Culling systems

[ikeslayer]

So i was at walmart today and they have this new culling system by renagade and one by berkely. First of all i am wondering for you tournament anglers how many of you actually use a culling system secondly which one have you fallen in love with and thirdly it lookes like i can make one but i wonder if i would be missing some aspect of quality. they look like they are nothing more than some string, a stringer clip, and colorful styrofoam ball. just wondering what you guys think. ike

[ricqik]

I have the clip-on types with a long rubberband. I don't like the ones that you actually have to poke through the thin skin of the lower jaw. I seen and caught bass that are culled with this type and it leaves a big slit in the bass's lower jaw skin. The bass needs this skin intacked to create a good vaccum effect for feeding, granted they can still feed but I think to a lesser degree. Just my opinion.

[HellaBass]

I use a culling system all the time, saves a huge amount of time when culling and weighing in fish. You are right, there is not much to them, you can probably make your own pretty easy.

[lookincalifornia]

i like the looks of the xtools one. anybody use this?

[bassNspear]

I use a culling system all the time. Saves alot of time, and will help you out in the long run.

[Wayne Ek]

I use the X-tools and a cull-rite. I know they can be spendy, but when 1 or 2 ounces makes the differance between 1st and 2nd place with can be thousands of dollars culling the wrong fish by guess and gosh is not going to cut it. Even if you try to cull by using the bump board you will eventually cull the heavier fish and loose weight.

[Bushwacker]

I have the X-Tools system with the electronic scale and that thing is awesome. I have been in 2 person tournaments when we have caught 25 keeper in one day and that thing saves SO much time it is unbelievable. I did take off the x-tools plastic clamps and replaced them with stainless clips that are on the old metal stringers. I had a few times where the fish would come off of the x-tools plastic.

[Daze Off]

I use a cull system all the time as well - I went to the spring clips with rubber strings after using the ones with the stringer clip and styro balls - that one broke on my so many times it was pathetic - I'd go in the livewell and find a bund of balls floating loose with no way to know which fish went with which ball. Silly little chain pulled out of the clip too easily.

I start with the Golden Rule but when it gets tough I break out either the Berkley scale or the balance beam which is foolproof I think.

Daze Off

[bassphish2005]

a balance beam works for most applications

but always have a scale in boat...good thoughts

[HellaBass]

Yeah, I forgot to mentioned that I use a cull beam with my floats, and the foam balls come off pretty easy, but I found if you pushed the tube back through and tied a knot in the tube it is fiized permanently, so I did that to all of them

[SluggoMaster]

I have the X-Tools, but rarely use that feature. I find it more irritating when you get a mis-read and it's a pain to clear that fish.

[Banger]

I use a culling system all of the time. I use the one with the spring clip and colored tubes. Works great and think that it puts less stress on the fish compared to the stringer clips. I also use a beam, it comes in handy more often than one thinks.

[ikeslayer]

i just wanted to thank everyone for there advice so far. i think i am going to try and make my own i looked into all the stuff and to make them is about 7 bucks and the cheapest and most cheaply made is about 12. Anyway thanks to all of you for this great info. i sure do appreciated it. Anyone else out there care to give your to bits aobut culling systems i would love to hear it.

Also just a quick thought. Do walleye tourney guys use culling systems? Are they the same as us bassin guys.

ike

[Bullwinkle]

Make sure you have a dry erase board or a pencel/paper handy too. If you're like me you'll forget which was which after catching several fish. Was the Orange 2.5lbs or was it the red? Trust me ... it will help.

[ikeslayer]

i don't know if i am beating the dead horse here with this culling topic but i think i am going to use some old broken billed crank baits for the floats if i can scroung up enough of them. Secondly clips do i get the over sized safety pin style? i heard some people discourage me from this kind cause it means i will have to poke holes in the fishes mouth. OR do i get the clips and risk them comming off. Any advice would be appreciated. ike

[HellaBass]

I like the saftey pin type, usually there a hole from your hook, so not ver often do you have to punch a new hole. There are pros & cons with both

[fishfearme]

I have the x-tools and the cheap safety pin style from bps. I like the pin style better because I've had a terrible time with fish shaking the x-tools off.

[beeflover]

Ya know, if you're in a tourney and not using a culling system that probably means some lack of confidence. If you don't think your gonna cull fish you probably won't.

So get a culling sytem and plan on using it. I have a scale too and keep a log of the colors and weights as I go. If the log shows a fish in the well smaller than I just caught then I just grab that color and release the fish. Give that color to the new fish and record the new weight.

The only thing this saves is having to mess with two fish on the beam.

Once you get a culling system and a scale or beam then the only reason you screw up is because you don't use it. Then you end up wasting a lot of time trying to catch those wild little 12 in fish in the bottom of the well. Once you cull those 12 inchers you can really waste a lot of time sorting the larger fish. Too much fish handling and wasted time.

If you have a good live well, you may want use your culling system in practice. It's fun to see what kind of 5 fish weight you can put together. I don't recommend this on hot days when fish mortality could be a problem.

Got the itch? You bet!

[ikeslayer]

great advice and a good mental justification for buying more bassin equipment. well fellas i have said it before i do appreciate this topic and all the different angles if anyone has anything left to say i would LOVE to hear it. ike

[ikeslayer]

hey i would like to thank all of you for your inspiration to do this. i was gitty to do it. The floats are unbreakable bobbers and i broke the centers out of them. the one rapala is a dt 10 that i broke last year and drilled a whole through. i put rod epoxy on the bobber to toughen them up a little cause i think i would wreck plain only styrofoam. thanks for the ideas and thoughts

ike

nice foot i know

[TNFL]

That looks nice, how much did it cost?

If I didn't recognize that as a ping pong table I might think those safety pins are rather large in comparison to your foot. Ahh, the tricks of photography.

[TNFL]

Any advice you can get from Beeflover about culling fish is solid and right on.

Inside joke that won't be mentioned again.

[ikeslayer]

The whole thing cost me 5 bucks. i had the rope. the Floats were 3 bucks and the clips about 1 and the zip ties 1. So think all of it was a little over 5 bucks but i couldn't bring myself to buy one for 13 for the cheapest or 50 for xtools. Yes and it is a ping pong table. Nice trick huh?

ike