Disappointing Tackle

bjmiller wrote:

Tuma, VMC made a change to the hook size for the 1/16 oz Tungsten Chandelier. The 1/16 oz now comes with a #14 treble instead of the original #12. No more hang up issues as you described.

Good to know, I will swap out the hooks. Thank you.

I can think of a few.
Berkley Iron silk.
Berkley Frenzy shad.
Berkley Flicker shad(Storm Smash shad better)
Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife.
I am sure there are more,but some things best forgotten.

milemark_714 wrote:

Berkley Flicker shad(Storm Smash shad better)

It’s weird to keep hearing disappointing reviews of the Flicker Shads. I have dozens of them and have only had one not fly right without a little tuning. I agree that Smash Shads are better, but I had a brand new one break right at the lip this spring. Crank wasn’t hung or anything, just broke.

milemark_714 wrote:

I can think of a few.
Berkley Iron silk.
Berkley Frenzy shad.
Berkley Flicker shad(Storm Smash shad better)
Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife.
I am sure there are more,but some things best forgotten.

Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife.
Storm Smash shad

Funny, the Rapala Ion is the best knife I’ve ever owned… (it needs work on the blade release but still a great knife.) I’ve cleaned 100’s of walleye that I’ve caught using Smash Shads.

Joe Scegura wrote:

Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife

I agree, even though I don’t catch 100s of walleyes all the time I do love my cordless rapala ion knife. I do use the knife a good amount. I even accidentally dropped mine in a bucket of water for a couple seconds, rice dried it, out and it has worked well for two years since. Im on the first battery too, but second set of blades.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife

I agree, even though I don’t catch 100s of walleyes all the time I do love my cordless rapala ion knife. I do use the knife a good amount. I even accidentally dropped mine in a bucket of water for a couple seconds, rice dried it, out and it has worked well for two years since. Im on the first battery too, but second set of blades.

I love my rapala ion too. We had a large crew up ice fishing and me along with one buddy probably cleaned close to 80 fish. My battery didn’t even die. He has the same knife. I have two batteries for mine, and I regularly charge them to make sure they don’t sit partially charged.
I was disappointed that the blades from my old rapala deluxe knife was not interchangeable with the cordless one though, but that was a minor inconvenience.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
Rapala cordless Ion fillet knife

I agree, even though I don’t catch 100s of walleyes all the time I do love my cordless rapala ion knife. I do use the knife a good amount. I even accidentally dropped mine in a bucket of water for a couple seconds, rice dried it, out and it has worked well for two years since. Im on the first battery too, but second set of blades.

I let Randy W use it when he was here.Gave it back after 2 fish.His ages old Hamilton Beach knife cut faster and cleaner.Maybe I got a dud unit,or 2 bad blades?It is nice and portable,but don’t expect speedy results.

Tuma wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Same goes for the Thill wobble bobber. I have yet to successfully thread a line through one.

To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.
If you don’t want your Thill Wobble Bobbers I can give them a good home.

To get the line through the wobble bobber, you need to double the line up 12 inches or so and send the bend through. Works every time.

Wobble bobbers are awesome! They have one design flaw though. The extra brass ferrule on the bottom is worthless making it difficult to pass line; luckily it slides out easily with a needle nose. Problem solved. I’ve done this with every single one of mine after being frustrated with em. They are some of favorites now

The jig that I was the most excited about and was ultimately disappointed with is the Yukon shiner. The price was right, hooks were sharp, and they came 2 in a pack! However, under the weight of a nice lake trout the cheap hooks failed me :(.

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milemark_714 wrote:

Maybe I got a dud unit,or 2 bad blades?It is nice and portable,but don’t expect speedy results.

I respectively disagree with this statement. I brought this knife with me to Alaska and people were just in awww at how fast we cleaned salmon with it. I can fly though a few limits of walleye at a pretty quick pace. Like others have stated the battery run time is pretty great. This summer I cleaned 72 walleye 15″-20″ in three days without a charge.

Haven’t used a flicker yet that didn’t need a tuning. Great bait though.

Find it interesting the responses, some don’t work others work well. Wonder how much is affected by regions and the varying waters

milemark_714 wrote:

I let Randy W use it when he was here.Gave it back after 2 fish.His ages old Hamilton Beach knife cut faster and cleaner.Maybe I got a dud unit,or 2 bad blades?It is nice and portable,but don’t expect speedy results.

Is that a corded knife? I would imagine the corded knives are faster. I have the rapala deluxe corded knife which is SLOW compared to the rapala ion cordless OR the regular rapala corded knife.

