Non Piercing Cull Rings

[Ranger185VX]

I don't think the clip cull tags are meant to be poked through the fish otherwise they would be sharp right? A buddy said you are suppose to clip them threw the gills and mouth? That does not seem right either but it just seems if they were meant to be likes through the lip they would have a point on them. I'm gonna stick with the clips for now.

[Welaka]

I use these with great success. You run the soft round rubber part through the outer gill plate and attach the clip back to itself. No piercing of the fish. TW used to carry them not sure why they don't anymore.

I have used these for a couple years now, work great. Doesn't bother the fish, no marks anywhere.

[Gman24]

We've all seen damage to the fish like shown in the pic and we know why it happens, also shown in the pic. I don't know about you, but it seems I catch them like this all the time now, especially with in a couple of miles of weigh-in sites.



It does seem as those tear's don't heal up as quickly as say a hole made by a hook. Tears like that certainly don't help a fish feed either. Think about it. When a Bass opens his mouth to eat prey, it's not just opening and engulfing it. The bass is actually flaring its gills and sucking the prey in. Kind of like a vacuum. How well do you think your vacuum would suck something up if there was a long tear in the bag.

We've also seen bass with pretty bad damage to the sides of their mouth's from hooks and how the joint never even heals back together again.

Not good and I don't mean to lecture, but we all need to give some extra thought and effort into how we handle our bass, the creature we spend so much damned time, effort and money chasing in order to catch them. We also need some genius to come up with something better than we have now for keeping bass in a live well healthy and unharmed. If not, it'll come back and bite us in the ass later. (And there's a lot of lakes in this country where that's already happening.)

I agree with you 100%. I have never liked the stringer style culling clips but I use them in tournaments ONLY. I have tried the "CLIP" style tags with very little success. They come off throughout the course of a day regardless if the fish is touched or not. I have caught many fish that have the tears in their gill plates just like in the picture and we all know that is not going to heal. I also know guys who clip their fish in the top lip and that does worse damage to the fish. I have even got on to my partner for clipping the top lip. I think the only way to stop this is for states and/or tournament organizations to start banning them all together. Frankly I am surprised no one has already began a campaign to ban them. Someone would lose A LOT of $$$$ if this happens so it probably will not happen.

[dcfdpipeman]

OK, so with any "bitch", we gotta find a solution.. I jump into this thread knowing it was on my mind of how we can make a better cull clip for the fish and work for us..

I just got these clips in..

http://www.amazon.com/KAM-Plastic-Pa...ilpage_o00_s00

They seem fairly tough. They "lock" in place which is just more than a spring clip.. which was my goal..

Here is how I am going to make them:

1. Modify the clip so there are no teeth towards the back of the opening, thus creating a "void" for the mouth rim to seat in.
2. Attach 50lb big game line via loop/crimp method... my thoughts are to just make the line long enough to keep the float near the top. But keep it short.
3. I am up in the air up what the float will be. Some requirements: I have to see it in the tank, big enough so I can write a number on it and be able to grab it.. Keep it low profile.

My goals:
To just be able to lift the fish out of the tank or so I can grab it via mouth.
Have them last a season.. because right now, the total cost is fairly cheap.

I report back..

[TroyBoy30]

wouldn't having a tight clip on the lip all day be just as bad as a hole?

[Big dreams]

I still do not run culling tags i weigh fish and keep my smallest in seperate livewell then i know which ones gotta go.
i have seen a guy who had made clips that clipped on the fish at top fin seemed to work well without damaging fish only thing is had the struggle of getting fish from well i think alot of guys run cull tags just gor ease of pulling fish from well which is bs if ask me

+1 No need for culling tags. Put the small ones on one side and big in the other. If you have two people in the boat, it shouldn't be too hard to tell which one of the 5 is the smallest.

[gatorsin09]

procull conservation clips work even with finicky smallmouth. everyone who sees me use them ends up buying them themselves

[berudd]

Well, I really thought the hole DID heal up but when I brought up the conversation with my buddy, he said no.. He is a long time bass guy and biologist for Dept. of Interior.. involved with a lot of studies,etc. A hook for the most part does not leave a hole, rather piercing.. I am talking about the thru hole you see where guys punch clips in, especially in the wrong spot.

