Clam Nitinol spring bobbers -Absolute garbage(pics)

[chillinNgillin]

used the frabill titanium last year, best add-on spring bober I've used and its easily adjustable for the weight of the jig your using.

                         x2       expensive but best one I've ever used too.

[eyedoktr]

Learn to line watch. Match the rod and line for the lure you are using. Do those two things and you don't need spring bobbers.

[Handy]

 I already bought some a while ago so I will have to use them to see what mine do. The good news is last year I bought 2 frabill titanium spring bobbers and liked the way they worked, just need a brighter beed on the end. I was hoping these would work just as nice for my other rods. Time will tell.


Paul

[step2jimi]

Guitar strings have been the best spring bobbers I can find. Make a loop at one end and fold down. Ad a beed and attatch to your rod tip. Done.

[3300]

Guitar strings have been the best spring bobbers I can find. Make a loop at one end and fold down. Ad a beed and attatch to your rod tip. Done.

i made some from a schematic posted here last season. i used the "g" wire as said to use. the wires bend and stay bent so they are a no go for me. i have about 10 of them i made and will not use. if i could find that wire in titanium, then its a go for sure!

thats why i went with frabill, its all done for me and i found them for 6 bucks a pop with a slide mount. the mount is nice because you can clip it to the bottom of the rod so the wire doesn't touch the top of the rod. the mount allows you to turn the wire to any where you want it.
very very nice!
will be buying more for sure.

[Ramp 23]

St. Croixs are amazing. Best I have ever used by far

[walkndude]

I broke down and picked up a couple of the frabills last season but never got over the feeling of being skinned after forking out 12 bucks a piece. I mean, the elite techs they went only ran me 13.50 a pop. They look pretty on those rods but I didn't catch anymore fish over the 1.99 HT's -at least they don't rust out after being forgotten about at the bottom of a bucket.

[jbird68]

I bought a couple of these.

 www.actiontackleproduc ts.com/abi.html

They work pretty good but I don't like how they attach to the rod. Soft metal that wraps around your rod tip. I ended up taping them on secret crimping them on. Otherwise they trend to spin around the rod.

[Monticatgeek]

Walkndude,

thank you for posting this. I will be forwarding this to the proper people at Clam. I got some of these with the plan of building them into a couple custom rods I was going to build but now I will not be using them on these rods. I did the freezer test and was shocked by it. since I am one of their pro staff I had high hopes for these but I guess these need to be redone with the correct type of metal that will not do this before I build one into a custom rod.

Thanks Again.

[DTro]

Instead of “needs to be redone”.  How about doing it right (or at least acceptable) the first time??
 
Why doesn’t Clam use all these guys in the blue jerseys to field test their products and allow them to give honest feedback before selling them?  If that happened, it wouldn’t take us (the consumer) one time on the ice to figure out what is junk and what is not and if these guys ARE field testing, then there is way too much Blue Kool Aid flowing.
 
Out of all the things I got from Clam for being involved with them last year NOT ONE came out unscathed and eventually most ended up right in the trash.  
 
-Popup House --- Several broke zipper pulls  (added my own to fix it)
-LED light/fan combo----First one didn’t work out of the box, second only lasted 2 trips, in the garbage it went
-Large Jig box---spring loaded latch covers never would work in the cold. In the trash it went
-Rod Locker---Was good for a few trips, but now the zipper always splits open and things fall out, tried squeezing the zipper pull (as suggested) and that didn’t help.  Will likely end up in the trash
 
Had I paid for these items I would not be a happy camper and when I voiced my opinion, I was shut out, and in fact I can’t even post on the Ice Team forum anymore

[ROOOSTERFISH]

I'm looking forward to trying out the FRABILL Titanium spring bobber this year.  I can't complain about the price because some guy named " Bro" gave it to me after meeting him at my favorite Fleet Farm store. Here is a tip he gave me use some little strips of electrical tape and tape it on your pole so it doesn't slip off.
Good Luck!

[3300]

Instead of “needs to be redone”.  How about doing it right (or at least acceptable) the first time??
 
Why doesn’t Clam use all these guys in the blue jerseys to field test their products and allow them to give honest feedback before selling them?  If that happened, it wouldn’t take us (the consumer) one time on the ice to figure out what is junk and what is not and if these guys ARE field testing, then there is way too much Blue Kool Aid flowing.
 
Out of all the things I got from Clam for being involved with them last year NOT ONE came out unscathed and eventually most ended up right in the trash. 
 
