New kind of dredge/spreaderbar

[Captain Fred Archer]

I was going to post this on the "Outboards and dredges" thread, but decided that being a new product that many here aren't familiar with, I figured I should post it on its own.


Most here are familiar with the traditional, heavy, conventional metal dredges with natural baits, or the molded plastic squids and ballyhoo imitations that are a lot heavier than the hollow squids that our new Spider Dredges are rigged with. Many of you aren’t familiar with Spiders, so here are some features and comparisons to consider.

Many of those other types of teasers found on traditional dredges do both weigh a lot more than the hollow ones on Spiders and for many reasons, create a lot of pulling pressure when trolled and retrieved. The same thing applies to the metal bars themselves versus light, composite ones. That pressure also makes regular dredges want to plane up to the top, so heavy lead weights and heavy gear are usually required to keep them down while trolling. Naturally, this makes the typical dredge even harder to troll and more difficult to handle, too.

Meanwhile, due to the light weight and flexibility of the composites used to make them and their rigging, Spiders can easily be trolled at different speeds and depths by using different sized, smaller trolling sinkers. Plus, they troll very well from both planers and downriggers. Or, they can be trolled with no weight at all on top, something that even the thin, flat plastic teasers can’t do.

The Spider isn’t just a teaser dredge. Sure, it makes for an easy handling and trolling teaser dredge that doesn’t require a heavy weight, heavy tackle, or an electric reel to fish with or retrieve...but it can also be fished as an armed lure that will catch the fish that attack it, whether you see them or not, so you can fish it deeper and/or further back than a plain teaser bar. And of course, it doesn’t require the constant watching that a pure teaser dredge does because it doesn’t just raise fish, it actually catches them too when armed.

When fighting a fish hooked on it, the Spider has no more effect on the tackle or the fish than a light spreaderbar does. And on top of that, it makes a great, lightweight surface spreaderbar that features our remarkable “ruckus raiser” feature when fished with no weight, so it is both a lightweight dredge and a spreaderbar, versatility and value that can’t even be approached by the typical dredge. (See the video on our website to see all of this.)

Spiders are different than the typical dredge in another important way, too. That’s cost. Regular prices are only $75, $85, and $95 for the 4 ¾, 6, and 9 inch models. Our Show Prices, which we will be offering here for a short time next week, will be $64, $72, and $81 respectively. Hopefully, these prices and the additional fact that special gear and tackle are not required to fish with them will open up dredge fishing for some new folks. Spiders make that both affordable and easy for folks.

Whether you fish from an outboard, or an inboard powered boat, I hope that you try them...either as a dredge, or a spreaderbar...or both. I think that you’ll really like them. We already know that the fish will!

[edistorunner]

I usually don't post here much, well actually first time, i just lurk. BUT...I figured i should say something on behalf of fred since i atleast owe him that.

I purchased a spider from fred, i have to say i couldn't have asked for better service and EDUCATION. He went beyond the "norm" of giving me different insights from his years of knowledge and as i am one of those guys who constantly wants more to learn and not be, as fred would say, a "master of repetition", i greatly appreciated it.

The spider is one versitile tool. I pulled several sails off of it last year using it as a dredge and with i chase bait i have caught dolphin and hoo on it off the rigger with a 12oz weight in front of it. Along with a tuna or two off the top. It makes a heck of a teaser also and creates all kind of commotion.

It never tangles and wont break, trust me, if there was a way to tear this thing up, i could do it. Hell, i could destroy a anvil with a banana.

Thanks Fred

[Captain Fred Archer]

Edisto,

"I could destroy an anvil with a banana"? Hah! That makes two of us! A good thing about that Spider is that as long as you don't lose it, neither you nor the fish are going to break or bend or whatever it and it will be around for a long time, continuing to "take a lickin'" from guys like us and the fish.

Thanks for posting up your results with the Spider. As the manufacturers we can make all of the claims we like about it - and Lord knows there is plenty of that - but it is actual performance on the water and results by people like you, who are willing to try "the new" that means the most for many of us. Or at least I hope that it does.

