Spreaderbar thoughts ?

[BuffaloHunter]

Bill-Yes I've seen the Marli's Bars, thats kind of what I tried to copy.

I've run a bar I made with the same pattern only with 9 inch squids and it ran fine. I'm using one of those bars that has the three heavy mono tow lines meeting in the middle for reinforcement I guess. I haven't run it from the boat yet but I did put it in the pond behind my house and retrived it quickly on a 50w and it ran pretty true.

[Canyon Runner]

I have to admit i laughed at Roddy Hayes when he gave me a couple of Fred's Ruckus bars a few years ago at the Miami boat show. I thought, "Yeah - like any freaking tuna in it's right mind is going to eat....SMASHFUCKINGWHOOSH!!!!!!!!"

Obviously i never got to finish that thought because the tunas were climbing over themselves to eat the damn things, and have been ever since.

Fred's figured out something with those bars that is akin to the Rosetta Stone of tuna fishing. They look completely unconventional, as far as competitors products are concerned, but i've seen Fred's bars out-produce all other bars by a ratio of 5-1 (or more!). I am down to my last 3 and hope to GOD Fred builds more ASAP!!!

I haven't tried Squidnation bars yet, for no other reason than we just haven't gotten our hands on one yet, but i will tell you that Canyon Runner bars are also the BOMB. Adam and the boys loaded me up a few years ago at that same Miami show and our tuna catches have soared in the last few years because of it.

In fact as i write this my bags are being loaded onto the plane, and inside one of those duffle bags is an assortment of Archer and Canyon Runner bars going with me to Cocos.

From Panama to PV, and everywhere in between, if you are serious about catching tuna - THEN YOU NEED TO PULL SOME SPREADER BARS!!! (Mauraders/spreader bar combo's that is!)

Thanks Josh!!! Catch 'em up in Cocos - get me some nice pictures!!!

[Makoexpress]

Hard to understand what that bar looks like. It may be fine but it just seems tight with the larger squid.

[DaGoose]

This is guy is a toon and is leading you down a path for a comericial of his bar that miraculously will satisfy everything he said you'all said you said. Squidnation said it best. Build your own and figure it out. Its cheaper and more satisfying plus its fun to sit around the living room building a bar while pretending to watch some stupid reality show with your wife or girlfriend. Walk down the dock talk to the pros and see what they are using. Go to the store and buy the stuff to make a good bar that works in your area and have fun.

IMHO, RnR Bob is just looking for honest feedback.

This a GREAT discussion. I hope it continues!!!! There really isn't anything more satisfying than catching fish on something you made. It's also great to hear from others that had success with your products.

Tight Lines,

Rick

[hobie2]

Dagoose-

dont take this the wrong way --im just curious. i just checked out your site. do you work with Fred Archer? only reason i ask is because everything looks very similar to his stuff. do all the spreader bars on the west coast look like this?

[Roddy Hays]

Hobie - in a nutshell, Fred started the whole composite business. R'n'RBob used to build stuff for Fred but left about a year ago under a large cloud - not my place to tell why or how, but suffice to say someone is not happy. DaGoose is the third man in a row, and Fred is at war with him too - visit a certain West Coast site to find out the current casualty list and what Fred is firing at him right now.

Canyon Gear - no matter what sort of bar you use, the one that matches best the size of bait the tuna are feeding on will be most effective. Tuna are very selective feeders, and if they are hitting one size of bait, be it 4" or 12", then that is what they will choose to eat 9 times out of ten. Cut open the first fish of the day and match the stomach contents. It's the best way to go.

I also vehemently disagree with you about bait size and bar size. In the east Atlantic you'll find the predominant forage species for tunas is small, on average less than 8", and on many occasions over upwellings in deep water you will find tunas feeding on very small deepwater species such as boarfish or macroramphosus scolapax. In these instances a standard spreader bar with 6" inch baits will be totally ignored. This was very forcibly rammed home to me one afternoon in front of Funchal in 1993, when I stopped the boat in a crowd of super-sized bluefins, and tossed them the smallest bait I had in the tank, a 6" scad. The boils next to the boat were a sight to behold and all aboard had kittens as fish after fish steadfastly ignored the bait (and the boat), even as we changed the leader size down and down. What they wanted was what they had balled up, and the fish were only 2.5" long at most. Madeiran and Azorean big-eyes routinely fall to the tiniest of baits, and even further south in the Canaries where you'll find more bluefins and YF in the mix, baits rarely exceed 6' in size.

I've come across this situation in many places around the world - in Midway small whitebait were a common balling bait, and in the Caribbean something approaching a silverside was the bait of choice. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that tunas do eat big baits (bluefin and YF eat skippies, and big-eyes will happily eat 16" bait too) but as a rule I'd rather start out with the small stuff and then go big if the occasion warrants it. I'm of the idea that perhaps a bar with baits approaching the profile of a sandeel might be a really good way to go up NE when the bite is slow but you see birds and whales on the boil. It might, just might be that the fish are there but fixiated on something you don't have in the water.

As regards bar sizes, I've trolled them all, from giant bars for bluefin made from arc bar, all the way down to Archer's itty-bitty bars. Each has its own niche, and if you are not technically minded or have the time or inclination to make your own, I'll happily say that they all work. But, for day in/day out use, and for ease of maintenance, Fred's composite bars get the nod most of the time for me. I like the fact that they run in any weather, I like the fact they are light and tangle-free, and I like the fact they are small so I can can run lots of them, one on each rod if needs be, so a full-house may consist of nine or more fish instead of just four or five. Whether you run six bars with 20 baits on, or twelve bars with ten, you'll still have the same profile behind the boat.

No, I don't get free bars, nor do I sell them anymore at present, but that's my choice.

I suspect Fred will be along shortly, then we'll see the fur fly.

[Split Bill]

I just want to say that it's nice to see such a civilized and educational discussion among several bar makers. Thank you guys for keeping it above board!

I fish out of OI, and use a couple bars trolled mostly on the short-rigger or short-shotgun out of the bridge. Occassionally we'll drop one way back when the bite's slow. my favorite uses smallish squids, and then a ballyhoo w/ squid-skirt as trailer bait. it also has egg-weights instead of floats. Honestly I made when we first started fishing, but damn it's still our favorite after many years and experimenting with more typical designs.

Tight lines
Ed

[DaGoose]

I just want to say that it's nice to see such a civilized and educational discussion among several bar makers. Thank you guys for keeping it above board!

Tight lines
Ed

Here Here! There's two sides to every story. None of us need more drama in our lives.

For chasebaits in the northwest, many do well with small jetheads on the albacore behind their bars. They rack up great fish counts.

Same holds true here off the So Cal coast where they mix in feathers too. Often the fish are feeding on very small sauries and the bars with 3 inch teasers do a great job matching the hatch. They are totally keyed into the small bait and wont touch anything bigger.

Tight Lines,

Rick

[Makoexpress]

Guys lets not get off track here. Lets go back and re read the original post from R&R. The original post was to allow bar users to voice constructive critism on bars thus coming up with a better product. I like that idea and hopefullly everyone can stick to that.

[Pargon]

It does seem a bit disengenuous that both Rick and Bob, former disciples of Fred, are here prodding us ever so politely about bars and problems with same. When does the punchline come guys? Don't you use your "own" bars? Perhaps the will and ability to research and improve the products that you now both build lies elsewhere?