Baitrunner Substitute

[Blue Kayak]

I found the following tip on the Web and thought it might be useful for cats:

"Remove your reel and put a thick-ish rubber band over the butt end of your rod, wrapping it around the butt several times until the band sits fairly firmly. Then roll the band over the reel-seat until it sits on the upper hand grip. Reattach the reel and rig as normal. After casting out, leave the bail-arm open and pull some loose line from the first (lowest) runner and form a basic loop. Slip the tip of the loop under the band and there you have it. A fish bites, snaps the line from the band and can then pull line straight from the reel. It's also quite versatile:

- most upper hand-grips taper slightly so you can tighten or loosen the band by rolling it to the thicker or thinner end;

- you achieve a similar result by putting the loop under one or more than one bands of rubber;

- for timid feeders, a bare minimum of line can be put under just one band of rubber;

- for rough conditions or where a boat is bouncing up and down, more of the loop can be put under two or more bands of rubber though this obviously loses sensitivity;

- it is very good for night fishing where you cannot see bites clearly as the line makes a fair noise when pulled out. I use it exclusively at night when snapper fishing from a boat as it is a great bite-indicator without the need for any lights, luminous strips or those ridiculous rod-tip bells;

- it is very good for anyone still using a rod that is heavy or stiff all the way through to the tip and where bites would not always be obvious anyway."

[DTro]

I can see it now. Look at my avatar and now picture my pole skipping across the water. I have a feeling a few rubber band snaps might not wake me

Not only that, but quite often a log or big stick will drift by and it never fails to find my line.

[Dennis Steele]

How can you sleep when you might have that 55lber chomping on your bait!

Oh thats right...you allready got your 55lber!

[barnyard]

We used to use those on our spinning rods. The only problem is that rubber bands deteriorate. Some quicker than others.

I really like a DuBro line release clip. Dubro has a fancier name for it. I've seen them at Bass Pro and in their catalog.

The release is adjustable and the line makes kind of "popping" noise when it comes out. We set ours so that if a fish pulls the line out of the clip, they are hooked (we use circle hooks.)

I have them on my spinning rods, so if you are at the Sturgeon Excursion, you can have a look.

Tom B

[icehousebob]

For shore fishing cats and sturgeon, my boys and I have used a different system. we would have the rods in a holder and bring a loop of line down from between the second and third rod eyelets. We hang a weight of some sort on it, the more current, the more weight. When a fish bites, the weight will be pulled upward. I saw a glowstick used once at night that really showed the bite well. With circle hooks, when the loop is taken all the way up, take off the weight and start reeling.

[rushing]

I suppose that would work when using non live bait or maybe even suckers, but boy them fat "7in" bullies can pull pretty hard.

[icehousebob]

True, It works well for crawlers and cut bait.

[fisherking32]

I sometimes use a technique similar to bob's, except I use one of those red/white bobbers with the button on top. You can turn the small wire curve so its out of the hole used to grip the line, so the line slides freely through it. You can easily see bites and also still set the hook and reel, without having to undo anything.

[barnyard]

A friend of mine uses the red and white bobber also, with one mod. He takes a paper clip and bends it so it looks like an "s", then puts the bobber on one end of the clip and puts the other end through the line.

With his rig, you can set the hook and start reeling without taking the bobber off the line.

In current, he attaches an icefishing lead depthbomb to the paperclip.

Tom B