Storing Shell Squid Spreader Bars
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after every season i rerig every single spreader bar i own (30 spreaders) i take every single spreader out for when i am not using them and hang them on wall mount hooks on my wall dangling freely so the lures don't get all bunched up and mold to the bag also it prevents warping in the line and getting kinked.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzz
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzz
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91 Posts
I would rerig them if they are flat and then insert floats into them and you will not have to worry about them becoming flat. Also when fighting a fish after a hookup, sometimes a floating spreader bar will get hit.
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Shell squid bars
You can stuff bits of foam inside each squid to prevent them from flattening out. But as Blake said, I would suggest rerigging each bar as well.
You can stuff bits of foam inside each squid to prevent them from flattening out. But as Blake said, I would suggest rerigging each bar as well.
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1,520 Posts
Sounds a little excessive. I throw mine in a big tangled pile of other tuna gear and when the season comes...I untangle em' and drag em behind the boat and.....FISH ON!
No need to go nuts.
I do have some bars with floats and they do work well as someone else mentioned.
No need to go nuts.
I do have some bars with floats and they do work well as someone else mentioned.
must use floats!!
Floats inside the squids is a necessity to keep their form and allow them to run true. it is mainly the skirt that makes the motion in the lure as well as the outside lines swirling in and out from the main line. Also buy your squids in bulk and precut and prerig them main line, and the outside lines before the season like now. This way when they get beat up you just rerig them in about 30 seconds with 3 crimps and your done depending on what kind of bars your looking for... This is by far the best way to do it! Also what i have tended to do in the past which works well is take your lead squid and float it... then the remaining squids start with 3/4 ounce and go up to a 3 ounce egg weight! they run deeper and produce a lot of bites!! this works phenominal if anyone has ever done it!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL , AND TO ALL TIGHT LINES AND SCREAMING REELS!!!
Floats inside the squids is a necessity to keep their form and allow them to run true. it is mainly the skirt that makes the motion in the lure as well as the outside lines swirling in and out from the main line. Also buy your squids in bulk and precut and prerig them main line, and the outside lines before the season like now. This way when they get beat up you just rerig them in about 30 seconds with 3 crimps and your done depending on what kind of bars your looking for... This is by far the best way to do it! Also what i have tended to do in the past which works well is take your lead squid and float it... then the remaining squids start with 3/4 ounce and go up to a 3 ounce egg weight! they run deeper and produce a lot of bites!! this works phenominal if anyone has ever done it!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL , AND TO ALL TIGHT LINES AND SCREAMING REELS!!!
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848 Posts
BLUEFISH9
When you head offshore these days its not cheap, you want every thing to be perfect you don't want to head out there with a pile of crap tangled and leaders and lures all ruined because you didn't take the extra time to do a little work on your gear. It takes time away from fishing and could cost you that big one due to gear failing. Every year i take apart all my reels put all new line on them, Check all the rods take out the rollers replace them, and rerig every lure that i use most often or i replace them if they are damaged. When it comes to fishing offshore i don't take any shortcuts in doing something that is either going to help me catch that one extra fish or hold up to that big guy that comes in to the spread every thing is perfect every thing is done a head of time so i don't have to do it out there. Plenty of rigs are tied so i don't have to go making them up out there. i can just reach into a bag on a hot tuna bite and pick out a rig out of 40 rigs pre tied by doing this i do not waste time out there you never know when the bite will stop and what you will come across.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzzz
When you head offshore these days its not cheap, you want every thing to be perfect you don't want to head out there with a pile of crap tangled and leaders and lures all ruined because you didn't take the extra time to do a little work on your gear. It takes time away from fishing and could cost you that big one due to gear failing. Every year i take apart all my reels put all new line on them, Check all the rods take out the rollers replace them, and rerig every lure that i use most often or i replace them if they are damaged. When it comes to fishing offshore i don't take any shortcuts in doing something that is either going to help me catch that one extra fish or hold up to that big guy that comes in to the spread every thing is perfect every thing is done a head of time so i don't have to do it out there. Plenty of rigs are tied so i don't have to go making them up out there. i can just reach into a bag on a hot tuna bite and pick out a rig out of 40 rigs pre tied by doing this i do not waste time out there you never know when the bite will stop and what you will come across.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzzz
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1,423 Posts
re-rig
we always re-rig all of our tuna gear, you never know when mr. eyeball is gonna come up behind your 3-year old leader and just part the mono as it leaves a minivan-sized hole in your wake.
we always re-rig all of our tuna gear, you never know when mr. eyeball is gonna come up behind your 3-year old leader and just part the mono as it leaves a minivan-sized hole in your wake.
