Culling clips

[BurlakaUS]

Looking to purchase a new set of culling tags for tournament fishing. Any recommendations? Pros and cons please.

[Koz]

I just purchased the Cal Coast Fishing Clip-N-Cull 2.0 Culling System but I have yet to put it in action.  I have seen guys using them on BPT. They are easy to handle, engage, and disengage with one hand. 

[Mike L]

Check out the T-H Marine G Force set. 
It comes with 6 color coded buoys and a balance beam. 
 

I’ve been using them for about year and have no complaints 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[WRB]

Dobyns new Culling clips.

Tom

[gulfcaptain]

4 hours ago, Mike L said:

Check out the T-H Marine G Force set. 
It comes with 6 color coded buoys and a balance beam. 
 

I’ve been using them for about year and have no complaints 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

No tags slipping off? Need a new set and have looked at these just haven't gotten any personal opinions

[Susky River Rat]

So I have a dumb question. What are the purpose of these? I see pros use them and are just curious 

[Choporoz]

25 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

So I have a dumb question. What are the purpose of these? I see pros use them and are just curious 

To quickly determine smallest fish in the live well...so, in a tournament when you upgrade you can be sure to toss back the smallest.

[Mike L]

5 hours ago, gulfcaptain said:

No tags slipping off? Need a new set and have looked at these just haven't gotten any personal opinions

Nope, not at all. 
Personally I’d prefer them to be just a little easier to open. 
 

Once they’re on they don’t slip or come off. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

1 hour ago, Darnold335 said:

So I have a dumb question. What are the purpose of these? I see pros use them and are just curious 

 

Another benefit is that by grabbing the buoys which of course float, you don’t have to search around in the live well. 

On some styles you can record the weight of the fish it’s attached to, or just use the color to determine quickly which you want to cull
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Susky River Rat]

1 hour ago, Mike L said:

Nope, not at all. 
Personally I’d prefer them to be just a little easier to open. 
 

Once they’re on they don’t slip or come off. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

 

Another benefit is that by grabbing the buoys which of course float, you don’t have to search around in the live well. 

On some styles you can record the weight of the fish it’s attached to, or just use the color to determine quickly which you want to cull
 

 

 

 

Mike

Thank you buddy. I am looking to possibly do a small tournament in June and never knew the importance. Looks like I’ll be adding a set now. 

[Mike L]

3 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

Thank you buddy. I am looking to possibly do a small tournament in June and never knew the importance. Looks like I’ll be adding a set now. 

Anytime,

They just make it a lot easier overall to cull the ones to release without taking the time to question which. 
 

 

 

Mike

[WIGuide]

8 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

Thank you buddy. I am looking to possibly do a small tournament in June and never knew the importance. Looks like I’ll be adding a set now. 

It's a good thing to learn about before you fish a tournament. Had you not, you'd pretty much be guaranteed to have one of those days where you catch a ton of fish all about the same size and at the end of the day realized you spent a ton of time that day in your livewell trying to figure out which fish to cull. 

 

19 hours ago, Mike L said:

Check out the T-H Marine G Force set. 
It comes with 6 color coded buoys and a balance beam. 
 

I’ve been using them for about year and have no complaints 

Mike

Mike do you have the gen 1 version or gen 2? I looked at them before and given that they come with the beam and a tag holder they seem like a pretty good value overall. 

[Mike L]

19 minutes ago, WIGuide said:

It's a good thing to learn about before you fish a tournament. Had you not, you'd pretty much be guaranteed to have one of those days where you catch a ton of fish all about the same size and at the end of the day realized you spent a ton of time that day in your livewell trying to figure out which fish to cull. 

 

Mike do you have the gen 1 version or gen 2? I looked at them before and given that they come with the beam and a tag holder they seem like a pretty good value overall. 

 

Since it came with the beam and being the buoys are interchangeable it might be a Gen 2 but I’m really not sure. 

Sorry

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Susky River Rat]

5 hours ago, WIGuide said:

It's a good thing to learn about before you fish a tournament. Had you not, you'd pretty much be guaranteed to have one of those days where you catch a ton of fish all about the same size and at the end of the day realized you spent a ton of time that day in your livewell trying to figure out which fish to cull. 

My buddy and I kicked around the idea. I really have no clue what I’d be getting into as I’ve never done weigh in tournament. I already looked into weigh in bags as well. It’s only in June but again stuff I’ve been picking at so I’m ready if I choose to do it.

[WIGuide]

11 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

My buddy and I kicked around the idea. I really have no clue what I’d be getting into as I’ve never done weigh in tournament. I already looked into weigh in bags as well. It’s only in June but again stuff I’ve been picking at so I’m ready if I choose to do it.

You should get in one, I have a feeling you'll enjoy the experience. It's good that you're wanting to go in prepared and a good set of culling clips is a great tool you'll want to have. Finding a good set has gotten harder in recent years as most tournaments have banned the old style puncture clips (some will even DQ you if they are seen in your boat) and for good reason, they were used incorrectly by many anglers and ended up ripping huge holes in fishes mouths that don't heal. With the new non puncture clips companies have had a hard time of finding the right balance of design and material that keeps the clip durable enough and produces enough clamping pressure not to come off, yet light enough that it's not too heavy to put strain on smaller fish. A perfect example of this is the set of Rapala cull tags that I have. The overall design is good, and there's nothing on them that can rust, but the clips are not strong enough to be able to lift fish out of the livewell with them or put them on a beam to find the heavier fish. I also had my livewell lid drop on one of the clips and blew it apart into about 8 pieces. I've continued to use them though, because they're light and don't stress the fish out. On the other hand Cal Coast seems to have a heavier duty clip, but has a lot of reviews of their clips having a tendency to kill smaller fish and smallmouth. 

