rubber bands

[larry g]

Has any one tried using the old cheap rubber band for a sinker add on?, something like the snap weight concept?I also wonder if anyone has tried them on planer boards as a release?The reason I'm asking is that I want to make a mast system using just plain yellow birds and have the lure break away from the board that is on anothet rod.Tried it today but didn't really give it a decent try out.

[Kevin A.]

Rubber bands as weight attachments...sure. This is a method that's used in snaggy areas when you're pitching live bait.

Release on a line that is attached to a planer board...haven't tried that one. If the rubber band were attached the the ski & mast line then it might work well. If you are using yellow birds as the "skis" to plane out & drag more than one bait, that might be more than yellow birds are capable of. Birds track rather poorly anyway ("get what you pay for...."), they might drag back pretty far with two (crank)baits. In addition, if you have a rubber band as a release on a line that already has a bait on it, then anticipate that you'll end up with a rubber half-hitch on your line pretty tight(after a hit & breaking the rubber band). When you reel in the main line the rubber knob will have to pass through your guides & end up buried in the reel.

Rubber bands are used alot in some salmon setups. Typically as a release off the DR ball or as a "fixed slider".

I've used them, but prefer to use other methods that don't involve broken rubber bands being left in the water.

[Beaver]

Using rubber bands for a release off your mast set is actually pretty easy. We`ve done it for years on Lake Mich. for trout and salmon. Attatch the rubber band to your line. Then attatch the loop end of the band to an open shower curtain ring and clip the ring to your mast line. You have to wiggle the rod to get the clip to slide to the end of the mast line. Don`t use too heavy of a rubber band, or they wont snap. After catching a fish, simply attatch another shower curtain clip and keep fishing. You know you`ve had a good day when you have to pull in the mast line to retrieve 20 or so clips. Rubber bands are by far the cheapest and best release you can use. Beav

[redeye]

Larryg;Rubberbands is a good way to fish when releases will not hold your line without tighten them down so tight that you could pull a stump out with it. Big jon has a rubber band made just for this purpose. we use these on DR and Dispy divers alike. I use spiderwire and find the releases just wont hold the line.If you cant find a good rubber band by Big jon them go to office max they have millions of them. and they work real good. hope this helps you out. good luck Redeye.

[Tom (Mich)]

We use rubber bands for high-speed trolling for muskies on Lake St. Clair. The usual releases, even the hgih tensions, just won't hold those 10" baits at 5 mph. Also, when the bands breaks upon a hit, it stays on the fishing line and is simply pulled off when you reel up to that point. Using bands as releases does not litter the water.

[larry g]

Thanks for the input.While I have been using boards for quite sometime, the idea of going back for them was always a hassle. When you clipped them, there was also the hassle of undoing the board.I saw a posting on a striper fishing page where the guy used another set up to use planer boards on a temp. mast and it intriged me.I have willies and yellow birds, i prefer the willies, but they dont pull out as far as the birds, so now will use the birds on a temp mast, and the release thing had me thinking about ruber bands, never gave them a thought though, as a form of clip weight.