-Popup House --- Several broke zipper pulls  (added my own to fix it)
-LED light/fan combo----First one didn’t work out of the box, second only lasted 2 trips, in the garbage it went
-Large Jig box---spring loaded latch covers never would work in the cold. In the trash it went
-Rod Locker---Was good for a few trips, but now the zipper always splits open and things fall out, tried squeezing the zipper pull (as suggested) and that didn’t help.  Will likely end up in the trash
 
Had I paid for these items I would not be a happy camper and when I voiced my opinion, I was shut out, and in fact I can’t even post on the Ice Team forum anymore

i totally agree with what you said about why not tested before sold to market. this stuff should not be on the shelves. they should save it for the guys who like to wear their logo only like a subscriber.
every thing i wasted money on made by clam (twice, once for "alpha" testing clam product, second time to replace junk with quality products) and my time and frustrations.
this site i thought is a place to share information and give "opinions" to others to try to help them along and not make the same mistakes we made. it is not rude behavior to share information, in fact it is the opposite.
being shut out of a section that caters to clam is no lose to you, is it? i might be shut out too, but no lose here. funny how they don't want good reviews about their bad products. only want the good ones. makes it delusional at best.
these clam posts get deleted and i am surprised this one stayed as long as it has so far.

i see clam stole the same exact rubber clip from frabills titanium wire bobber. they can't even design their own and the same bobber type, but again with inferior materials and no testing as you said. just sad, really really sad.

i would like to make these, like frabill does and tried to find titanium wire on the net, even if i did the rubber mounts are great and can't find those.

the tip for electric tape might work, but i mounted mine of the 13 fishing rod tips and they epoxy/wrap the tip top guide so the rubber mounts fit like a dream. if i had to give a tip for a rod that wasn't made that way, i would suggest sewing thread warped tightly and a little finger nail paint. another would be sewing thread wrapped around the outside of the mount to squeeze it tight and hunter orange fingernail paint over it. might use that to make the end of the wire more visible, down towards the loop.

[ClamSteve]

Interesting conclusions drawn on this thread.  I work for CLAM, and I can confirm that we've been working on these spring bobbers for two years.  At the beginning of last winter we had a prototype that we liked.  We got different metal compositions and weights into the hands of 2 of our guys and tested them.  Once the preferred composition was confirmed, we got that into the hands of about 10 of our pros and had them use them through the ice season.  About 7 of us at CLAM tested them as well.  The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive on the metal itself, but we had a request that we make a tweak to the way it attaches.  We made this change and had that tested as well -- on the ice.  At the end of the season we were comfortable that we had a new spring bobber option that would perform as well or better than anything else on the market, and at a great price.

Would we intentionally roll this out knowing that it doesn't perform?  Of course not.  Is it possible that something in production resulted in failures on some of these?  Yes.  While that is not acceptable to us or you, I have forwarded this thread to the R&D team and we will get the bottom of the issue immediately, determine its scope, and get it fixed. 

[3300]

thanks for trying to help those who still buy clam.
they will appreciate it, i am positive!

[DTro]

I don't think any company knowingly puts out an inferior product.  I just feel some companies could put more effort into R&D.and rely less on beta testing by full retail buyers.

[jhei88]

You should send him out a replacement, that way we know if there any good or not, maybe it was just a bad batch? I think right now a lot of ppl will stay away from them, until they here there better. Just an idea

[michiganice]

I ended up picking up a couple of the Got-Cha spring bobbers this weekend at a local fishing show.  The old guy who makes them is from my area and he uses 3/4 pound test.  Not 3 or 4 pound, but .75 lb test line with them.  Sounds crazy, but he's apparently been catching them through the ice like this for longer than I've been alive.  He also uses tiny tungsten flies with them. 

[DR.SPECKLER]

that sucks.i just bought 2 clam nitinols because the price point was better than the frabill titaniums which I have and they work great.i guess thats what I get for trying to save a few dollars going with clam..

[Tombat74]

Interesting conclusions drawn on this thread.  I work for CLAM, and I can confirm that we've been working on these spring bobbers for two years.  At the beginning of last winter we had a prototype that we liked.  We got different metal compositions and weights into the hands of 2 of our guys and tested them.  Once the preferred composition was confirmed, we got that into the hands of about 10 of our pros and had them use them through the ice season.  About 7 of us at CLAM tested them as well.  The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive on the metal itself, but we had a request that we make a tweak to the way it attaches.  We made this change and had that tested as well -- on the ice.  At the end of the season we were comfortable that we had a new spring bobber option that would perform as well or better than anything else on the market, and at a great price.

Would we intentionally roll this out knowing that it doesn't perform?  Of course not.  Is it possible that something in production resulted in failures on some of these?  Yes.  While that is not acceptable to us or you, I have forwarded this thread to the R&D team and we will get the bottom of the issue immediately, determine its scope, and get it fixed.

I happen to think that this is a good thing. Airing issues such as this on an open forum has caught the attention of the folks at Clam. Rather than slamming them for a product that is not working as it was intended I applaud them for coming to a forum such as ice shanty to hear from the folks in the proverbial retail trenches. All product companies put out lemons from time to time. Its the ones who listen and take those lemons and make lemonade that I will continue to support with my hard earned dollars. Thanks for looking at this situation and putting it in the que to get it addressed. Nicely done Clam Corp.

[Corey Bechtold]

I've never been a big fan of Spring Bobbers but some people really like them.

I'll call Matt Johnson now and explain the issue to him.  Sorry about this issue...

