Spring bobbers

[balancebobber]

Look at the Easy Bite Bobber.

[robbor]

I remember one outing where almost all of our bites were just a hold or lift. I had 10 fish before my buddy even had one. I was line watching for any slack.
This year i put spring bobbers on 2 rods. I took the 2 rods with me in early spring and we were fishing for crappie but the lake was over run with bullheads. Many of the bites were not registering with the rod tip but the spring bobber showed them like a fluorescent sign. I have been using them in open water and they work really well.
Here are the ones i made

[Buckeye Mike]

robbor, can we get some info on the spring you made ? what is the spring made of ? THANKS

[robbor]

Sorry i do not have any info on the spring.
I was at school and walking by the electronics lab and there was a small box
full of them listed "free" so I snagged them. They are real silver coated, some sort of electrical contact. One end is larger than the other and the spring can be screwed togather. I sent out about 5 envelopes of 100 to guys and half of them got chewed up at the post office. Then I got the coast lock swivels from walmart and I was golden. They work great and are basically indestructible. I just put the hook on the keeper and reel them down and put them in my ice rod case without a hitch. Here is a comparison to a lighter spring. I also have springs from your bobbers down and they do sell similar ones. To attach it i slipped the spring in the tip rod guide but not in the eye and then wrapped it with nylon thread and then epoxy coated.

[jbird68]

I have been using the Frabill coiled spring bobber. But I found these at a local store yesterday and liked the large loop.

The coiled spring bobber will freeze up if you are outside. With the larger hole I wonder if I can avoid that this year.

[MAINEIAC]

The spring type are not good here, they freeze too much. The ones in J Birds photo are very good. You can adjust the tension by sliding the spring through the rubber snap on. You can also bend the spring & take it out of the rubber, run the spring through the stand offs on your eyelets and put the rubber back on. You won't chafe your eyelets this way. Wal Mart has them here. I bought some colored pipe cleaners at a craft store to put on the spring for better visibilty but haven't had a chance to try that yet.

[Illinoisgiller]

Those flat ones pictured are good.
With help from Crappiekieth, I found the length I like and if I recall it was 2 1/2' from the rod tip.
I took mine and thread wrapped them on the rod tip and cut off the excess.
Best set up I ever used. ole Mike

[jbird68]

I wish they would put instructions on how to clip them to you rod tip. I bought one from southbend and could not figure out how it went on. Does the clip go on top of your eyelets or the bottom? Does the flat spring go through the eyelet or the space between the eyelet and the rod blank?

[crappiekeith]

Thanks Giller.
Those flat spring are just right.Not too stiff and not to flimsey.

[quad700]

I like the flat spring also.I thread wrap mine also right to the pole like another eyelet.and then I coat the thread with clear fingernail polish.