I've got a partial review of some Danny's Mr. Kelsy turned up for me this winter. He turned up 4, all different, and I got a chance to get familiar with two of them last night.
First off, the designs are of John's own creation and two are slightly reminiscent of the original Pichney's. They are all 5-6 inches long with 3 - 1/0 trebles (or 2/0?) on each. The two that are similar to the Pichneys have the traditional body shape, but maybe a little skinnier with a shorter taper in the tail. Of the two traditional models one has a standard swimming plate on the lip and the other one has a cut down plate (trimmed sides so it's narrower). I didn't use the standard one but I did swim the cut plate one (it's labeled #1).
This plug (#1) floated very level and stable at rest in the water which was very refreshing considering the Danny's I'm used to. It turned out to need moderate retrieve to get it swimming. Once moving the plug would tightly, but not too quickly swim, and the roll was not too over-pronounced. Even though the speed was quick the plug did not go crazy or lose it's rhythm. It also stayed just subsurface trailing a nice wake behind it as it moved. I plan to try this one out in faster moving water or when I want a surface swimmer with a little speed. I've got plans for it. :)
The second plug I used last night (labeled #3) is about the same length, but has a very wide belly compared to #1. Combined with the wider swim plate, this one turned out to be a very wide turning, slow rolling , beauty of a surface swimmer for slightly slower retrieves than #1. The wake it left in it's path was near perfect and the rod throbbed as it moved along. A great slow mover. It was also possible to stop it and pop it if I wanted.
John has pictures of these. Maybe he could post them and give a little better description of what he was trying to achieve with these designs.
Can't wait to try the other 2, and it turns out that the biggest critics of all, RLS, really liked #3 as well. ;)
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