Dan Baker wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tuma wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Same goes for the Thill wobble bobber. I have yet to successfully thread a line through one.

To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.
If you don’t want your Thill Wobble Bobbers I can give them a good home.

To get the line through the wobble bobber, you need to double the line up 12 inches or so and send the bend through. Works every time.

Have you done this with braided line? That is the only type of line I have tried to put the wobble bobber on, I tried the doubling over of the line, but it did not work. I think its because its more flexible. Mono or fluoro I imagine would be better since its stiffer.

Lindy Darters just didn’t look good in the demos I saw, glad I never got any.

Salmo Chubby’s are great but the hooks they come with stink, same for any Lindy spoon – they all get new, upsized trebles after they come out of the package.

Surprised to hear that about the Thill bobbers – never had that problem myself with any grommet topped bobber, plenty without grommets because of damage to the stem.

Lots of line I never cared for, that IronSilk plus the Northland ice line were straight junk.

I do like the flicker shads but have had 2-3 of the 30 or so I’ve purchased that I could never get tuned correctly, got to the point were those few went in the trash. Was surprised at that, have been running cranks for 25+ years and never had a bait that we couldn’t eventually get tuned. Smash Shads are my go-to cheap crank for sure.

Banjo Minnow.

To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.

CaptainMusky asked
Have you done this with braided line? That is the only type of line I have tried to put the wobble bobber on, I tried the doubling over of the line, but it did not work. I think its because its more flexible. Mono or fluoro I imagine would be better since its stiffer.

Yes and it worked. My wife is better at it than I am.

I do like the flicker shads but have had 2-3 of the 30 or so I’ve purchased that I could never get tuned correctly, got to the point were those few went in the trash. Was surprised at that, have been running cranks for 25+ years and never had a bait that we couldn’t eventually get tuned. Smash Shads are my go-to cheap crank for sure.
[/quote]

Have not had as Flicker I couldn’t tune except 1 where the lip was on crooked and didn’t notice till on the water. No package left to use to return it.
I have had a couple Shad Raps that got tossed because couldn’t get them to troll correctly. That ticks ya off for what Rapalas cost.

Have had a black spoon in my tackle box I picked out over 20 years ago from kmart in Monticello. It has a purple strip with green gems on it. it floats and has never caught a fish. I keep it in there cause its funny how that’s what I picked out when was around 9 years old and I could pick any lure.

might have to whip that lure off the dock for old times sake tonight. last night got a bass off the topwater on the fly rod.

Tuma wrote:

To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.

Stop hanging out with my wife so much…

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dan Baker wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tuma wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>CaptainMusky wrote:</div>
Same goes for the Thill wobble bobber. I have yet to successfully thread a line through one.

To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.
If you don’t want your Thill Wobble Bobbers I can give them a good home.

To get the line through the wobble bobber, you need to double the line up 12 inches or so and send the bend through. Works every time.

Have you done this with braided line? That is the only type of line I have tried to put the wobble bobber on, I tried the doubling over of the line, but it did not work. I think its because its more flexible. Mono or fluoro I imagine would be better since its stiffer.

For braid I double it then twist the line. You could also double it twice.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Thill night bite bobbers. The hole in the ferrel is to small and the line won’t go thru it without getting caught up in it.

I used them last night. Best thing to do is take them apart and thread one side at a time.

Steven Krapfl wrote:

Banjo Minnow.

I was going to buy one of these but I thought my arms would get to tired from hauling in all the fish they would catch.

404 ERROR wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tuma wrote:</div>
To get the line through I thread it in and have to suck it through with my mouth on the other end.

Stop hanging out with my wife so much…

I, quite simply will refrain commenting on this one. (and it’s requiring all my will power not too)

Since this was in the Ice Fishing forum, I looked back and saw that the UL Rippin Raps have been my disappointment. I use them regularly in the fall and spring (although its the size 6 for open water), I havent had as much as a sniff on the UL size 4 for ice fishing. To be fair, I dont fish with it more than 10min if I dont mark anything

It is interesting to see how some tackle hasn’t worked for people but has been successful for others. Is a person using a different jigging technique to get the fish to bite. Is the color of the water? There must be something that make gets the fish.

I can’t get fish to bite rattle lures. I think it is because I don’t know how use them correctly.

The responses have been great. Please keep posting.

Chatter Baits. I want them to work. They look like they should, but not for me.

I had problems with the cordless Rapala too, couldn’t even fillet a bluegill with it without it bogging down and completely stopping. Maybe I just got a bad one but I don’t really feel like spending another $100 to find out.