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Spring bobber or not?


Cooter

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I'm gonna guess almost all you icefishermen use a spring bobber for small jig/live bait or plastic combos and go without a spring bobber only with heavier jigs/spoons? If you don't use a spring bobber on the light stuff are you watching line, the rod tip, feel, or a combination of the three?

While I'm on it, any concerns with say the yellow Stren as far as fish being shy of it? My old man(who ice fishes way more than me) doesn't have the best eyes anymore and he likes the yellow but asked it I thought it spooked fish. I thought probably not on most of the lakes we fish cuz none are what you would call clear. Thanks, later.

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I fish without a spring bobber. I fish by line watching and feel. As far as Stren's Hi-Vis Gold, I only fish one lake where I have noticed fish being line shy to Hi-Vis Gold. I don't think it makes much of a difference.

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I have spring bobbers on 4 of my rods and after getting the hang of them last year I wish I would have started using them sooner. Couldn't beleive the number of fish you "miss" over using a regular slip bobber. haven't gotten that good at "feel fishing" yet but am also working on that. grin.gif

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90 percent of the time Cooter I am a no spring type of guy.. But when the fish, namely panfish, start to just hang onto the bait I will bring out a spring... And on some crappie bites as well..

With a good rod and good feel, a spring is not needed the majority of the time.. But I would suggest, for someone who has limited jigging experience to dive into the realm of springs.. A lot easier to detect the bite... The downside, is it can be a hassle to store these types of rods without ruining the springs and such... One reason I opt for only a few spring set-ups...

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I probably do about half of my panfishing with the St Croix Legend spring bobber. Panfish aren't always aggressive, and when they aren't, you HAVE to use a spring to catch fish. I don't care how sensitive your rod is, how good you are at line watching, you are missing fish! Lots of them!

If you aren't using a spring and notice a lot of fish "looking" at your bait on the flasher, they aren't "looking", they are "biting"! But you just aren't detecting it. A spring will solve that problem!

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Last year I started using spring bobbers for pans and it really stepped up my game. It took me a few outings to get used to it but once you get your timing down, watch out. Hi-Vis gold is definetly one of my favorite mono ice line. I've never noticed it negatively effect the fishing.

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I'm not a big fan of the spring bobber, but Hanson is right. Those panfish can repeatedly suck in your bait and blow it out in the blink of an eye and you’ll never know it. I’ve watched many fish do this on the camera. When I break the tips off the rods I have now, which is inevitable, I’ll take another look at spring bobbers.

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All my rods have spring bobbers ( strike indicator)on them. I use the Croix Legends also. I just use a heavier spring for heavier jigs. When using a spring it changes the action of the jigging a lot. More of a subtle jigging motion. You WILL catch more fish. grin.gif

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Quote:

I'm not a big fan of the spring bobber, but Hanson is right. Those panfish can repeatedly suck in your bait and blow it out in the blink of an eye and you’ll never know it. I’ve watched many fish do this on the camera.


Thats right Joe! It took me buying a $600 underwater camera to learn I can catch panfish with a $6 spring. smile.gif

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I use to prodominately fish panfish with a spring bobber. The only time I really didn't care for them was when I was outside in the blowing wind and seeing my spring dance in the wind. It was hard to tell the bites from the breeze.

I now have gotten away from the spring bobber and went to a more sensitite tipped rod. Between watching the line and looking for a little "tick" at the end of my rod, I have been able to still catch my share. I will however switch to my spring rod when I see them as "sniffers" on the Vex.

I found it difficult to fish anything remotely heavy with the spring bobber. How do you guys fish walleyes with them without having the spring laying flat?

CA

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Quote:

I found it difficult to fish anything remotely heavy with the spring bobber. How do you guys fish walleyes with them without having the spring laying flat?


Heavier springs! I've been using the St. Croix MH spring lately and it works quite well with a 1/8 oz Go Devil tipped with half a fathead.

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Heavier springs! I've been using the St. Croix MH spring lately and it works quite well with a 1/8 oz Go Devil tipped with half a fathead.


I realized after I had sent this that there are probably many different sizes of springs. To be honest I haven't purchased a spring bobber for about 5 years and am not up to snuff as to what is even out there. Can you tell? Just curious when you are jigging for walleyes with a spring bobber, does it change the action like on small panfish jigs?

I have never thought of using a spring bobber for eyes.

I guess I am used to either watching an ice buster, or jiggin.

CA

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Thanks for the replies, I don't know if I could fish panies without a spring bobber. When I was young and went fishing with my dad(18+ years ago) he had spring bobbers rigged on all his poles - nothing more than stiff fiberglass cheapies with the tips cut off so they weren't so long. I can still remember him boiling up water for the shrink tubing. Other than bite detection, I'm convinced you get a different jiggin action with the spring bobber, more subtle as someone mentioned.

And the St Croix spring bobbers, I was in the local Gander Mtn and they didn't have any. I went with the panfish poppers - haven't fished with one yet but got it rigged up and looks like it should work just fine. Not only no St Croix bobbers, but no stren hi-vis under 4lb test frown.gif

Thanks again, later.

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I started using spring bobbers 2 years ago just because I though ahh what the hell I will give it a whirl. Well I have one rod setup with a spring bobber and one without and with the same hook same depth, I will alway catch more fish with the spring bobber. I use an adjustable spring and I use it for crappies and walleyes and perch on mille lacs. It is always fun to see it bop around with crappies and then I can go to mille lacs and I use a buckshot rattle jig on a spring bobber and when that walleye or jumbo perch hits and that sb folds over, there is nothing better in my opinion.

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Cooter

You are correct on the jigging action with the springs.. One big thing that people overlook... With certain jigs, you definately can swim a lure really well with a spring...

But as I stated before.. 99 percent of the time I can catch just as many fish without a spring...

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