually didn’t wish to make—as a result of they had been so troublesome—had been giant, jointed plugs. Consequently, these, comparable to his big jointed pikie, are among the many rarest and most collectible of the Danny plugs. He did make numerous smaller jointed plugs known as eelies. One mannequin is the Sloped Headed Eely and one other, rarer lure, is named the Flat-nose Eely, which was one of many deadliest plugs in my surf bag.
The colour schemes that Danny selected to make use of on his plugs vastly impacts their worth and collectability. The white or Mullet sample (royal blue again, silvery sides, and a white stomach) is the most typical. The rarest and most fascinating finishes for a collector is the Cape Cod sandeel colour (burnt orange over white), the light-green-over-silver colour, and the mackerel or fish-scale sample.
Of all of the outdated saltwater plugs, I think about Pichneys to be essentially the most collectible for varied causes. First, think about the value. Most of at this time’s collectors are hardcore surfcasters from the 70s and 80s, and we’re fading out today (alas), so the variety of collectors is getting smaller and the costs have dropped. Another excuse is that the lures age so effectively. In contrast to outdated Atom plugs which have a muddy colour from pale varnish, the Pichneys at this time look as contemporary and glowing as they did when first made. Once I take one out of its plastic wrapper, it appears precisely the identical as after I first noticed one some 50 years in the past with Fran Sargent. I suppose the largest cause that I’m intrigued by these lures is that they’re simply so lovely to have a look at and convey again reminiscences of a bygone period of striper fishing.
The worth of unique Danny plugs is presently very cheap. You may most likely purchase a pristine unique floor swimmer or Conrad in its wrapper, untouched since Danny himself packaged it, for about $50 to $80; barely used variations promote for much less. The rarest Pichneys price over $100 if you’ll find them, however they do come up on the market from time to time.
There’s a small, tight-knit group of Pichney collectors who talk on-line. A lot of the shopping for, promoting, and buying and selling of those lures is finished by means of the “Purchase/Promote/Commerce” discussion board on the StripersOnline message board. Pichney plugs sometimes present up on eBay, at property gross sales, or in “divorce” gross sales, when a disgruntled partner sells off a group for pennies on the greenback in a yard sale. A fishing pal of mine misplaced all his Pichney and outdated wood Atom plugs in simply such a fireplace sale.
So, what occurred to Danny Pichney’s jigs, designs, and gear? They went to Bobby Glauda, who apprenticed with Danny as a youngster, making plugs and studying his methods. The lures that Bobby makes are often called Beachmaster lures, and are just like Danny plugs however with a extra polished look. And like the unique Pichneys, Beachmasters are laborious to seek out. They sometimes present up in deal with shops, however are rapidly wolfed up. The arrival of Beachmaster lures within the Nineteen Nineties might have sparked the present resurgence in high-quality, hand-crafted wood plugs.
Study Extra About Pichney Plugs
You probably have questions on Pichney plugs, the very best place to start out is with the StripersOnline plug collector’s discussion board. Russ “Bassdozer” Comeau created a complete listing of the assorted Pichney and early Musso fashions and colours at bassdozer.com. One other useful resource is the Saltwater Lure Collectors Membership. They maintain an annual present at White’s of Westport in Westport, Massachusetts. Right here, you’re going to get an opportunity to see or purchase some unique Pichney lures.
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