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gprime27
01-12-2012, 06:11 PM
automatic fisherman.. thoughts?

Lefty-Canuck
01-12-2012, 06:18 PM
Sounds lazy.....does it drill your holes for you?, bait your hook?, land your fish?, clean and cook them?......wait a minute THATS ME! when I take my kids out :)

LC

calgarygringo
01-12-2012, 06:20 PM
I bought one a year ago and used it several times. Concept is good but still haven't caught anything on it. I also bought a windlass and find it was a better toy than the instant set the hook method. I think if I had a choice I would use a windlass and as I do now leave the other at home.

woyer4
01-12-2012, 06:27 PM
I got one for Christmas it works great first day out i caught 3 perch on it in an hour!

fishunter77
01-12-2012, 06:38 PM
Seems to work better than a tip up. I think it is just a personal choice.

gprime27
01-12-2012, 06:40 PM
Perch that doesn't help me figure out if I wanna buy one or not :)

TROLLER
01-12-2012, 07:26 PM
No good on soft biters like walleye and burbot, just rips the bait out of their mouth.

Good for trout but not lakers. IMHO dont waste your money.

ak-71
01-12-2012, 08:40 PM
I made myself a knock-off "fishamatic" cheap and easy - worked ok on Spray lakers if it's not too windy and hole stays open for long enough before getting plugged with snow. I assume factory made ones should work better. Not a bad option for a second line imho

needmoretoys
01-12-2012, 08:49 PM
I have had them since they came to Canada about 4 years ago. They work great. it does take some time to find a rod that works good on it and once you do, do not use any other rod. I found that rods with plastic guide work the best. I have caught Pike, Perch, Walleye, Ling and a White fish on it. You can make it very sensitive or not just by bending the pin and turning it left or right. The best thing is the dead band the bobber gives. You can watch a light biter for a while. I recommend them. I have been out fished by it many times.

nicemustang
01-12-2012, 09:18 PM
No good on soft biters like walleye and burbot, just rips the bait out of their mouth.

Good for trout but not lakers. IMHO dont waste your money.

Disagree...to an extent. If you use a lighter rod and light MONO line this rarely happens.

I think they're great. I've had one for many years. It works great for pike, trout and burbot. I've rarely caught a walleye on it unless in perfect conditions (like late rotten ice eyes or at PCR or pigeon where the eyes are easy to catch). I usualy get a pike on it everytime i set it up if that's what I'm after. Jig a spoon agressively and if a passive big one comes in and wants the still one then you're set. I use 6lb mono and a 10 lb flouro leader with a small jig just off the bottom and have a old medium rod that is perfectly tuned with it and I only use that rod with it. Can't be too stiff. If I'm into large pike, I use a bobber float with line set slack so it has time to eat it before tripping. Biggest pike I got on it was 15.2 lbs.

gprime27
01-12-2012, 09:46 PM
Disagree...to an extent. If you use a lighter rod and light MONO line this rarely happens.

I think they're great. I've had one for many years. It works great for pike, trout and burbot. I've rarely caught a walleye on it unless in perfect conditions (like late rotten ice eyes or at PCR or pigeon where the eyes are easy to catch). I usualy get a pike on it everytime i set it up if that's what I'm after. Jig a spoon agressively and if a passive big one comes in and wants the still one then you're set. I use 6lb mono and a 10 lb flouro leader with a small jig just off the bottom and have a old medium rod that is perfectly tuned with it and I only use that rod with it. Can't be too stiff. If I'm into large pike, I use a bobber float with line set slack so it has time to eat it before tripping. Biggest pike I got on it was 15.2 lbs.



Well,I think you just sold me..

Dan Foss
01-12-2012, 10:28 PM
No good on soft biters like walleye and burbot, just rips the bait out of their mouth.

Good for trout but not lakers. IMHO dont waste your money.

if you set it right it works great for those fish. Mine works fantastic. I have caught burbot and walleye on it but they do tend to be more finnicky. Personally I dont like tip ups with the stupid little spools and handbombing can sometimes be a pain especially with bigger fish. all my "tipups" are ons that use a rod. the auto fisherman and i also have one with a flag that holds my rod.

Auto fisherman is one of my absolute favorite icefishing tools. I find i miss way too many fish on regular tip ups.

muddy
01-12-2012, 11:06 PM
Is this thing legal? I asked a co and he didn't think it was. He thought it qualified as a spring loaded hook and refered to the section in the regs that deals with them. I disagreed with him. (I do not own one and didn't want ot waste the money for something I cannot use) I am pretty good with the regs and like to be clearly legal. But I am not the one who can hand out tickets based on my opinion. So what is the real answer? Obviously some of us use them. I like contraptions and would like to try one.

BeeGuy
01-12-2012, 11:34 PM
CO is wrong

usie33
01-12-2012, 11:59 PM
I also made my own auto fisherman and i love it, and like dan said its nice to use a rod rather then a tip up to fight the fish. I have a pretty decent hook up rate with it, i just give them time to take line before the rod pops and set the drag light, seems to work well.

fish gunner
01-13-2012, 12:30 AM
I own a contraption made by a friend using a rat trap(huge mouse trap)that when set runs the line over the release then to a cheep little click reel. he attaches 2' of broken rod to the spring arm on the trap bit compex to end up hand lining a fish but it is a blast when the pike are on the bite.... Whack "fish on"

Dan Foss
01-13-2012, 08:55 AM
CO is wrong

x2. It is not a spring loaded fishing hook. Nothing about the system is spring loaded if you want to be technical. Its been discussed on here several times but always good for a repost. Spring loaded fishing hooks are kind of a freaky thing and to be honest dont understand where or why anyone would use one:

http://www.springhook.com/EZ-PhotoAlbum/Hooks/index.html

slingshotz
01-13-2012, 09:21 AM
x2. It is not a spring loaded fishing hook. Nothing about the system is spring loaded if you want to be technical. Its been discussed on here several times but always good for a repost. Spring loaded fishing hooks are kind of a freaky thing and to be honest dont understand where or why anyone would use one:


Survival situations and when you are fishing in unrestricted size areas. I have one of these (obviously I don't use it here) but they are fairly common in Finland where there is an abundance of fish, no size regs and you are keeping the catch for food.

Dan Foss
01-13-2012, 11:22 AM
Survival situations and when you are fishing in unrestricted size areas. I have one of these (obviously I don't use it here) but they are fairly common in Finland where there is an abundance of fish, no size regs and you are keeping the catch for food.

Very Interesting. I quess that makes sense. But at that point I dono if I would apply the term sportfishing. There is a difference if you are fishing with intent to keep but will release pending species or size and if you are going to keep anything that comes near your hook. That is harvesting

gprime27
01-13-2012, 12:41 PM
You know, you could just take a down rigger clip and a t - bar ice screw and drive it into the ice and put another one into your rod holder so it doesn't slip, set your rod and put your line in the clip and bamo instant automatic fisherman :D