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2,682 Posts
06405 wrote:
When you head offshore these days its not cheap, you want every thing to be perfect you don't want to head out there with a pile of crap tangled and leaders and lures all ruined because you didn't take the extra time to do a little work on your gear. It takes time away from fishing and could cost you that big one due to gear failing. Every year i take apart all my reels put all new line on them, Check all the rods take out the rollers replace them, and rerig every lure that i use most often or i replace them if they are damaged. When it comes to fishing offshore i don't take any shortcuts in doing something that is either going to help me catch that one extra fish or hold up to that big guy that comes in to the spread every thing is perfect every thing is done a head of time so i don't have to do it out there. Plenty of rigs are tied so i don't have to go making them up out there. i can just reach into a bag on a hot tuna bite and pick out a rig out of 40 rigs pre tied by doing this i do not waste time out there you never know when the bite will stop and what you will come across.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzzz
Re rigging everything every year is a bit much. Go through everything and re rig what is needed. Your local tackle shop must love when you come walking through the door if your re rigging every lure and every spreader bar you own every year and if I remember correctly your respooling 3 or 4 times a year too. Why are you replacing all the rollers? I have rollers that are 15 years old and never had a failure.
When you head offshore these days its not cheap, you want every thing to be perfect you don't want to head out there with a pile of crap tangled and leaders and lures all ruined because you didn't take the extra time to do a little work on your gear. It takes time away from fishing and could cost you that big one due to gear failing. Every year i take apart all my reels put all new line on them, Check all the rods take out the rollers replace them, and rerig every lure that i use most often or i replace them if they are damaged. When it comes to fishing offshore i don't take any shortcuts in doing something that is either going to help me catch that one extra fish or hold up to that big guy that comes in to the spread every thing is perfect every thing is done a head of time so i don't have to do it out there. Plenty of rigs are tied so i don't have to go making them up out there. i can just reach into a bag on a hot tuna bite and pick out a rig out of 40 rigs pre tied by doing this i do not waste time out there you never know when the bite will stop and what you will come across.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzzz
Re rigging everything every year is a bit much. Go through everything and re rig what is needed. Your local tackle shop must love when you come walking through the door if your re rigging every lure and every spreader bar you own every year and if I remember correctly your respooling 3 or 4 times a year too. Why are you replacing all the rollers? I have rollers that are 15 years old and never had a failure.
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tunaorlater
yes my local tackle store absolutely loves when i walk through the door.
i do not replace every single roller guide just the tip roller in side of the guide the tip usually gets some wear on it from people tending to reel up to far in it and scratches the ball bearing. The other ones i go through and make sure they are all working fine i will take them all off and grease them all. If you have a scratch roller guide it could ruin a good day of fishing. The rollers for the guides are only about 2$ so it is nothing big to replace.
We have all Jerry brown hollow core spectra on all my internationals. We only respool the top shot of mono we will change out if we caught a good amount of fish on a reel or something big we caught on it. But after every season we strip all the mono off for storing. The line tends to get stiff, fades, and weakens when stored for long periods of time. That includes brand new line that we put on are last trip of the season. We might even change line on a reel possibly even twice in one trip. Depending on how the fishing has been and what species we are targeting.
Once again i change the lures that i almost always use and most of the other lures that have had leader on them sitting for a while. I tend to re due when a lure is sitting in a lure case for a while with the line coiled up it tends to mold and becomes stiff and does not always run correctly. Because the line had taken shape in to coils and weakens.And doesn't allow the most action that the lure is capable of doing.
its well worth doing if you hook up to a big fish and you know that your tackle is able to handle the fish. You know that your tackle is taking care of properly with out any worries and you know that you will not lose the fish of a life time due to tackle failer and not doing that one thing that could increase your odds in landing the big one is just stupid. For example: you spot some chaffing on the line/ leader you decide to put it out any ways in stead of re rigging that lure. say a monster eyeball comes in to the spread he hits that lure that had chaffing in the leader and snaps right where the chafing was. To me it is defiantly worth doing the little things to prevent stupid things from happening knowing that you could have prevented that by doing something so simple and if you did that the fish could have been landed.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzz
yes my local tackle store absolutely loves when i walk through the door.
i do not replace every single roller guide just the tip roller in side of the guide the tip usually gets some wear on it from people tending to reel up to far in it and scratches the ball bearing. The other ones i go through and make sure they are all working fine i will take them all off and grease them all. If you have a scratch roller guide it could ruin a good day of fishing. The rollers for the guides are only about 2$ so it is nothing big to replace.
