Been using berkely gulp alot this year also. I've been using the pinched crawlers on everything from jigs to slow death rigs and have had xllent results also. Sure beats rebaiting with live crawlers evertime ya turn around.
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Been using berkely gulp alot this year also. I've been using the pinched crawlers on everything from jigs to slow death rigs and have had xllent results also. Sure beats rebaiting with live crawlers evertime ya turn around.
Thought I'd pass this along about trolling that I discovered a week or two ago. Sure a lot of you know this already...
Was trolling several different parts of ElDorado and hitting spots where I'd start in 20ft of water and end up going to about 3ft deep and back down. When I would hit the shallow water my line would go slack and come to find out I lost my crank bait. I cussed at the zebra muscles and went on. Later on two of us in the boat lost two more crank baits in a different area of the lake about the same time. What the heck was going on? I trolled numerous times this year and hadn't had one line cut and now three in one night. Later thinking about it, I'm pretty sure when I was trolling in shallow water I had a lot of line out, since I was just trolling in 20ft of water, then when I went shallow the angle of my line was not very steep, therefore it was closer to the bottom and brushed a twig or rock covered in zebra muscles. So now I try to keep my lures in closer to the boat when in shallow water, but at the same time I feel I need to get them away from the boat and out of the water churn and noise my boat is making. Damn zebra muscles!
Have I mentioned I don't like zebra muscles, especially after slipping and getting my leg cut up while playing in the water a Wilson a month ago. :-(
So if anyone comes across some crank baits floating in the water, they are probably mine. Funny thing is several that I lost that night, I found out there.
Tim.
ive been having the same thing happen!!!:dono That explanation sound just as good as anything ive come up with!! I had thought it was line twist but it didnt help when i put a swivel on. hasn't happened yet with by rod with braided line
I too have been losing a lot with no apparent hang up. I lost tree k rigs just by picking them up against a limb in the brush pile and it was just like someone cut the line with scissors.
When we were drifting for walleye a couple weeks ago I had it happen several times while dragging jigs up and over a steep drop off.
I think it is probably only going to get worse.
Sad, sad, sad!
Might want to use a mono leader to keep from getting cut off especially if your using a power line like Fireline or braid. 6 foot is all we use. Mono will take the nicks better. This is what we do.
BTW here is another nice eye caught on Friday night..
Attachment 95189
Man you're a walleye machine....thanks for the tip. great pic.:highfive
Mono still wont take the zebra mussels any better than a super line, at least in my experience. I have one with 8lb mono and one with 14lb fireline and they get cut at the same rate.
I am thinking steel leaders are about the only way to avoid the zebra mussels and even then you must keep your line pretty much straight up and down.
We have put on 14 + lb leaders (mono) and have noticed the cut off rate lowered here in the Wichita area lakes. I have used the steel leaders and they will make a bait run bad if you get a kink of any sort on them. Most steel leaders only run 12 inches or less so if you go accross a tree limb or any other structure, you will cut the line (super line) and lose the steel leader and lure. We do notice nicks on the mono line and replace it. You just have to keep an eye out for such things like that. I am a troller and I have tried many ways and have talked to many people up north and this works best for me. We have a lot of experience with zebra mussles around this area as we were one of the first lakes in Kansas to get them. I did use steel leaders in Canada but that was to keep the pike from cutting the line. If anyone has ideas, please chime in as I am always wanting to keep more baits in the mouth of a fish and not in their home....
Attachment 95325I tie up leaders ahead of time ,when they get broke off or nicked I just grab a new one. I use those float tubes people use in swimming pools . I have 2 Tool boxes filled with spinner rigs of various types ,some straight leaders for pulling cranks,and slow death hooks pre rigged so I can make changes fast when fighting the wind or break off's. My line is also 14 lb. test it just seems to work the best and resist most line twist. When the little channel cats start tearing you up I switch to cranks or spinners that helps alot . also with all this heat you get a little air moving.