Texas rig

[Ken L]

Thanks, Ken

 

I certainly take your point about the non exposed hook point, which admittedly the article in AT included, but I assume the rig would work without that? Re the cost of lead free weights, I checked the AGM site and you could get 12 3.5gm weights for £2 which strikes me as OK.

 

But what I haven't got my mind round is exactly how having a free-running weight effects the lure action. If it's no real benefit then I agree with Kappa - may as well just pinch a swan shot or two onto the line.

 

As I recall, the free running weight serves two purposes. Firstly, provided you give it completely loose line after casting, it will sink but leave the lure to slowly drop under it's own weight, allowing you to pick up bites on the drop. Secondly, it reduces the chances of a head thrashing fish working the hook loose.

As said, while I like jig heads with soft plastics on occasion, the difficulty of getting hook-ups on pike with these bass tactics lead me to look for other solutions.

[BoldBear]

Excellent stuff Ken. Couldn't be more clear.

 

Where the hell did you catch a Terrapin though? Was this an illicit visit to Seaworld with a folding travel rod concealed about your person, or did you plunder the local Aquatic supply megastore? It certainly is the standout species in an otherwise thoroughly domestic fishing year.

 

Do tell.

I caught a terrapin on a maggot trotted beneath a float on the upper river Lea a couple of years ago. There was also a large terrapin living in our estate lake for a few years but that was nothing compared to the ponds in a park to the west of London alongside the Thames which had literally dozens of them living in them a few years ago and probably still do.

 

Keith

Edited December 6, 2016 by BoldBear

[Phone]

Ken,

 

Snapping turtles are the most feared creature in the water when "hand fishing". Sent a shiver down my spine when I opened that url.

 

Phone

[Ken L]

Ken,

 

Snapping turtles are the most feared creature in the water when "hand fishing". Sent a shiver down my spine when I opened that url.

 

Phone

It amazes me that they survive at these latitudes. The snapper was caught just a few miles down the road from hear and like the pond where I caught the terrapin, Earlswood lakes regularly freeze over - in 2012, there was more than a foot of ice continually for at least 5 weeks.

[Kappa]

I saw a terrapin sunbathing on a log in the windrush earlier this year!

[Phone]

All,

 

With a bit of google we have two different “snapping turtles”. Yours hibernate.

The snapping turtle family, Chelydridae, evolved in North America and has haunted our wetlands almost unchanged for nearly 90 million years.

Ours. (North America) don’t hibernate through the winter. In fact, I've seen snappers moving around under the ice. Metabolism runs at a very low ebb in the cold. They remain alert to changes in light and temperature. Even in Canada.

 

The “how” is complicated but seems both can last for about 4 - 5 months without fresh air.

 

I didn't know any of them hibernated.

 

Phone

Edited December 8, 2016 by Phone

[Ken L]

There is no "ours". We have no native testudines. Both the red eared terrapins and the snapping turtles that we see in the wild are North American imports from the pet trade.

[Phone]

Ken,

 

Strictly google, "There are the two types of snapping turtle I know: the Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) and the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)."

 

The snapping turtle family evolved in North America and has haunted wetlands almost unchanged for nearly 90 million years. Ancestors spread to Eurasia about 40 million years ago and then disappeared from that continent in the late Pliocene, about two million years ago.

 

I see what you are talking about. Yours must swim about under the ice also. They are prevalent in Canada.

 

BTW - I think otters play a major role in the control of the population in the US (midwest)

 

Phone