I have been looking at Poor Boys Erie Darter and plan try it out. It looks like a great change up from a tube. I would love to hear from anyone who has experience with this bait.

You didn't hear it from me but...................wait, I don't know what your talking about.

I gave up on tubes years ago for goby type baits and worms. I have a friend that pours some pretty nice baits kinda similar to the Darter but not really........ and I haven't caught anything on them. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

You sent me some of those and they suck.

If shfishinsticks sent JFranco some, it must have been out of pity. John doesn't have any lures or baits and relies on others to help him with lures. I even heard he is often seen at the entrance to his local Dicks with a cardboard sign that says, " HELP WILL WORK FOR LURES GOD BLESS." I really like that 063 color.

The smaller ones (3"?) work great here in IL, IN and WI. There's a a guide in Indiana that smokes quaility smallies on these through out the year. He is sponsored by Poorboy I think. He even has his own color. Which is a combo of two colors that already excist. I personaly have done well on the goby color and ones that look like small perch with gold and orange sparkles in them. These baits are hard to find locally now so I buy them from another site.com. They carry most colors.

http://www.captsteiger.com/

another site carries the Erie Darters....

http://www.another site.com/showcase.cfm?PID=2579

What are the baits called in the pictures above?

TW carries them. They have a good selection of colors. I have also been meaning to try these out. I have heard nothing but great things about them.

I gave up on tubes years ago for goby type baits and worms. I have a friend that pours some pretty nice baits kinda similar to the Darter but not really........ and I haven't caught anything on them. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Those do look like sweet little baits. They remind me of a bait I designed several years ago and used to sell. I really like the ribs on the one above though, really nice. I would like to get some of those. FYI, if anyone is interested in pouring this bait, I gave my design to basstackle and they now sell it on their site. Great little bait for sure.

Tail on those look like the cross tail shad

Here's another little morsel that's gonna be getting a work-out when the bite is tough.

I looked thru every soft baits page on TW but didn't see them.....

I looked thru every soft baits page on TW but didn't see them.....

I meant they carry the Eerie Darter, not the other bait picutured in this thread. Look under Poor Boys at the bottom of the page.

It doesnt get much better than the eeirie darter!

Darters!! I live just a short trip South of Poor Boy's shop, and was actually up there Friday afternoon for their open house. I fish a Tuesday night trail that the owners fish in...great people and great product.

I personally didn't fish a darter until a couple years ago, but there's no denying its effectiveness in the cold clear waters up here. Actually, for my open water fishing this past December and early January (can't believe that happened in Northern Indiana!), I had a rod with a blade bait and a rod with a darter. I favor rigging my darter on a Bite-Me Sparkie head in 3/16- 1/4 oz (on the recommendations of Greg Mangus). I definitely prefer the 1/4oz head for fishing the deeper outside edges of 20-25+ on clear natural lakes with deep vegetation. I enjoy the shape of that particular head as opposed to a ball head for gliding through grass in a more stable manner.

Nothing fancy, which is more than likely the appeal to the darter. Simply drag it along, and allow it to hang in any remaining (or in the spring's case, early) vegetation and shake and pop it free.

Smallies eat it, largemouth eat it, pike eat the heck out of the thing haha. I mess around with colors, but mostly stick with some form of watermelon, but that just depends on your local water/ preference.

This last year I didn't reserve my use of darters to the cold water period. I found it very successful down on the White River in Indianapolis for smallmouth around current breaks.

I know locally, the darter sacks many solid bags throughout the year. I was second last spring sharing a channel fishing for spawners to a guy throwing a darter. A lot of guys will drop-shot them during the summer months. And, a guy I ran into alot out late December at a local fishery sacked an absolutely monstrous 23lb bag, predominantly on a darter New Year's Eve...23lb is a very big deal up this way, but that fishery has proven its potential before

All in all, I would definitely mix the darter in between throwing a tube this spring, you should find some success.

JP