I was told about a lure retriever last week and now can't remember the name of it.

How do you guys get your snagged blade baits and other stuff back out of timber and rock piles?

I take an old spark plug, put the end of a large snap swivel through the side electrode, close thegap on the plug. The I just snap the other end on my fishing line and let it slide down to the lure. Pop it a few times.

I've got one of those $4.00 plug knockers that you slide down the line with a heavy cord attached . If that doesn't knock it off I'll attach a birdsnest snarl of heavy line to snag the hooks & give a yank to pull it free .

met a few guys from ohio up on Pymatuning last summer and they gave me a few of the retrivers they sell, here it is, poured lead in the shape of a 1 inch by 1 or 1 1/2 inch cylinder ( the shape of a soda can ) and in the one end a large paper clip, you just slip this on your line useing the paper clip let it go watch it ride down your line and when it gets to bottom just pop your rod a few times and bingo, used them last year for the 1st time they worked about 8 out of 10 times, also lost a few of them, he sells tham for 50 cents apeice and throws a few extra in at around a dozen, but these things are really really really simple to make and they work.

I thought I heard that lead isn't good for the lakes. That seems like an awful lot of lead to lose in the water for a lure maybe check into brass or attach a reel spooled with heavy spider line or something. Just a thought..

Lead is only a real danger when it is is small enough sizes for aquatic birds to ingest. Thats why lead shot is banned in Onatario when hunting waterfowl. ( Exception for snipe hunting..I don't know why)

if lead is bad for the water what about paddlefishing when people are hurling 10 oz lead weights in the water? alot are lost but havent noticed any effect on the fish or anything just a thought...


Tfisher

I bought a "Houndog" lure retriever from Cabela's about 10 years ago. It has worked almost every time, I'd say at least 98%. The lures hooks get caught on the heavy chrome wire and you just pull it up. Slide it on, drop it, retrieve it. It was cheap at the time.

Give this a try. It should work nearly 100%. Get yourself a mask, snorkel, and a set of fins. For the really deep snags you may want to add a BCD, regulator, tank, and dive computer. Should be very effective.

I bought a yellow retriever from Bass Pro Shops. It has several chains that dangle off of the end. It has a corkscrew thingy that you coil around your line and drop it down on a heavy cord. You bang the thing around and it either knocks the crank off the snag or the hooks catch in the chains and then you drag up the crank and possibly whatever it's attached to. More than one time I've brought up the retriever and it's had my lure and a bonus lure snagged in the chains :-). It has saved me hundreds of dollars in potentially lost lures, and considering that it has brought up additional lures that weren't mine I guess you could say that it has literally paid for itself.

Best Regards,

FJH

If the paddle fishing your talking about is what I saw on a TV show. They wern't fishing they were snagging those fish. It was disgusting. We had snagging in NY and paid a huge price to get rid of it. Now the snaggers turned to lifting. Still discusting and we're still paying.

The retrievers you and FJH are talking about sound like what I'm looking for. The hounddog name sounds familiar. Thanks guys, I'm going on a search.

After this last fall I'm going to go with the chain type lure retreiver. Those Ontario rocks really robbed me. C. Boyd Pfeiffer has the construction details for a chain type retreiver in his book "Tackle Craft".

Better yet give you mother in law a big anchor and have her power dive down to the snag and free it.......kinda kills two birds with one stone.......

I have a home made retriever that consists of a piece of lead filled 3/4 inch pipe, about 5 inches long, with small chains hanging off the bottom, two eyelets on the side, and an eyelet on the opposite end from the chains where a cord is attached. The last time I trolled Hot N Tots at the Linesville Stumps (Pymatuming), between me and my buddy we got 25 snags. We only lost one lure that day. If the weight of the retriever don't knock the lure off of what it's hung up on, the chains get caught in the hooks, and you can pull the lure out with the cord. Trick is to get the boat directly over the lure so when you drop the retreiver down to the lure, it's traveling straight down, not at an angle. If your line is at an angle, the retreiver will hit bottom before it reaches your lure. Got the design from the outdoors section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about 20+ years ago (back in the Wendel Watson days).

i use the hound dog retriever with a couple (4) old hooks from one of the old metal stringers attached.also use parachute cord for the line.
i can't remember using it and not getting my lure back...and extras as in anchor,coffee cans,beach towels....cherry creek ring a bell for you in colo? it must be on an old dump!

I have used a modified golf ball retreiver for about 4 years. It is telescopic. You take the cup off and put some heavy wire at the end in a half circle.Works about 10 feet I have saved Hundreds of dollars with this. I fish Devils Lake and it works great, it will extend out to 16 feet.Wouldn't be on the lake without it.