We have all Jerry brown hollow core spectra on all my internationals. We only respool the top shot of mono we will change out if we caught a good amount of fish on a reel or something big we caught on it. But after every season we strip all the mono off for storing. The line tends to get stiff, fades, and weakens when stored for long periods of time. That includes brand new line that we put on are last trip of the season. We might even change line on a reel possibly even twice in one trip. Depending on how the fishing has been and what species we are targeting.
Once again i change the lures that i almost always use and most of the other lures that have had leader on them sitting for a while. I tend to re due when a lure is sitting in a lure case for a while with the line coiled up it tends to mold and becomes stiff and does not always run correctly. Because the line had taken shape in to coils and weakens.And doesn't allow the most action that the lure is capable of doing.
its well worth doing if you hook up to a big fish and you know that your tackle is able to handle the fish. You know that your tackle is taking care of properly with out any worries and you know that you will not lose the fish of a life time due to tackle failer and not doing that one thing that could increase your odds in landing the big one is just stupid. For example: you spot some chaffing on the line/ leader you decide to put it out any ways in stead of re rigging that lure. say a monster eyeball comes in to the spread he hits that lure that had chaffing in the leader and snaps right where the chafing was. To me it is defiantly worth doing the little things to prevent stupid things from happening knowing that you could have prevented that by doing something so simple and if you did that the fish could have been landed.
Blake Conlin
tightlinzzzzzzz
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You must catch one helluva alot of fish to go through that much maintenece and rigging. Seems way over the top.
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Back to the original topic. Premium shell squid don't seem to flatten with or without floats, even after many years of abuse. Cheaper ones go flat & there's no hope for them after that except filling them with something. One thing I have been thinking of trying is urethane foam from a can with a nylon tube in the middle - that would fill the entire cavity. I'm not sure that the cheap foam will not get water logged though.
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We rebuild a lot of squid bars for customers at my shop and I've seen guys use different things to help maintain the shape of the squid...depending on the company and size determines what can be used but for the 18 inch squid for giants some guys have used 20 oz bottles or foam cut to shape...I also remember rebuilding about 15 bars for a guy who was an excellent tuna fisherman and he had pac man crimps crimped onto each squid to make it flat...it was the first and only time I had ever seen someone intentionally flatten squid but like I said this guy was a pretty good fisherman...and on the topic of rebuilding bars if you have the time and money to rebuild every year then why not go for it...I personally rebuild my gear when it needs to be rebuilt whether it be during a trip or after or at the end of the season and that is obviously determined by how much you fish it and time...the fish seem to find the flaws in your tackle so it's a personal choice as to what lengths you will go to to avoid those flaws...last year a customer decided he wanted to try giant fishing for a day and despite my advice decided against buying new fluoro figuring he would just be practicing and wouldn't hook up but of course he did and this fish was HUGE pushing 900 my best friends were right next to him and saw the fish and he lost this fish due to leaders that were 3 years old instead of paying the money for new leaders
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Per the original topic using good quality shell squid with floats I have not had a problem of flattening.
Makoexpress,
Blake is far from being over the top. Every year I look at all the lures and bars on the boat. Every lure and bar that got fished is rerigged. All the rest are looked at for: Tri-beads stuck together, Cracks in the plastic thimbles on the hook (had problem with this till I changed brand's of plastic thimbles.), Condition of lure skirt, Condition of leader - is it cloudy or have vertical lines in it. I have looked at lures and not seen any of the above and said there is just something wrong and rerigged the lure.
Makoexpress,
Blake is far from being over the top. Every year I look at all the lures and bars on the boat. Every lure and bar that got fished is rerigged. All the rest are looked at for: Tri-beads stuck together, Cracks in the plastic thimbles on the hook (had problem with this till I changed brand's of plastic thimbles.), Condition of lure skirt, Condition of leader - is it cloudy or have vertical lines in it. I have looked at lures and not seen any of the above and said there is just something wrong and rerigged the lure.
