bob the big one has a nice spread on how to make rags in his tips section of his home page, its all laid out nice and clean,go there for help making the rags
ray

Parker,Timber man,
That is the biggest thing I remember again about drift fishing.I now have ten times the gear,Hooks,yarn,corkies,swivels scisors,bait,pencil lead,surgical tubing,rags,beads,pink worms,And have not caught a fish in 4 outings!

I am reel close to going back to spoons,swivels,hooks and smelly jelly!

HBP ... the take can be anything from a subtle twitch to a grab that almost rips the rod out of your hand. Biggest plus is the yarn that catches in the teeth and doesn't allow the fish to drop as easily which often gives you a slighter advantage in hooking up.

Timber's right, don't wait fotr nates. Allt hose brats I had posted in December before my surgery .. nearly all came on rags.

RipDatLip ... I'd personally go with a slightly shorter piece of foam and make sure you have the yarn at the mid-point of the foam ... closer to the hook should up the odds of the yarn getting tangled in fish's teeth. Also, loose the round bead. It allows the hook to often roll back up and hook the rag itself. Flat star beads or similar that are easily found at craft stores seem to alleviate this tendancy. Other than that, looks good!

It's not the best pic but the flat bead above the hook will keep your hook from rolling and sticking in your rag..

The nice thing about rags is you can make them any color or length you want.I shorten my backer rod up if just fishing them with scent.If using bait I will keep them around 1" long..TM

[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: Timber Man ]

Hey TM ... same beads we use with ours. Good call!

Tyler

As for running yarn through your backer rod I took a great big paper clip (you could use stout wire) and bent it in a V shape. I then stick it through the backer-slide the yarn through the "V" , push the two ends together and then pull it back through the same hole. Works way fast than threading a piece of line with a needle. I converted all my buddies to the same way! Much more efficient for me ;-).

I always pre-tie a bunch of them and just put them in a llittle plano box for use on the river later!

Todd

Bob, et al.

What happens if you don't use the bead? Just curious to know what the bead get's you - does it keep the rag from scrunching down on to the hook, or something else?

I think I was using a small cheater as a bead during the time I whacked those two fish.

Alot of guys use just a small bead and yes, the foam gets scrunched over the hook. I always use a sequin behind the foam to keep it from doing that like TM. I think the star bead shown up above would be fine though--personally I bought enough sequins for .59 that I will never have to test the theory.

I think a small cheater would work though--like I said, sequins are waaaaaaaaay cheap!

yep, the beads or whatever you opt to use keep the foam from getting ripped over the hook shank ... it does happen

'lil corkies or cheaters will work ... what we call Corey's Special (actually derived from ReiterRat's special ) ismade that way.

I've used sequins before and they are just fine in their use, but a pain in the butt to work with when you don't have fingernails, so I prefer the star beads ... you get a 100 or so for 79 cents ... just as cheap as the sequins and I like the translucent color as well

What I like about the star bead besides that they look good Is that they have a small indent that keeps the hook straight..Problem with a cheater is that the rag starts to get away from the hook and will let the hook roll and hook into the rag same with a corkie..I have tried both and seems to me to get hooked in the rag alot..but then again I never tried a dap of glue either HMMMM!! might be onto something there pretied with a dab of glue and a glow corkie or cheater!! Wouldnt have a bait loop then but maybe a strip of prawn! maybe even dyed prawn! TM

[ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: Timber Man ]