help

[Home wrecker]

what is a snubber and what is a meat rig

[Big Dave]

Snubber is a shock cord about 10" long . I like the clear ones , or black.  Dreamweaver, and several Co. s make them.  They hook to the back of the dipsie and the leader gets tied to them.   The impact of the hit and the head shakes up by the boat  are when they are the most valueable.     You will find dipsies will work well on champlaine too.   On Cayuga I use a lighter leader to the smaller spoons.  The boat rocking adds action to the lure with the wireline.

[Big Dave]

I run mine with the rod  flat to the water.   Make sure you have a good rod holder.  There is a whole nother thread about this.

[John E Powell]

Snubbers are shock absorbing devices used in between your lure and a diver (attached to the rear of the diver). Asking if they are needed or not is sort  of like asking Chevy or Ford... Proponents of snubbers will tell you that it helps keep rampaging hooked fish from using the weight and drag of pulling the diver through the water, from pulling the hook free of the fish. Many insist they are sure using snubbers helps them put fish in the boat and their landing ratio would suffer if they did not use them. Conversely, there seem to be just as many people who insist that if you use snubbers, they introduce a stretchiness between the lure and diver that prevents hooks from really getting buried deep into a Salmon's bony mouth and that they are sure that using snubbers looses them fish.

 

There is a third camp of people who are somewhere in the middle. I guess I fall into that camp having spent many years running divers both with and without snubbers. I see the merits of the arguments of both sides. On my boat, my observations are that the successful hookup ratio using snubbers is less than going without. I think the landing ratio once a fish and has been on for a bit (10 seconds or more) is about the same for salmon, but higher for soft mouthed trout. So here's how I have my divers set up throughout the year.

 

Divers that get Snubbers:

 

1) Red/orange divers specifically intended for surface oriented and feeding steelhead/rainbows have clear snubbers. If they are going to repeatedly shoot out of the water like a submarine-launched trident missile, pulling the diver clear of the water, wildly shaking their head, there is a high chance they will throw a hook so I feel the benefit of a snubber in this case will help to keep them hooked.

 

2) Divers specifically intended for Brown Trout where I am using light leaders have clear snubbers. From time to time, I will spend a day chasing Brown Trout and will rig my divers with 8lb leaders to pull a Sutton 44 flutterspoon / Eppinger flutter spoon spread. Brown trout can be very leader shy so I rig light line behind my divers. Browns have soft mouths compared to Salmon, so hook penetration is not so much of a concern to me as the possibility of larger Browns breaking the light leader is.

 

On both of these I run the 11" light snubber from Big Jon.

 

http://www.myfortune3cart.com/BigJonSports2011/product.cgi?group=693&product=983

 

Divers that do not get snubbers:

 

Everything else the rest of the year.

Edited July 5, 2013 by John E Powell

[Sk8man]

I haven't used a snubber in about 20 years or more but  it is a personal preference issue that usually splits about 50/50 with us guys. Here is a pic of one from my cellar (probably over 20 years old and I would assume they still look similar but different colors  and lengths). Dave and John covered it very well so sometimes a pic helps put it together

Edited July 5, 2013 by Sk8man

[Sk8man]

Some of our North side brothers may want to pipe in here and maybe offer a pic as I don't have anything available right now for a pic. Meat rigs basically immitate a "live bait being trolled" presentation. It combines a plastic or plastic/metal "head" and carefully placed hook set up with an actual herring torso (or strips of fish) that has been processed (freeze dried, soaked in various brines etc.) to harden it so that it stays attached to the head and lasts longer when trolled. The rig is usually trolled behind various "attractors". A few companies sell their own renditions of bait which each have their own fans . Often times a herring scent is added to the bait as an additional attractant. The actual specific setup of the rig and the speed at which it is trolled are considered crucial factors by many of its adherents. When used correctly it can be deadly for a number of species but primarily salmon and lake trout. This is something that whole books can be written about but I tried to answer the general points for you.

Edited July 5, 2013 by Sk8man

[Big Dave]

Meat rig is slang for cutbait or whole bait rig , Run off a flasher Usually a 11" or a 13"  slasher.  Sometimes with twinkies, three small tinsel flies ahead of the cutbait head. 

[sea yea 2]

first we have tried snubbers and we dont like them. However we only target kings and we dont use copper or wire so that stretch isnt necessary. We do love meat rigs and we always seem to run them behind a big flasher and always is the deepest rigger down. I believe the most important factor is leader length from flasher to meat. I have gone anywhere from two to six feet and have personally found that 3-4 ft is what seems to work for us. I will change to shorter or longer DAILY if its not taking fish. This is all from trial and error and is not set in stone, but its one opinion from a north shore king addict. Good luck hope it helps