Ultimate bobbin

[Anderoo]

I think I've decided to cut up my MK IIs already!

 

I think having the option of a counterbalance is good even if it's not used much, but I think the sliding weight on the main arm is a bit pointless really. To get the MK IIs working properly I need to have the weight about halfway down the arm, so I may as well just use a heavier arm and do away with the weight. If I need mroe weight I can screw in the Solar weights under the bobbin head. If I need a counterbalance, I can add a sliding weight behind the bankstick attachment. This means I can use the 6mm ali tube again for the arm, which is a lot more stable than the steel rod.

[tincatinca]

  poledark said:

Yes, I was right first time...they are almost direct copies of my first Springlok prototypes...................good idea, wasn't it

 

Den

 

Most good ideas are based on simplicity and the use of standard principles but I thought that your arrangement was going a step further based around being able to lock the spring until it was required. I still like the straight forward principle of long monkey climbers and I am sure that they could be made to work more efficiently as the bobbins I have done really represent a monkey climber in miniture. The main problem would be keeping the weight of the head down which is difficult from a DIY point of view but would be fairly simple with a couple of injection mouldings but then I really do not have any commercial interest. I do have access to C.A.D via my youngest son where you can utilise finite element analysis but that takes the fun out of it and I much prefer to play about in the workshop. I have been in engineering all of my working life and often look at various applications and think how can these be turned into something useful for fishing. Fishing barrows are certainly an area which I think could be improved. You could also vastly improve standard bobbin heads by having balls that roll which again would not be too difficult to produce if you had the equipment. I think it was you who stated in another post that there is very little that is new and I would fully agree with you.

[tincatinca]

  Anderoo said:

I think I've decided to cut up my MK IIs already!

 

I think having the option of a counterbalance is good even if it's not used much, but I think the sliding weight on the main arm is a bit pointless really.

 

In principle what you say is correct as a sliding balance weight at the rear is doing the same job. The advantage in the sliding weight on the front as well is that you can fine tune very easily as you can test the weight of the arm in one hand whilst adjusting the weight with the other and no fafdfing about with screws. This is not so easy to accomplish if you try to do the same by adjusting the rear weight alone.

 

A good example is the changes that can happen for example high wing and strong undertow. With the front and rear sliding adjustments compensation can be achieved in seconds.

[Anderoo]

  tincatinca said:

In principle what you say is correct as a sliding balance weight at the rear is doing the same job. The advantage in the sliding weight on the front as well is that you can fine tune very easily as you can test the weight of the arm in one hand whilst adjusting the weight with the other and no fafdfing about with screws. This is not so easy to accomplish if you try to do the same by adjusting the rear weight alone.

 

A good example is the changes that can happen for example high wing and strong undertow. With the front and rear sliding adjustments compensation can be achieved in seconds.

 

All very true Tinca, but with my un-counterbalanced swingers with no sliding weights last year, I didn't need to adjust anything (just as well as I couldn't!). I think with the way I fish, the heavier the arm is the better, so I may as well make it quite heavy by default with the option of adding counterbalance weights if I need to lighten it for any reason.

[tincatinca]

  Anderoo said:

All very true Tinca, but with my un-counterbalanced swingers with no sliding weights last year, I didn't need to adjust anything (just as well as I couldn't!). I think with the way I fish, the heavier the arm is the better, so I may as well make it quite heavy by default with the option of adding counterbalance weights if I need to lighten it for any reason.

 

Anderoo, you have my full respect for what you have achieved with limited equipment and not only that, you have put fish on the bank.

[Anderoo]

  tincatinca said:

Anderoo, you have my full respect for what you have achieved with limited equipment and not only that, you have put fish on the bank.

 

Cheers Paul - I'll knock you up a set if you like

 

I know there are much better solutions than what I use but as you know most of the fun is in making them yourself, with whatever skills/tools you have.

 

Also, all they do is stop the alarms from beeping in the wind, they don't actually catch you any fish!

Edited February 14, 2011 by Anderoo

[tincatinca]

  Anderoo said:

Also, all they do is stop the alarms from beeping in the wind, they don't actually catch you any fish!

 

Agreed and that is ultra important to us old buggers who need their beauty sleep . I respond very quickly to the sounder box which is right by my head and get and many is the time I have catapulted out of the bivvy to a single beep. Another good reason is that I have seen you looking completely wrecked after a couple of days and nights of total concentration

[Anderoo]

  tincatinca said:

Agreed and that is ultra important to us old buggers who need their beauty sleep . I respond very quickly to the sounder box which is right by my head and get and many is the time I have catapulted out of the bivvy to a single beep. Another good reason is that I have seen you looking completely wrecked after a couple of days and nights of total concentration

 

It can get very tiring can't it, I remember seeing Rich after a couple of nights of no sleep and he looked a state! Apparently while playing one fish in the middle of the night he forgot who he was

 

That's why I like the chub fishing, a nice lie in, out about lunchtime, and back by 5pm for dinner

 

In all seriousness this topic and the all the ideas and experiments in it have made a measurable difference to my night fishing. When the alarm only beeps because of a fish, the whole business is so much better. I don't even particularly like night fishing, I'd much rather sleep properly at night and catch fish in the day. It's a shame some species can't see the logic in that...!

[Steve Burke]

  Anderoo said:

I'd much rather sleep properly at night and catch fish in the day. It's a shame some species can't see the logic in that...!

 

Just one of the reasons why perch are my favourite species!

[Anderoo]

  Steve Burke said:

Just one of the reasons why perch are my favourite species!

 

And chub mine! Although perch are even more sensible about bedtime