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[Buckshots]

If it was a bad batch, then there is obviously no quality control...

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Interesting conclusions drawn on this thread.  I work for CLAM, and I can confirm that we've been working on these spring bobbers for two years.  At the beginning of last winter we had a prototype that we liked.  We got different metal compositions and weights into the hands of 2 of our guys and tested them.  Once the preferred composition was confirmed, we got that into the hands of about 10 of our pros and had them use them through the ice season.  About 7 of us at CLAM tested them as well.  The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive on the metal itself, but we had a request that we make a tweak to the way it attaches.  We made this change and had that tested as well -- on the ice.  At the end of the season we were comfortable that we had a new spring bobber option that would perform as well or better than anything else on the market, and at a great price.

Would we intentionally roll this out knowing that it doesn't perform?  Of course not.  Is it possible that something in production resulted in failures on some of these?  Yes.  While that is not acceptable to us or you, I have forwarded this thread to the R&D team and we will get the bottom of the issue immediately, determine its scope, and get it fixed.

Steve,

I think the problem here is more then the issue at hand which is a simple spring bobber.  A number of people/posters have stated and made claims of a decline in the quality that has gone on in the past few years with clam products. Personally, I have bought clam stuff in the past and have been really happy with it. However, it's not like it use to be. Which is sad, I really liked clam stuff. I don't know what's going on, but it seems like clam is becoming another company like HT. I like HT, and they have some really great products. However, a person needs to really look over a lot of the stuff before you buy anything HT. They've seemed to really mix a lot of crap with decent stuff, and clam seems to be following that path. These spring bobbers are a perfect example of something that I could see happening to an HT product only it's clam. If the company doesn't fix the issues soon, there will be no value in the clam brand, and everything will be based on price for consumers like it is with HT. Being clam we has consumers hold the brand higher, and expect better quality out of that brand. Why has the company not held itself to the standards it's consumers expect.

[Corey Bechtold]

It'll be handled professionally I assure you.  It's not a good thing that it happened but Clam is moving in the right direction and they have the best people working for them to get the issue resolved. 

Sorry to hear about this issue in the first place but it WILL be taken care of.

 

[Corey Bechtold]

Quality control is an ongoing battle with everything you see in today's world.  I bought Cole a burger off the dollar menu at Burger King and the pickle was bigger than the beef patty!  Funniest thing I ever seen!!!

Look at Auto Manufacturers.  I work on cars all day and if I were to buy a new one I don't have any idea which one I'd buy.  All of them have their pro's and con's. 

The fact of the matter is Clam is trying to get to the bottom of this ASAP.  I'm sure Burger King isn't looking into their beef patties for me...   

Keep calm and stay civil.  Things are definitely getting better at Clam.  They have a lot of new people working there that truly care about us!

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Quality control is an ongoing battle with everything you see in today's world.  I bought Cole a burger off the dollar menu at Burger King and the pickle was bigger than the beef patty!  Funniest thing I ever seen!!!

Look at Auto Manufacturers.  I work on cars all day and if I were to buy a new one I don't have any idea which one I'd buy.  All of them have their pro's and con's. 

The fact of the matter is Clam is trying to get to the bottom of this ASAP.  I'm sure Burger King isn't looking into their beef patties for me...   

Keep calm and stay civil.  Things are definitely getting better at Clam.  They have a lot of new people working there that truly care about us!

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

Corey I understand what your saying, but they need to really take a step back. Clam is becoming an HT company extremely fast with people, and rightfully so. It's sad when you talk to people and they go to craigs list to try and find the older versions of clam stuff because they feel it's better quality then the stuff clam is making today. I'm happy with most of my clam purchases, but like stated above before I will buy anything from clam anymore I look it over fairly hard.

[Corey Bechtold]

I appreciate honesty like that.  It's things like this that can only help a company get better.  I have a few friends that work with Clam.  They are working their butts off and want to help the company get better!  Another plus is they are also fishermen like you and me!!!

Take care and we'll see you on the forums.

Later,

Corey Bechtold

[SeisMec]

I'm glad Steve and Corey have come to the forum to listen and talk about this even though they know they might have gotten some heavy abuse here. A lot of companies don't and won't, it shows that people at Clam Corp have some integrity.

Thanks you for coming

Cliff

[jhei88]

The real integrity will be if we actually see changes, or if there blowing smoke up our a$$'$

[filetandrelease]

well I'm sure this won't go well with some but my opinion if you want the truth about a product , give out some samples and ask for honest feed back , pro staffers are stuck in the middle , I get to test drive a few things each year and I'm not a staffer for that reason , just recently I was asked to pro staff some stuff ,I replied no thanks but I will give you honest fishing reports and never heard back oh well , but I will say I have had dealings with clam customer service lowrance, vex , and 13 all have been great  JMO

[SkiSoloII]

I am one who is extremely impressed when a company and their representatives are willing to discuss a problem like this on an open forum, ready to give and get constructive feedback, even if it means receiving abuse from some.

Well done, Clam!

Dave