Thread: Question for you Reelfoot tightliners. . . .

That rig is not the best idea for Reelfoot due to hangups. Weight above the hook(s) helps to free the hook when you hang the stump. Floats also impair our ability to reckognize hangups quickly. However you are probably using light wire hooks to bend them out when they get hung. Like Cracker and Yankee alot of times they just pull it out and let the hook bend. Me using my jigs bending out the hook is not as easy. But i rarely ever lose a rig. I might lose one rig every few trips out. Its a matter of getting a feel for it then you lose less tackle. I never worry anymore about losing tackle.


You do well with floats as do most of the guides at Reelfoot. Watching a float is easier to learn than tight lining so thats where it probably started. Also fishing shallow water and/or very shallow suspended fish the float helps. There are certainly times where I know if i had floats on I would be doing better. But for me as you know I love to tight line. I beleive that if you can figure out tight lining you are less likely to set the hook too early or too late. With the floats its kind of "see it go under, pull up the rod." I guess? I knwo there are alot of times I get bites and I dont grab right away because I know the fish just doesnt have it yet. The fish bite different on different days and I judge my hook set by the type of bite i am getting. But believe me there are days where I get bit alot and cant land the fish. And thats mostly fishing at a depth of about 3ft or less. You have to be so quick, and thats where the floats come in handy with those really light bites when the fish are suspended just under the surface. Also Rick tight lining requires better equipment than with floats. I love the pro trollers for the strong backbone and the softer tips. You can get away with really cheap equipment when you use floats thats not so forgiving tight lining. We both know some really good fisherman that tight line and some that use floats. I say stick to what you know and experiement with some of your better equipment on tight lining to see if you like it better. But keep that weight above the hook or you will hang up more!

If you have a windy day you can use floats to hold your bait still. But I think I miss fish sometimes with float crappie bite lite somedays and it don't show up with a float. And when you fish reelfoot in the stumps if your straight lineing and you see your line begin to catch you can grab your pole and pull it back and not get hung up if you have floats alot of time your allready hug up before you can notice

Thats for sure. I know that the light biters this year have hurt my catch with the floaters.

rco

RCO:
What size weight and bobbers are you using with your rigs?
I like to use a quarter ounce weight with a double hook rig that I make myself. My bobbers are Carlise balsa, slip corks just large enough to float the rig. I use light weights/ small bobbers to detect light bites. But, the real reason for the small, light set-up; it allows me to see when the minnow gets nervous. That gives me a good indication that a fish is there and to get ready for a strike.
Another reason I use the small rig when the wind is blowing and your fighting it with the trolling motor you have a pretty good speed indicator with your bobbers. You can tell if your going too fast or basically staying the same speed.

LKF

Thats interesting..........

I thought the opposite that if I lightened my tackle and went to bobbers when they were light biting that that might help. But never knew for sure since I just dont use them. Thats all the more reason for me to continue to tight line. I know that I can definately tell the difference in how the fish are biting with a tight line. Thans Rick for the question and thanks for the answers guys!

Mostly I use quarter ouncers with small slip floats. I am not sure the brand, they are very light and come in a three pack with inserts. I toss the inserts and the bobber is just enough to hold up the quarter rig.

I also use 3/8 sometimes and there is a medium egg shaped bobber that will float them pretty lightly.

You are right, if the water is calm, big shiners will move the quarters often before a strike. Lately, the light biters often lift the bobbers up. It is easier to see the lift on the longer slip bobbers than the egg bobbers.

RCO

RCO,

I think the rig you saw is a Kentucky rig. It is used for bottom bumping around structure and around ledges and drops when fish are deep, such as in the winter and summer, in deep lakes. I guess you mostly fish on Reelfoot, but if you fish over on Kentucky Lake at all you should give it a try. Locate some deep structure or a creek channel and just drop it all the way to the bottom and bump around on the bottom a couple times then hold it dead still. Bump it all around the structure or bump it down the sides of the creek channels. Works pretty good really.

I fish with the weight between the hooks on the rigs I tie and have noticed when I do break off it is mostly on the top hook. Thats the way I do it and when you do hang you usually can "bounce" it out with the weight. But I'm a line watcher and when that line is dragging a stump you can back it out of there and toss it back over the stump and keep right on going.