Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Spring Bobbers.


eyeguy 54

Recommended Posts

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I really like the frabill.  bought a couple of the clams to try next week. I like the smaller opening on the front. wish they had a bigger piece to grab on the back to adjust it. will see hoe they work. seem a little stiffer than the frabill. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Frabill anddont look back their spring bobber is the best add on one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have tried many of them and keep going back to the "teeter pig" designed in the UP of mich. I like the larger diameter hole, less freeze up when outside plus if u don't want to use it u don't have to re-tie. Just pull the jig back through and you back fishing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

both of these are the pull back design which also makes them adjustable for a little bigger jig. I don't like a #10 on the frabill, it bends too much.  but I usually use a 14 anyways and love it for that. the big hole is nice on the frabill but once in a while my jig comes thru it... lol   now if i could just get the reflexes back to what they were a few years ago,  right @Rick G  ?  LOL  

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are some mods that allow you to add a St Croix spring bobber to any rod. I really like those. Have you considered that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Have not considered that.  cut the eyelet off and use super glue?   Does that spring move in and out for adjusting?  I have never used one. 

 

500-0.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Love love love my St Croix set up's  Imho,they are the best ones made....yes you have to buy the rod, but they are pretty sweet for $60 silver edition,  100  for the gold.  Or you could copy the st croix design on a rod you already own, then you only need the spring 15-20. 

 

And as far as reflexes go, you need to be quick using plastics, not as much as using meat...right? @eyeguy 54..... Like I said, getting slower myself the last few yrs. My brain tells me to set the hook, my hands are slightly slower...lol

3 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Have not considered that.  cut the eyelet off and use super glue?   Does that spring move in and out for adjusting?  I have never used one. 

 

500-0.jpg

Made some like that...Tom has one of them :-)

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I have the reflexes of a cat, an aging cat... LOL 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Doesn't look like gander makes the 15 dollar ice rod anymore. I sure like the UL with the spring attached. 27 bucks total. :)  I see they have one for 10 and one for 20 now.  

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

bought a Jason Mitchell spring bobber rod this year, love the nitinol spring bobber, it stays straight because it is titanium, no adjusting and pretty sensitive, wish the rod had a little lighter tip but it has worked out well. The Jason Mitchell reels also are pretty decent for a cheap little reel, I like that th handle folds, they fit easier in my rod bag like that

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

the clam are nitinol also. mix of titanium and nickel I guess. hopefully will compare them tuesday or so. looks like crazy wind again monday. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Ad far as I'm concerned the St Croix us the way to go for lighter jigs.   The Meat sticks work well for #10 or bigger tungsten jigs.  I've iced a ton of panfish on this set up and still have my original one before they added to colored tip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Have not considered that.  cut the eyelet off and use super glue?   Does that spring move in and out for adjusting?  I have never used one. 

 

500-0.jpg

 

It's just a size 8 single-foot guide with a rubber grommet with a 1/8" hole. Then you attach the guide using some fly-tying thread and fly-tying "head" cement/epoxy or super glue. I was able to rig one up last season, but my dad lost it down the hole when using it as a dead-sticking rod. it worked great mounted to a $10 Gander Mountain rod. 

 

Compared to a $50-60 dollar St Croix Legend Silver, which is a terrific rod with a warranty, my cost was about $25-28. The rod was $10, the bobber was $12, the guide was $3, the head cement was $3, the grommet was a buck, and I already had the fly tying thread. Plus I had to drive to Thorne Brothers to get the guide and the rest of the stuff.

 

The spring bobber is easily adjustable. It works best when a little warm, so I just suck on the grommet for 15 seconds and then PUSH (not pull) the spring back and forth while firmly securing the end guides with my other hand.

 

Pictured below is a pic from the Net. It's exactly what mine looked like.

Montrose_at_night_1-9-10.jpg

Edited by BassThumb.
  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

looks nice.  here are the 2 for the test here to see which I like better. might be a tie. :)  Frabill top and Clam bottom. I started wearing some low power readers now also to help me see the bite. 1 or 1.25 power makes it nice and the Fl18 cleared up a bit. Had Lazic 12years ago and use 1.75 or 2.0 to read. 

sp bob.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I love my st croix silvers but the add on frabills are great if you don't want to spend the bucks. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

so you have to buy the rod with the spring?  cant just buy the setup to add to a rod?  gotta custom do it?  seems like a lot of work

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Frabill titanium is the best I've used, haven't used a St. Croix so I can't compare but these spring bobbers will turn any rod into a killer rig if used correctly!

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

thats for sure!  helps me bigtime. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I might have to look into spring bobbers one more time. I always feels that I am losing my "touch" with most spring bobbers. Me and my brothers were taught by my Dad how to catch panfish and we put a lot of old guys to shame as youngsters. The tradition continues still today ;)  I know there is a time and place for the spring and I just need to use it more and make it part of my bag of tricks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Glass guy said:

Thorne brothers  can add a spring bobber to any rod! I have  2 they are the best!!

I've been eyeing the tripwire. It has a Ti spring bobber built into the tip. Just can't bring myself to spend that much money for an ice rod..

 

5 hours ago, eyeguy 54 said:

so you have to buy the rod with the spring?  cant just buy the setup to add to a rod?  gotta custom do it?  seems like a lot of work

 

 

Yes, unfortunately. You can buy different springs, but you have to either buy their proprietary rod or rig something up like above to use them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

The Frabill works so good I cant see spending more loot. Beer money! :) 

 

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had the rod bought the spring bobber from Thorne Bros they put it on the end. Looks like it was done by the manufacturer!! Perfect setup!! I'll try to post a picture 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators
On ‎12‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 4:00 PM, Tom Sawyer said:

That rubber grommet is key, where do you buy them?

 

Pretty such Menards has them either in electrical or plumbing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have the st croix rods,love the spring bobber on them!ive had them for 8 years now and no complaints!caught tons of fish with them. Even the lightest bites are easy to see on these rods.

Edited by Kelly Oman
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tom Sawyer said:

Thanks Borch, kinda what I thought. Bass Thumb also thanks for the message. Game on!

 

Are you gonna build one?

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Improve on one, and yes build one. I prefer to fish noodles over springs, but sometimes the movement from the spring is best.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Tom Sawyer said:

 sometimes the movement from the spring is best.

At times, even the best noodle rod will fail on bite detection. This is most evident when using the smaller 2-3mm jigs.  Bottom line,  a couple spring rods, w "the right" spring, as well as a couple noodle rods in various actions to cover all bases.

  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.