Tackle Workshop

Immediately a fish takes it ‘drops off’, allowing the fish to take line without resistance. They are also great for showing a ‘drop-back’ (a bite where the fish moves towards you) which are very common when fishing for predators. The Drop-Off Indicator works fine by itself or in conjunction with a front mounted electronic bite alarm. As usual, dependent on what materials you have available, I will give you several variations.

1.Take:
a)One 1 1/2 ” polyball (my preference) or a table tennis ball.
b)One 10in knitting needle, length of dowel or rigid rig tube.
c)One 2in length of rubber rig tube
d)One terry clip of the correct size to fit your rear rod rest.
e)One small nut and bolt which will fit through the hole in the clip (or alternatively a small screw).
f)One tin of Humbrol/Airfix base white and luminous orange (I think it is called ‘Blaze’) paint.
g)One Gardner line clip (either type) or some map pins.

2.Push the needle or arm of your choice into the Poly Ball or table tennis ball (it helps to drill a hole first). My preference is for the Poly Ball as this is heavy enough to show drop-back bites. If you use the table tennis ball you will have to add some lead wire to the arm to give it the required weight.

3.Paint the ball with a coat of base white (it helps to have an old block of polystyrene to stick the other end of the arm in whilst the paint dries).

4. Once dry give it ONE coat of the Blaze Orange. Don’t be tempted to use a spray can type paint as the extra thinners in this will melt your ball!

5.Once dry the line clip can be added. If you do not want to buy a clip two map pins will do perfectly okay. If using the map pins be sure to check that they have no imperfections that could catch the line. I like to put a small piece of rubber tube at the base of the pins.

6.Once the arm is complete take the terry clip and push a bolt through the hole and put on the nut and tighten all the way, make sure that the bolt is long enough to extend through about 1/2 in. Or use the small screw. 

7.Take your completed arm and push on the length of rubber rig tube, then push the other end of the rubber over the bolt /screw in the terry clip.

8.If you don’t want to bother getting a terry clip just tape on the piece of rubber to the rest as shown. The arm can then be attached/removed as required.

There you go – sorted! As usual nothing hard about it. If you feel the need to paint the arm then use the car spray paint as usual; best to do this before you start assembly. 

Send your tackle making requests and repair advice to Tackle Workshop. And if you have a good tip for making tackle we’ll be very pleased to hear about that too.

Send them to graham@fishingmagic.com