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I happen to agree with Blake, ZI start every year with new line on the reels just replace the top shots, and re rig what needs to be re rigged. your only as strong as your weakest link. that being said its necessary to replace and re rig, but with in reason. Its 600 in fuel to get to the edge, what is 500 in rigging materials.
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Bigtuna225 wrote:
I happen to agree with Blake, ZI start every year with new line on the reels just replace the top shots, and re rig what needs to be re rigged. your only as strong as your weakest link. that being said its necessary to replace and re rig, but with in reason. Its 600 in fuel to get to the edge, what is 500 in rigging materials.
I can't agree with you more, I wasn't saying he was wrong by going over everything every trip. Its just not practicle to re rig every bar and every lure every season. I carry over 100 lures on my boat and around 15 spreader bars, of them I would say 20 lures and 5 bars get done a season and new line every year and replaced during the season if need be. I have never lost a fish due to equipment failure that I could have had control of in the 17 years I've been fishing the edge. To re rig everything every year would be 100's of waisted dollars.IMHO. Merry Xmas
I happen to agree with Blake, ZI start every year with new line on the reels just replace the top shots, and re rig what needs to be re rigged. your only as strong as your weakest link. that being said its necessary to replace and re rig, but with in reason. Its 600 in fuel to get to the edge, what is 500 in rigging materials.
I can't agree with you more, I wasn't saying he was wrong by going over everything every trip. Its just not practicle to re rig every bar and every lure every season. I carry over 100 lures on my boat and around 15 spreader bars, of them I would say 20 lures and 5 bars get done a season and new line every year and replaced during the season if need be. I have never lost a fish due to equipment failure that I could have had control of in the 17 years I've been fishing the edge. To re rig everything every year would be 100's of waisted dollars.IMHO. Merry Xmas
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asiegel wrote:
Back to the original topic. Premium shell squid don't seem to flatten with or without floats, even after many years of abuse. Cheaper ones go flat & there's no hope for them after that except filling them with something. One thing I have been thinking of trying is urethane foam from a can with a nylon tube in the middle - that would fill the entire cavity. I'm not sure that the cheap foam will not get water logged though.
There is a company out there selling squid rigs set up this way - one of the shops gave me one of their rigs to demo this past season. They do hold there shape and float really well, but the down side is the rig is really heavy and there is a ton of drag on the rig. i was trolling them on 50's, but they almost seemed better suited for the heavier gear due to the amount of drag. I did get a few bluefin on them. they call themselves Rock On - they have a website you can google.
If you do it yourself, use the DAP foam (blue can at home cheapo) rather than Geat Stuff. -it's easier to cleanup than Great Stuff, so if it overexpands, you won't have yellow crud stuck to your squid.
It won't waterlogg, I screwed around with it a little last year.
This post edited by bigjay 09:22 PM 12/26/2007
Back to the original topic. Premium shell squid don't seem to flatten with or without floats, even after many years of abuse. Cheaper ones go flat & there's no hope for them after that except filling them with something. One thing I have been thinking of trying is urethane foam from a can with a nylon tube in the middle - that would fill the entire cavity. I'm not sure that the cheap foam will not get water logged though.
There is a company out there selling squid rigs set up this way - one of the shops gave me one of their rigs to demo this past season. They do hold there shape and float really well, but the down side is the rig is really heavy and there is a ton of drag on the rig. i was trolling them on 50's, but they almost seemed better suited for the heavier gear due to the amount of drag. I did get a few bluefin on them. they call themselves Rock On - they have a website you can google.
If you do it yourself, use the DAP foam (blue can at home cheapo) rather than Geat Stuff. -it's easier to cleanup than Great Stuff, so if it overexpands, you won't have yellow crud stuck to your squid.
It won't waterlogg, I screwed around with it a little last year.
This post edited by bigjay 09:22 PM 12/26/2007
I just hung 7 bars in the basement for the winter. The mono on the outside squids seem in pretty good shape since their only 1 season old. I have 25-30 daisy chains and zuckers to hang as well. Some of the bars have floats in them and some do not. The shapes on the squids without floats seem to be holding form just fine so far. I'll probably change out the mono on the hook squid baits this coming spring and oil /lube the barrel swivels too for those that have them..the crimps seem fine as well.
This post edited by dsedy 08:11 PM 12/27/2007
This post edited by dsedy 08:11 PM 12/27/2007
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