I'm not trying to be argumentative but is he getting that information from an actual study where the clip punctures the lip and then the fish are observed to see if it ever heals?

[berudd]

Many seem to like the MLF style, but honestly can't see BASS, FLW or even most local tournys going to that. No one wants to give up what they think is "their spot" to a "neutral" referee....who has a pocket gps with him !!

MLF only works when you have people dedicated to being a Ref. Yeah, it would be cool to do but not feasible at the local level.

[berudd]

wouldn't having a tight clip on the lip all day be just as bad as a hole?

Why? It won't be strong enough to crush anything and most research I have seen indicates that fish do not feel pain. If they did, they'd run let us drag them right in when we hook them instead of fighting like mad.

[bassburch]

Why? It won't be strong enough to crush anything and most research I have seen indicates that fish do not feel pain. If they did, they'd run let us drag them right in when we hook them instead of fighting like mad.

Because a fish can't breathe if it can't close its mouth? A fish struggling to get fresh water over its gills is gonna have a hard time in the livewell.

[woppercatcher]

I would be concerned with anything that could come into contact with the gills

If used these for a while now and have not lost a fish. They don't actually touch the gills.

[Beallright]

OK, so with any "bitch", we gotta find a solution.. I jump into this thread knowing it was on my mind of how we can make a better cull clip for the fish and work for us..

I just got these clips in..

http://www.amazon.com/KAM-Plastic-Pa...ilpage_o00_s00

They seem fairly tough. They "lock" in place which is just more than a spring clip.. which was my goal..

Here is how I am going to make them:

1. Modify the clip so there are no teeth towards the back of the opening, thus creating a "void" for the mouth rim to seat in.
2. Attach 50lb big game line via loop/crimp method... my thoughts are to just make the line long enough to keep the float near the top. But keep it short.
3. I am up in the air up what the float will be. Some requirements: I have to see it in the tank, big enough so I can write a number on it and be able to grab it.. Keep it low profile.

My goals:
To just be able to lift the fish out of the tank or so I can grab it via mouth.
Have them last a season.. because right now, the total cost is fairly cheap.

I report back..

Looks like a viable solution, wondering out loud if the plastic at the top is the limiting factor seems very breakable, I was thinking on trying binder clips, and simply attaching them to my current piercing clips that way I can still use my g-force cllin beam.

[dcfdpipeman]

wouldn't having a tight clip on the lip all day be just as bad as a hole?

How?

[TroyBoy30]

thought i saw a report that said the clips cause a loss of blood circulation to that spot and could cause an issue

[dcfdpipeman]

thought i saw a report that said the clips cause a loss of blood circulation to that spot and could cause an issue

I look into that..

[TroyBoy30]

No clue where I read it

[BOW4UM]

This is similar to the one I use. Clips are the same,but mine have plastic-like rope.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Accu_...ACULLECON.html

GREAT TOPIC!!! I never really thought about this but will make improvements for sure.

The idea of no holes is a great one! I like these and am getting some!

[CastingCall]

"They" should make a perforated tray that sits in the bottom of the livewell, with a handle near the surface. Imagine a basket in an ultra-sonic cleaner, for example. Lift it up, and you lift the fish up to the surface enough to lip-grab them. No need to pull on cull cords to extract fish.
Then the clips (vs. pierce hooks) would simply serve as weight I.D.

A bag in the livewell could act the same way, but guessing that bags that could rub on a bass all day would be detrimental to the slime coating that protects fish from disease. I don't know... I have no proof. I do know muskies exhibit disease spots where slime coat is removed due to being mishandled.

[fishnfireman]

"They" should make a perforated tray that sits in the bottom of the livewell, with a handle near the surface. Imagine a basket in an ultra-sonic cleaner, for example. Lift it up, and you lift the fish up to the surface enough to lip-grab them. No need to pull on cull cords to extract fish.
Then the clips (vs. pierce hooks) would simply serve as weight I.D.

A bag in the livewell could act the same way, but guessing that bags that could rub on a bass all day would be detrimental to the slime coating that protects fish from disease. I don't know... I have no proof. I do know muskies exhibit disease spots where slime coat is removed due to being mishandled.

I like the way your thinking..
My wife says I can build or fix anything... Now you got me thinking !!!