where to buy QS rigs?

[Doop]

I looked at Thorne Bros. I was surprised they didn't have much to choose from. Where do you guys buy yours and how's their selection?

[hanson]

Thorne actually has a pretty good selection of nice QS rigs, they just might not be on their HSOforum. I know I was checking them out at the Ice Frenzy Show. If you need to order some, it might be worth a call up to them to see what they have.

Be careful with the HT Enterprises QS rigs however! I ran into a bunch of poorly made ones a couple years ago and they were all HT QS rigs. What happened was the front hook was just held on with rubber tubing. The tubing is used to position the hook on the wire but when they made these things, they didn't thread the wire through the eyelet on the front hook.

I hadn't noticed this small detail until losing a couple of pike when I was pulling them in. In a couple cases, I hooked the pike with the front hook and it pulled out of the rubber tubing. Not a good deal!

[cjac]

If you're at all serious about ice fishing for esox the best option is to buy some 7 strand wire, a crimper, sleeves, spinner blades to be legal, and make your own. That's the option I'm going this winter. You can customize the set-up, smaller trebs and spread between trebs for 'eyes if on Mille, or bigger and wider if pike is the target of choice.

Don't skimp on the crimpers, you can order good ones from some of the saltwater catalogs and use those for making open water flouro leaders too. If you go that route, it's a good place to get the sleeves needed for making leaders out of 80, 100, or 130 lb flouro leaders too.

Chris

[TylerS]

They have them at Cabelas...at least they do up in East Grand Forks. I'd assume they'd have them at the Rogers Cabela's too, considering the store is twice as big. But you know what they say about assuming...

[cjac]

Thanks, only caution is some of the "open market" ones available simply do not handle the 100 & 130lb flouro and the corresponding sleeve sizes as well as the saltwater ones do. That's if you're looking for the Cadillac model to coever all your bases.

Chris

[Doop]

Thanks guys,

I figured Thorne Bros. had more on hand than what they show on their HSOforum. Only problem is I'm in Dallas, TX lol

I'll definitely call them and see what I can order over the phone.