Thread: making jug lines/and weights

I found the monster noodles and got them ready to go. Red works great during the day, but not easy to see at night. (Couldn't find yellow, orange or green.) I made up 5 of them and used them on Saturday at Eufaula. I have yet to find one of them. I came home with 6 bags of catfish and only 4 noodle jugs. We looked for 2 hours on Saturday from 10:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. Then we started looking for it again at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. (Just like Rigrunner said! :D They can disappear really fast. We went to eat at Los Arcos and went back to the jugs. ) Maybe someone will see it and call me. The one I lost was dark purple...very difficult to see on the water and impossible to see at night and was lost before I put the reflecting tape and glow stick on it.

I put a 6" piece of rebar inside the PVC pipe but I am not sure if it helped or not. Sometimes it tripped by itself in the high waves. (Just like CG said! ) I used cut up pieces of noodle as a shock absorber inside the PVC cap top and bottom to stop the rebar from breaking the caps.

I used orange duct tape (for identification) on the top of the noodle, then put two pieces of reflecting tape on the left and right sides. Then I put clear packing tape on top of the reflecting tape because it dissolves in water. The clear tape did well. I also used it to tape on a glow stick...orange, yellow or green. All three colors worked well and the tape held all night long. So if the glow sticks fell off or didn't work, I would still have the reflecting tape. Glow sticks worked well....if someone wanted to run my juglines again () they would not have to look hard to find them. I do what I can to help! :D

Next fishing trip...modified noodle jugs! I think I need more weight. I used
6 oz and 8 oz sinkers. I found a rubber-covered 1 pound barbell at Academy for $1.25. Cheaper than a 1 pound sinker. (Until my concrete sinkers are ready!) Now I just have to find a better way to retrieve them from a pontoon boat. I can just pick them up in my boat, but the pontoon boat was too high. We used a wooden pole with a hook on the end. I wound up ripping up one side of a noodle with the hook. That is what duct tape is for!:D

That's a good looking jugline, where did you end up camping young lady?

Peke, here is a picture of our noodle jugs. Works real good, the weights are made from 6 oz Dixie cups filled with cement and a wire in the middle, works great. I painted one end with the florescent orange paint, for easier spotting. I also number mine so I'll know if I've checked all of them. They are lots of fun to use! I still don't know how to make the pictures smaller. Maybe you could give a little advice on this subject? Your's look great!

Peke - Ok, you need a shepard's hook to retrieve your jugs from the pontoon boat. Buy a 10' piece of 3/4" sch 40 pvc pipe along with 2 90's, an end cap and roughly another 14-16" of 3/4" pipe. I hope I can describe adequately how to make the hook.

1) glue a 90 on the end of the pipe then glue a 10- 12" piece of pipe into the other end of the 90. Now glue the other 90 to the end of the 10" - 12" pipe and finally glue a 4" piece of pipe to the other end of the second 90 and glue the cap on. You now have a hook that you can snag your lines with as you pass by the jug and pull it in. My hook is,I guess 10-12' long and works great. I do not think it floats. I shot some spray foam in another one that I made and it turned into a big sticky mess:o They are inexpensive and work, what can I say:p

Your jugs look pretty good for a first timer. I am sure you will make improvements as you go along. The one you lost could have been taken under by a big fish and then got tangled up OR its still going

Did you use circle hooks?? They don't miss.

The smallest weight we use are 20 oz cups, some 32 oz, filled with concrete and a 20d nail bent u shaped for the top. Sure cuts down on the chasing. Sometimes if it is real windy we will use two. And we will still sometimes get one that will wander off, maybe with help. All of ours are painted with flourescent orange paint and a band of orange duct tape. We use 2 liter bottles, so we can find them easier. We will group them by 5's and often in a line with certain ones to mark the end of a line so we know if we are missing one in the middle.

To make the weights, we will get a package of plastic cups. Bend up some 20d nails, and get a sack of quick set concrete. It sets up fast so have everything ready, and mix about 1/3 of a sack at a time. You can make a bunch out of one sack of concrete. They will be ready to go in a couple days and are really cheap.

Like Cricket George said. Use Circle hooks. We use 8/0 Eagle Claw laser sharp hooks. Just make sure you bring pliers they don't like to let go. We also rig a bunch of drops extra. If we are in windy conditions we will unclip the trotline snap and snap a new one on and get the hook out when we clean him.

I found the monster noodles in Target yesterday.

Stink, we haven't gone camping yet. Spent the weekend with my brother and his wife. Camping will be in a few weeks hopefully. Hey I should bring you some of that milk from the dairy....do you remember our conversation about old fashioned non-pasteurized milk?

Rigrunner, I think your pictures look fine. I used photobucket to shrink the size down. PM me if you want help. I like the idea of spray painting the noodles with a fluorescent paint. Then it doesn't matter what color of noodle you get. Since I have "discovered" orange duct tape, I may just use it for everything! Might even go "crazy" and use the pink! I had put my name and address on the orange duct tape...then I realized that it would be really easy for someone to take that orange tape off and put their own name on the noodle. That will be one modification I make.

CG, that sounds like a light weight hook and easy to do. I also thought about using an old cane. I only need it when we are using a pontoon boat though. Do you have end caps on all the ends so water doesn't get inside? If it doesn't float, maybe I could put a big piece of monster noodle on it. I think I'll try that. Yes, we are using 6/0 to 8/0 circle hooks...the ones that look almost black. Don't know what they are called. I finally found the braided line at Nabatak. I went all over Tulsa looking for it and found it in my own home town. :D Will make the concrete weights this week.

Aserioushunter, I have a bunch of hooks made up, but not with trot-line clips. They just have big snap swivels on them. I guess the clips would be faster though. I am making the concrete weights this week so I will make some heavier ones as you suggest.

When you make the concrete weights do you peel the cup off when it is dried?

My first noodle had just an end cap on the end and the line kept spiraling off the end when it wasn't supposed to. So I put a plastic circle and a 1/2" piece of noodle on the end. That stopped the unrolling and it gave me a place to stick the hooks. In the picture it shows the line by the end cap, but I had just wound it in the wrong place when we were taking them in. It all slides down or up.

I showed my "girly" side and put plastic beads on the left and right side of the swivels. I put them about 18 inches apart so I could move the hooks where I wanted. (I know...no more than 5 hooks, but 2 is safer!) I also have a carbiner clip on the end so I can shorten the line in shallower water. Once the hooks were exposed, the noodles unrolled themselves easily. I was worried they wouldn't unroll on their own. I used glow in the dark beads so when baiting them at night with the lights on, they would get a small charge from the lights. When I start putting them in the water, I can still see the beads glow so I know where the hooks are. They don't glow long once they are in the water.

Now on to find more Monster Noodles! I have created a monster! ME!
I saw some monster noodles the other day that were not good to use. The hole was huge. The noodle itself was less than a 1/2 inch thick. Would tear up easily and not have as much bouancy.

Peke
(would rather be crappie fishing though...just not catching them...wrong spot...too hot...??? Next project....a girly, redneck umbrella stand for my boat. Hmmm...the possibilities! Ya'll try not to fall out of your boat laughing when you see me coming! :D I should put a giant crappie dot com sticker on it!)

Originally Posted by cricket george

A person is allowed 20 jugs/person and your name and # must be on each jug.

Peke, (sorry George) it is name and address, not name and number.