making a "depth finder" spinning reel ......

[CrappiePappy]

out of a regular spinning reel

We've all seen the spincast & spinning reels that have a pin system you can engage to stop the line from coming off the spool .... with the effect of being able to continuously drop your bait down to a specific depth, without having to measure off the line after each retrieve. Slick little gizmos, and innovative idea !!

O.K. --- what if you wanted the ability to do that, but don't have one of those types of reels ... but, you do have a spinning reel !! (sorry, this idea won't work on spincast or baitcast type reels )

All you need, to transform your regular spinning reel into a "depth finder" reel ........ is a RUBBER BAND

Once you establish the depth, hold the line in your finger and open the bail. Then wrap the rubber band around the spool line, and close the bail. Whenever you reel your bait back in, or hopefully a fish, your reel will simply wrap the incoming line over the rubber band. When you've re-baited, removed the fish, or are just ready to drop the bait back down to that specific depth ........ open the bail and let it down. The rubber band will stop the line, just as surely as the "pin system" of the depth finder reel

Now, the only "down side" to this system, is that you can pull more line out from under the rubber band, to make your bait drop deeper ... but, you would have to remove the rubber band and re-set your depth, and put the rubber band back on, to lessen the depth your bait will drop.

I just thought it was a pretty innovative idea, and worthy of sharing with the Crappie.com gang :D (see disclaimer) ............... cp

(disclaimer - this is not an original idea of "mine", and I take no credit for coming up with it. I found it surfing thru an article from "Dr Mike's Fishing Tips")

[papasage]

thanks . sounds like a good idea . i will try iy on a couple of reesi have . don`t use that type much . have alwayes ben a close fase reel person.

[Bridges]

Sounds like a good Idea.

[JET4]

Thats a good idea.

[Phantom309]

Hmmmmm !
(can ya get a digital readout with that) ? j/k

[chaunc]

Make sure you get the small fat rubberbands. The slimmer ones dont work good at all.

[Jerry Blake]

I usually keep a pretty light drag - light enough so that it clicks a few times if we're "horsing" the fish a little too much so I don't think the rubber band trick is going to work very well for me. Guess I'll just stick with marking my line with permanent marker - been working for 20-years.

[fishman247]

for bait casters just put a peice of tape on the spool at desired depth?

[Tommy Tidwell]

The new SLDL 10 Depth Locator Spinning reels are in the 2007 Bass Pro catalog now. They are inexpensive and work well. I field tested them all of last year and they worked to perfection. One of my clients caught a 4.5 foot needle nose gar on it with no problems.

[CrappiePappy]

I usually keep a pretty light drag - light enough so that it clicks a few times if we're "horsing" the fish a little to much so I don't think the rubber band trick is going to work very well for me. Guess I'll just stick with marking my line with permanent marker - been working for 20-years.

What does the drag setting have to do with this ? The trick is simply meant to stop the line from coming off the spool, when you're dropping the bait back down to a specific depth. The line will pull right out from under a rubber band, in the event a large fish is stripping line off the spool.
This trick isn't necessarily meant to "replace" any other method .... just offer an alternative.

And what do you do, when you break off your line down by the sinker/hook ?? All of your "marks" are now off, by whatever length of line that you lost.

I'm not disputing your 20yrs of experience ... I'm seriously curious as to why you don't think this would work for you. ......... cp