Northwest Fishing Reports

My wife got me this months ago as a gag gift, since I kept going to buy lures be cause I "lost" them. It has been sitting in my tackle bag ever since.

Yesterday I was fishing the river for silvers, got snagged up and decided to try it. I ended up being successful at getting my lures (spoons and vibrex spinners) back 5 out of 6 snags! It took a little bit to get a method down, then a little patience (tug-nope, tug-nope, tug-nope, tug-yes!), but in the end probably 10 minutes or less to get each of em back.

The snags I was getting were all fairly close (let out about 10-15' of line) and deep, and not that much current, so I don't know how well it would do for one that was out there a ways, or in a stronger current. But I will definitely be using it more often and I can see where if you are in a boat and can get right over the top, this thing should work great!

I think the worst part was getting over the "dork factor" (everybody else fishing watching that 1st attempt, and saying to themselves or their buddies "look at that dork, what the h*ll is he doing!?") but once I got my lures back I got over it real quick:cheers:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... hasJS=true

Neato!

I'm gonna try it. Being cheap, I might just link together a few old key rings and send em down the line on heavy braid. Thanks for the idea.

It probably paid for itself that day.

Oh crap, now you've done it...now you have to come up w/ new excuses to go buy lures!

Im going to get something like this. We have lost alot of lures due to snags. Musky lures run between $6 and $30 for standard lures and more for specialty ones. This would pay for itself rather quickly on my boat.

RaMcVey wrote:Im going to get something like this. We have lost alot of lures due to snags. Musky lures run between $6 and $30 for standard lures and more for specialty ones. This would pay for itself rather quickly on my boat.

I can see where you might end up straightening out your hooks some times, but hooks are much cheaper than than lures!

MrLucky wrote:Neato!

I'm gonna try it. Being cheap, I might just link together a few old key rings and send em down the line on heavy braid. Thanks for the idea.

Good idea, some things to think of for your design..

Quick way to put it on and take it off your line (whithout nicking the line in the process).
Enough strength to yank pretty good (one of my lures came up still attached to the tree branch that I broke off)
Braid definately can be strong enough, but unless you have some type of handle, it is going to cut the heck out of your hand.
Enough weight to get it to quickly slide down the line and over your lure.

In the past while squidding and losing 20 bucks at least a nite jigging I learned about the braided line with a 8 ox ball to drop down on your line and release the jig. Works great.I used drapery cord just because I have spools of it. Snag release devices are good but free ones are even better.I use to tie one cord on a weight using a swivel to drop it down my line once freed reel both back up quick.It worked well while jigging for lingers as well in the rocks.

I'm gonna have to patent my lure retriever!!Cabelas must have been trying to spy on my idea!!I haven't had to pay for river gear in a long time!! My wife laughed when i was designing it now she wants me to patent it before it's too late!!My invention will clean out the rivers,make anglers happy for retrieving their gear back and alot more,safer for anglers wading,and safer for juvenile fish.This is a good way to go green!!:money:

Ther are quite a few different lure retrievers on the market, mine consists of a heavy weight with a angled loop which will knock the lure even on the underside
of a branch. I tied on some small diameter rope and wind it up on a marker buoy float, I just throw it out of the boat and it usually frees the lure first try.
Having it wound on the float makes storage easy!

Mine is a lot like spindog discribes. When this thread started I tried to find a picture of what I use, no such luck, and I forget where I got it. There are no hooks on it to catch on tree limbs themselves, just the loop that knocks off the stuck lure, or catches the hooks that are on the lure/crankbait. I've used it 2 or 3 times in the past couple years, once last year in front of the dock owner. She was appreciative that I don't like leaving hooks in the rope that anchors their boat. :-)

Mine casts,and not only gets your gear back but everyone elses.My first cast i got all the gear back that i lost over the past year,well over the coarse of a couple hours 75 hooks,75corkies mostly glo,25 weights,46 swivels,3 bluefox spinners,2 spoons,6 jigs.I can cast it all the way across the river making it the FIRST CASTING GEAR RETRIEVER! Take that cabelas!!!:money:

Slick_Rick wrote:Mine casts,and not only gets your gear back but everyone elses.My first cast i got all the gear back that i lost over the past year,well over the coarse of a couple hours 75 hooks,75corkies mostly glo,25 weights,46 swivels,3 bluefox spinners,2 spoons,6 jigs.I can cast it all the way across the river making it the FIRST CASTING GEAR RETRIEVER! Take that cabelas!!!:money:

I WANT ONE... OR TWO...!!!

RaMcVey wrote:

Slick_Rick wrote:Mine casts,and not only gets your gear back but everyone elses.My first cast i got all the gear back that i lost over the past year,well over the coarse of a couple hours 75 hooks,75corkies mostly glo,25 weights,46 swivels,3 bluefox spinners,2 spoons,6 jigs.I can cast it all the way across the river making it the FIRST CASTING GEAR RETRIEVER! Take that cabelas!!!:money:

I WANT ONE... OR TWO...!!!

In case you lose 1 on a snag. Then you can use the second one to retrieve the first one.

I don't have to worry about losing it i can probably tow my car with this stuff!!I've moved boulders!!:money:

Amx wrote:

RaMcVey wrote:

Slick_Rick wrote:Mine casts,and not only gets your gear back but everyone elses.My first cast i got all the gear back that i lost over the past year,well over the coarse of a couple hours 75 hooks,75corkies mostly glo,25 weights,46 swivels,3 bluefox spinners,2 spoons,6 jigs.I can cast it all the way across the river making it the FIRST CASTING GEAR RETRIEVER! Take that cabelas!!!:money:

I WANT ONE... OR TWO...!!!

In case you lose 1 on a snag. Then you can use the second one to retrieve the first one.

Well, its VERY possible that I have the ability to loose that much stuff. lol.