Ultimate bobbin

[tincatinca]

In the time that I have been playing about with the long swingers, the key considerations I have found have been

1) Maintaining rigidity with minimum weight which has led me down the path of using 6mm ali tube. I have playedabout with stainless wire as used on propriety swingers but over a foot long it bends like buggery.

2) The ability to control weight distribution as without a counter balance weight, the weight at the end of the swinger arm is considerable even without additional add on weights

3) The ability to control the movement of the arm so that when a bite occurs the swinger comes to a dead stop and the line pulls out cleanly.

4) Adjustable so that it fits anywhere on the bamkstick.

5) A hinged bobbin so that it always remains vertical no matter what position the arm is in.

6) Resistance to lateral movement in the arm to prevent false indications from the bite alarms

 

In considering all the above I quickly came to the conclusion that the key factor was in the design of the bankstick clamp which has to do attach solidly to the bankstick and also control the arm movement both vertically and sideways.

 

A fairly simplearrangement can be seen on the attached sketch and the same principles are incorporated into the ones that I made. With the arms sitting inside the slot, sideways movement is controlled and with the two adjustment screws the arm can be set and stopped in both the up and down positions

 

In the case of the upward movement, this is crucial as you want the arm to stop dead in order for the line to effectively release from the bobbin.

Like many of you, my first thoughts were it would be an easy job but it was surprising what added problems appear when you increase the length of the arms.

 

 

 

Anderoo, Budgie I will send you a pm

[Anderoo]

Thanks for that Tinca, very helpful

 

Sorry for all the questions, but could you quickly explain why it's a bad thing to have bendy thin stainless steel arms? Is rigidity really vital, if so, why?

 

Ta!

[tincatinca]

Thanks for that Tinca, very helpful

 

Sorry for all the questions, but could you quickly explain why it's a bad thing to have bendy thin stainless steel arms? Is rigidity really vital, if so, why?

 

Ta!

 

Im having problems with the computer at the moment. Can respond on Internet explorer but not on Firefox but in answer to your question, for example with a tethered bobbin and you get a bite the upward strike ensures that everything comes away free. The same applies to standard length swingers which come up against a stop. If you have a bendy swinger it may not and also a bendy swinger could suffer from vibration in say the wind which could also give you unwanted bleeps and also transmit vibrations through the line but the key reason is ensuring the line comes away clean. With the quarry you have in mind, I would think that you would want to elimimate any possible problems.

[Anderoo]

Sorry if this is irritating or I'm just not getting what you're saying, but I can't get my head around this problem...why wouldn't the line ping out of the line clip on the swinger head when you pick up the rod and strike? I can't understand why it would behave any differently to a bobbin!

[tincatinca]

Sorry if this is irritating or I'm just not getting what you're saying, but I can't get my head around this problem...why wouldn't the line ping out of the line clip on the swinger head when you pick up the rod and strike? I can't understand why it would behave any differently to a bobbin!

[tincatinca]

Sorry if this is irritating or I'm just not getting what you're saying, but I can't get my head around this problem...why wouldn't the line ping out of the line clip on the swinger head when you pick up the rod and strike? I can't understand why it would behave any differently to a bobbin!

 

I can understand your frustration and reasoning but if for example the line clip is set a bit tight which it would have to be if you had the arm fully weighted then the likelehood would be that a flimsy arm would continue to bend until such a time that the force was sufficient to release the line from the clip. It would a bit like striking against a spring as opposed to directly against the fish which could be just enough to result in a miss. It may seem like going a bit over the top but from history the opportunities are rare and also a wobbly arm would not be desirable in the case of a liner which could transmit vibrations and possibly spook whatever

was interfering with it. My own personal thoughts is as far as possible to try and prevent any circumstances that may result in the equipment not working as effectively as possible and with amy form of spring like action, what goes one way will come back the other way.

[Anderoo]

I can understand your frustration and reasoning but if for example the line clip is set a bit tight which it would have to be if you had the arm fully weighted then the likelehood would be that a flimsy arm would continue to bend until such a time that the force was sufficient to release the line from the clip. It would a bit like striking against a spring as opposed to directly against the fish which could be just enough to result in a miss. It may seem like going a bit over the top but from history the opportunities are rare and also a wobbly arm would not be desirable in the case of a liner which could transmit vibrations and possibly spook whatever

was interfering with it. My own personal thoughts is as far as possible to try and prevent any circumstances that may result in the equipment not working as effectively as possible and with amy form of spring like action, what goes one way will come back the other way.

 

Ah, OK, thanks Tinca, I'm with you now!

 

With my dunces cap on, I would still say that this can easily be overcome by setting the clip correctly - but I expect once my bits and pieces arrive and I start actually putting them together I'll start to realise the problems involved...

[Dick Dastardly]

LOL! Now I agree with the line release problems.The longer the arm the greater the problem especially if the arm can carry on rising up when you strike.

 

What I dont understand is why you say the bobbin being vertical is important.Yes if it is avertical bobbin your using its important to avoid tangles to keep it vertical no matter what angle the arm is at but if you just use a sight bobbin stuck on the end of the arm (as you do with a pike drop off indicater (see pic) then you avoid this full stop?

 

Edited January 26, 2010 by BUDGIE

[tincatinca]

If you look at a standard bobbin arrangement which is probably the most sensitive of all in good conditions then the bobbin rises and falls vertically irrespective of the drop length with a virtually constant downward force which is the weight of the bobbin plus any attached weights and the cord all acting on gravity. With a swinging arm you have a variable downward force dependeant on the position of the arm. By using a vertically hung bobbin you come as near as you can to the principle of a standard bobbin arrangement through maintaing the downward force directly in line with the end of the arm wheras with a fixed bobbin you get variations either side of the end of the arm dependant on whether the arm is in the downward or upward position. When the arm is horizontal position,both fixed and hinged variants would be the same assuming that the fixed variety was at right angles to the arm. I am not saying that a fixed bobin would not work. Far from it but I do believe that the pivoted and vertically hung variety gives you best possible combination as regards covering the variables. In this case the variables become less as the length of the arm increases.

The attached sketch shows the principle. The principle of the whole mechanism relates to moments of force (like a beam scale balance or a see saw) and whilst it may appear to be going a bit over the top I am trying to make it as sensitive as possible and minimise the variables which is why I also use counter balance weights. If you use a fixed bobbin then the ball ended line clip would probably be the best option on the bobbin head.

 

[poledark]

I'm finding all this to be very confusing. Could I first off say that a liner is a liner whether it is bream or whatever. If the bobbin (or whatever) comes off when the line tightens and it IS a line bite, then you end up with no indication what is happening. So I consider it essential that the bobbin stays on until the rod is lifted. That way, the line will drop back if it is a liner.

 

I get loads of liners from pike passing by, fish "towing" gear, carp/tench etc bumping into the line, and I do not want my bobbin to come off.

 

Now back to the beginning, no matter what sort of drop you have, when the line tightens, it will slip off the fishes back. This will happen quicker with a short drop.

 

At the risk of being "pushy", my (Fox) Springloks are the only bobbins I know or have used which will always stay on the line, even with the most violent of takes. Not cheap though.

 

 

I am tempted to make a pun here........"if you pay peanuts, you will end up with monkeys" :)

 

Den

Edited January 26, 2010 by poledark