Share Your Innovations

[Necron 99]

The epoxy sounds like a good idea. I'll try it when my beer bottle top breaks. So does getting another rod and calling it a "sabiki rod". This site is full of great information. Thanks guys. I'm thinking an ULUA sabiki rod maybe.

From my earlier thread

Originally Posted by Drake

After being completely fed up with the promar bait cages, I've decided to build my own.

Things I hate about the promar cages.
- The hooks to keep the doors on break after a while
- They make stacking the hoops a pain
- When bugs are thick, it's too easy for them to clear all your bait.
- They get stepped on and bend
- They're annoying to store
- Chunked bait falls right out
- Needs some sort of fastener

After seeing my friend do REALLY well on bait tubes, I got to thinking. What can I do to improve.


Here's what I've come up with.
These hold about 3-5 sardines broken in half. They lasted all night still packed with bait. Didn't need to do 1 bait change

Pros
- Cost 1/2 as much as a promar to make
- They slip right into the bait pocket in the bottom of almost all hoops
- Almost every hardware store carries them
- They are solid plastic/pvc, means no rust and nothing to break
- Smaller slits makes bait last a lot longer
- Requires no fasteners
- Makes stacking hoops much cleaner and easier on the back of a kayak
- You can fit all 5 in a 1 gallon freezer bag already loaded with bait for the next trip
- Easy to clean out and store
- They float, incase one comes loose
- Bugs can't eat them from the outside (ambush/ecplipse users), they need to get in the hoop
- SEAL PROOF

I know the biggest question everyone is thinking to themselves.... DO THEY WORK??
Well tonight, I put them to the test. See photos






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[jorluivil]

Drake, thank's a bunch for sharing your idea. Today I went to Home Depot and purchased five lids and five of those cups, it cost me $20.

I made a few improvements to the tops and cups.

1st

I took a file to the ridges that are on the lids, filed them down to minimize the amount o pressure it takes to open the lid

Before


After



Next, I took a round file to the cups and filed down a small section to help pop open the top.






I compared the amount of strength it took to open an off the shelf piece to one that I modified. After the modification it took about half the pressure to remove the top, filing down a section to get a grip with a finger really helped.


Again, thanks for sharing

Bait cages are baited and in the freezer ready for the next

No problem Jor. Looks like you got the different cups than the ones I got. I went with the slotted ones because the green lids don't actually go all they way in, and it makes a little more room for bait. Also, I know it probably won't matter but I figured with the slits in the bottom their would be less drag when pulling them up. But agian, when its packed with bait I don't think it will matter. Let me know how those work. If they do I might make the switch because they have a lower profile by about 3/4"

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by Drake

No problem Jor. Looks like you got the different cups than the ones I got. I went with the slotted ones because the green lids don't actually go all they way in, and it makes a little more room for bait. Also, I know it probably won't matter but I figured with the slits in the bottom their would be less drag when pulling them up. But agian, when its packed with bait I don't think it will matter. Let me know how those work. If they do I might make the switch because they have a lower profile by about 3/4"

10-4.....I forgot to mention that I used the ones that have the closed bottom, no need to have bait spilling out of the bottom.

Made a small modification to the nets to better accommodate the pucks.

One came loose last night so I wanted to come up with a better way to secure them. This is what I came up with.

I cut the string that holds the tag ends of the netting together which forms the opening. Then I weaved a short bungee in the loops and zip tied them to the lower ring. I cut the end off so they wouldn't rust and get hung up, then burned the tips to clean them up.

The bungees cost $2.94 from home depot.

Took about 2 minutes for each hoop.

[Dirty Curti]

Just thought I would share a picture of the double kayak storage stand I made with 1 1/4" PVC. Pretty simple and works perfect.