Bobber stops

[wile.e.1]

Have a question for you folks that use bobbers. First , I use the small bobbers that the line goes through. They are made of some kind of styrofoam. The kind you use a piece of toothpick to hold. I have always hand lined those in.(I fish a shallow boat harbor mostly) This way has worked for years, but on occasion I have hooked huge fish and they either broke off or I  lost them because I had too much tension on the line, and during the heat of battle I guess I am not smart enough to ease up on the tension. So last year I started to use the string type or rubber type of stops. They worked pretty good. Now when I hook something huge I can fight it on the rod. The problem I was having was that the stop would get caught on the last/first eye of the rod. So the next time I dropped I would have to set the depth  again. Would a bigger guide at the tip help ?. I use Ice Blue rods, I really like the sensitivity of them, but the guides are tiny. I have rods for jigging and even spring bobber rods. But I always have at least 1 rod with a bobber in the water. That is my fav. way to fish. I do believe bigger guides would help, but I would like to hear from some of you that may have had this problem. Thanks all,   Bob
I forgot to mention ...freeze up is not a problem, am fishing from a hut

[zamboni]

I recommend Ice Buster bobbers to anyone. They come with a few stops. Give them a try, you will never use anything else ever again

[fishwiz4]

pull the bober stop not really tight when you put it on the line.  it will be difficult to slide, but once you put it there it will stay.  eventually it may loosen up, but it should be after quite a few days of fishing.

also, i try to find the bobber stops that look like they are made out of very small rope, rather than a single peice of material.  make sense? 
these ones that have the texture to them grip the line better i think.  also, when reeling the fish in, you can just point your tip down right at the hole for a second untill you get the bobber stop past the first eye.

its a little annoying sometimes, but overall, very easy problem to handle

[coboy]

If you use a bobber with the hole all the way through it for the line to go through,than a plastic bead and than a rubber stop,you can set your depth to whatever you want.
The rubber stop will still fit through the guides onto your reel while the bead and bobber don't get past the first guide.Cabelas sells them and they work really well.

[Swift]

Like 2 rubber stops. The top is set for the bottom and the other at whatever depth I need. Just need to use a rod with oversized guides and tip.

[princecraft]

I have the same problem in open water once in a while.  As the bobber stop gets close to the tip top, point the rod tip at the ice hole.  The stop should slip through tip top and then fight the fish as usual.

[wile.e.1]

thanks for the tips guys. I can see how the pointing of the rod tip at the hole would help, but in my situation...sitting in a chair , with the rod at arms length away.I only have about a foot or so of slack line above the bobber . So when I get a strike and set the hook, on a good fish that ice blue has quite the bend in it . With the bobber stop being so close to the tip, and with all that tension on the rod. One or two cranks on the reel and the stop is at the 1st guide. That is where my problem was...the stop would just catch the guide and no matter how tight I had it , would slip up the line a bit. From your responses , looks like I'm gonna have to remember to either bow to the hole so to speak or maybe try to watch the stop and give the rod a little less arc in it when the stop is near the tip. I thought maybe the guides had something to do with it'  The good thing is I work nights and have plenty of time to try these new tactics
Thanks for your time , Merry Christmas and hope you have your best year yet.

[ChillerThriller]

If you are using a bobber as your strike indicator, why do you need a sensitive rod? you can use one with bigger guides and it will work the same for you. Also use the thinnest line for bobberstops that you can, thats about all i can think of at the moment.

[ZEKE]

I use Thill bobber stops for ice fishing and soft water and a bobber that has a hole in the middle. I do not use the bead on the hard water. On soft water it saves the top of the bobber from gettting a cut in the bobber from the line.

[wile.e.1]

If you are using a bobber as your strike indicator, why do you need a sensitive rod?

  Huh...??  because it's fun.  I don't want to just drag the fish through the hole. I am amazed at the size of fish you can bring in on a UL rod with 2lb. test. I also use a 12' noodle rod for stream fishin for the same reason. I see allot of folks using what looks like rope and a table leg to catch fish...I just don't get it

[ChillerThriller]

I totally get that, for i also use UL rods for most of my fishing unless i want to go industrial. Changing the tiptop on the ice blues rods does not tend to go well because the blanks are so fine. My suggestion for the BEST UL rod for bobber fishing is the panfish popper UL minus the spring bobber tip. I was messing around with one of these in a store today and was qutie impressed with how soft it was. They also have bigger eyes than the ice blues. My favorite rods for ice fishing so far are panfish poppers without the spring bobber tip. Just a suggestion.

[pike4some]

If you have a very small eye the tie off could get stuck. I had problems at first with a small eye when I fished out side and got ice in the eye so I got a different rod. I have issues some times with the tie off getting stuck in the real, but this usually happens when I am fishing a little deeper or I didn't cut the ends off short enough. Other wise no matter what if I use a bobber it will be a slip bobber just because I don't like having all the line laying on the ground.

[icontact]

I tie my on to the line using either 20 lb. fly line backing or 20 lb. mason tip up line with a nail knot
www.animatedknots.com/
Couldn't get the link to work, but look under fishing, it will show you how to tie the knot

[Spin]

   You get a really big fish on and he's got the weight as well as putting plenty of tension on with the give and take of repeated runs while you're trying to get him lined up and through the holeand that bobber stop is going to move. It's an odds on bet. Resign yourself to it and just consider resetting the stop as the price of hooking into a nice fish. Cheer up partner!  It could be alot worse.

                                                                                                                  Spin