Impact shields

[BubbaBlue]

This may be more appropriate in the rod building forum. If so, move away.

Lately I've been broadening my horizons and one of the things that has intrigued me were pulley rigs. I liked the idea of connecting the hook to the sinker to reduce helicoptering. Finally got around to making some up with cut off hooks and tried them recently. I liked the result except occasionally I had a release in flight. Most of the time it was on the down path and my distance didn't suffer that much because of it. They worked pretty good. :)

Ok, with a Randy order recently I got a few packs of BA Impact Shields just to try them out.

My question has to do with the release bead. The placement seems to be pretty critical according to your bite leader length, considering that's what pushes the hook off the shield. Did a little research today and it looks like the commercial BA rigs have the bead crimped in place. Yeah, this'll work just fine with their rigs because they force you to clip your hook on to a fixed bite leader.

I don't like that setup because the first time a blue chews up your bite leader, it's trash. Obviously I want to be able to change out my bite leader frequently so at first glance, a crimped bead doesn't seem to be the best way to go.

In this case I'm not talking a pulley rig. Fixed bite leader connected higher up on the rig, though the principle should work on a pulley too. I've seen other setups where they just double the line through the bead to sort of hold it in place.

I'm wondering how other folks use the shields.

Is the bead really needed? What do you use as an alternative? How do you connect it to the rig so it's adjustable depending on your bite leader length?

thanks...
.

[Sgt_Slough]

The impact shield must have that anchored point (bead fixed by crimp or knot) to bear on to function properly. It just sliding up the rig's main strand does not ensure consistent release.

The vast majority of rigs I use are clip-down and I get around your problem by tieing up an array of replacement snells ready to go.

I usually use a stand-off to attach the leader to the main strand of the rig. I put the smallest Breakaway spinlink at the end to allow quick leader changes for frayed leader or if I need a bigger or smaller hook (or change in float color).

A pulley rig is a natural for the interchangeable leader system; the swivel between the rig "body" and the hook leader is an easy point to make a loop connection.

[BubbaBlue]

Thanks sarge.

I've done some experimenting since I posted the above and I think the double threaded bead will work ok for what I'm trying to do. :)

I'm curious about your "clip down" rig terminology. What are you using to secure the hook? Is this the cut off hook method? Or is it one of the other BA products like the IMP?
.