Thanks again and keep them Spiders bitin' them fishies!

[Makoexpress]

I have always believed that as far as teasers go the more the better. So I came up with my own style dredge that has 6 teaser leaders and one main leader. It is really hard to tell but all 6 leaders are at the same angle from the center and appear as a perfectly round bait ball. This is a 6" squid dredge with 15 teasers packed in a tight ball. I also at times tandem the dredges up so that I have twice the teasers in a small group. I will try to get a picture of that but I am never really happy with my dredge pictures. They never look as good in pictures as they do in person. But here goes. My basic dredge lightweight bars and a 15 teaser dredge. I have also rotated the picture to attemt to view the dredge as it would be while running.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Mako E,

That's a good looking dredge you have there. Naturally, I like it, because except for the color of the legs and a minor difference in their color and rigging, it is very much like our other dredge/teaser, the RuckusRaiser.

Like our five legged Spiders, the seven legged RuckusRaiser can be run as either a dredge, or as a surface bar. The RuckusRaiser version has more teasers for those who like that and it can most assuredly be run as a dredge, but we much prefer the Spider for that kind of fishing. One of the reasons being that the lesser number of teasers and legs significantly reduce the amount of water pressure on the unit when trolled underwater, as a dredge. This is an advantage to those who troll them because it reduces the pressure on the gear, allows for faster trolling speeds and easier handling and makes it more fun and more efficient when fighting fish that are hooked on it by those like us, who want to fish it that way.

We also make both versions in 3" and 4 3/4" versions, which are killer when the fish are on small baits. Those versions also happen to be very popular with salmon, walleye, and bass fishermen in both fresh and saltwater and are favorites of some of the top salmon and halibut guides up in Alaska.

A difference between your and our versions as far as the seven legged ones are concerned is that we vary the length of some of the legs and teasers in order to come up with a natural "staggered" version of the bait ball created. Our tests also showed us that the staggering of the teasers made RuckusRaiser perform better when used as a surface bar because it eliminated tangling. We feel that both versions' performance as BOTH dredges and surface bars is an excellent and distinct feature, and a value added one, as well.

And the "Josh Temple version" that the master himself helped us design is rigged - some would say "overbuilt" - with extra heavy components and a Hays hook for the kind of consistently big, rugged fish that he catches on them.

Including the great deal of field testing as they were developed, Spiders and RuckusRaisers have been in our line of products for over four years now and they have proven to be fish raisers and catchers of the first order.

Once again, nice job, Mako E.

The picts...first two are RuckusRaiser heads. The rest are pretty much self-explanatory, I hope.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Courtesy of Capt Courtland Pang of Hawaii...a nice ahi (yellowfin over 100#) on a JT Special Ruckus. Nice going, Courtland!

[Makoexpress]

Captain Fred, Thank you very much for the compliment on the appearance of my dredge. It really means alot to me that you approve as opposed to concindering me a hack and suggesting I stick to my day job LOL. You points are well taken and I agree 100% about the 7 leader causing more drag then the 5 leader. Pehaps I should have explained my reason for tinkering and making this style. I didn't make it for high speed trolling per say. I really made it for when the bluefin are decent sized and stacked up. Then I weigh it down and slow it down for an easier target. I only made 7 leaders because I always think more is better. I also like to troll it either by itself or stacked to another dredge really slow around 1.5 - 2.5 knots for the nice big cow striped bass we get here in the rips. Use a rigged eel or tube type stinger and hang on. As far as the ruckus raiser bars you showed they look great. I never really wanted to try to make something like that but it obviously works based on the YFT shot. Congratulations on that. But we back here in the east are still stuck in the old time methods when it comes to trolling for YFT, BET, & LFT. If I want something that will make alot of commotion just give me my Boone Bird chased by a green machine. Again thanks for the complimemts on the appearance.