 

When it comes to weigh bags, check with the tournament organization before you buy one. I bought one before I started fishing tournaments and then found out a lot of clubs/tournaments provide their own and require you to only use their bags. No reason to spend money on something you won't use. 

[Susky River Rat]

1 hour ago, WIGuide said:

You should get in one, I have a feeling you'll enjoy the experience. It's good that you're wanting to go in prepared and a good set of culling clips is a great tool you'll want to have. Finding a good set has gotten harder in recent years as most tournaments have banned the old style puncture clips (some will even DQ you if they are seen in your boat) and for good reason, they were used incorrectly by many anglers and ended up ripping huge holes in fishes mouths that don't heal. With the new non puncture clips companies have had a hard time of finding the right balance of design and material that keeps the clip durable enough and produces enough clamping pressure not to come off, yet light enough that it's not too heavy to put strain on smaller fish. A perfect example of this is the set of Rapala cull tags that I have. The overall design is good, and there's nothing on them that can rust, but the clips are not strong enough to be able to lift fish out of the livewell with them or put them on a beam to find the heavier fish. I also had my livewell lid drop on one of the clips and blew it apart into about 8 pieces. I've continued to use them though, because they're light and don't stress the fish out. On the other hand Cal Coast seems to have a heavier duty clip, but has a lot of reviews of their clips having a tendency to kill smaller fish and smallmouth. 

 

When it comes to weigh bags, check with the tournament organization before you buy one. I bought one before I started fishing tournaments and then found out a lot of clubs/tournaments provide their own and require you to only use their bags. No reason to spend money on something you won't use. 

 

that is some great info thank you! I do want to make sure my clips are good for smallies. That is what I will be fishing for in the tournament. I doubt the tournament I am thinking of doing will provide weight bags. It’s just run by a conservation club. It’s just something small for me to get my feet wet and see if I like it. I have to run about ten miles from The launch where it starts up to the area I want to fish. I will have to manage my time correctly as well. 

[WIGuide]

2 hours ago, Darnold335 said:

that is some great info thank you! I do want to make sure my clips are good for smallies. That is what I will be fishing for in the tournament. I doubt the tournament I am thinking of doing will provide weight bags. It’s just run by a conservation club. It’s just something small for me to get my feet wet and see if I like it. I have to run about ten miles from The launch where it starts up to the area I want to fish. I will have to manage my time correctly as well. 

With the weigh bags, it's probably going to depend on how they weigh the fish. Given that it's a conservation club, I would think fish care would be a high priority. Most tournaments I've fished, they provide the bag so they can ensure the fish are cared for and by limiting the number of bags they hand out, they can shorten the amount of time the fish are in bags getting stressed and possibly dying. A lot of the tournament bags have a mesh bag inside the weigh bag that the fish are weighed in. They tare the scale with an empty mesh bag and that way they can pull them out, weigh them quickly, and get them right back into the water. If they provide them, they use the same manufacturer so all the mesh bags are the same weight and you're just getting the fish weight.

 

Sounds like it'll be a fun run right away! The anticipation level will probably be through the roof!!

[Susky River Rat]

48 minutes ago, WIGuide said:

With the weigh bags, it's probably going to depend on how they weigh the fish. Given that it's a conservation club, I would think fish care would be a high priority. Most tournaments I've fished, they provide the bag so they can ensure the fish are cared for and by limiting the number of bags they hand out, they can shorten the amount of time the fish are in bags getting stressed and possibly dying. A lot of the tournament bags have a mesh bag inside the weigh bag that the fish are weighed in. They tare the scale with an empty mesh bag and that way they can pull them out, weigh them quickly, and get them right back into the water. If they provide them, they use the same manufacturer so all the mesh bags are the same weight and you're just getting the fish weight.

 

Sounds like it'll be a fun run right away! The anticipation level will probably be through the roof!!

Gotcha that all makes perfect sense. It’s not till June so I have quite a bit of a wait but, I want it all planned out. I am sure the night before I won’t be able to sleep haha.

[gim]

1 minute ago, Darnold335 said:

Gotcha that all makes perfect sense. It’s not till June so I have quite a bit of a wait but, I want it all planned out. I am sure the night before I won’t be able to sleep haha.

If you have a divided livewell, that helps sort fish too.

[WIGuide]

8 minutes ago, Darnold335 said:

I am sure the night before I won’t be able to sleep haha.

I'll be going into my 11th season of fishing tournaments this year and I still get that way the night before! My best suggestion is a bottle of neuroSleep! That stuff will knock me out and not leave me groggy in the morning. 

[Columbia Craw]

On 1/9/2023 at 10:05 PM, WRB said:

Dobyns new Culling clips.

Tom

I second these.  

[treble hook]

I have the Cal Coast Clip n Cull 2.0. They upgraded the clips. I like the numbered floats that work with my Rapala scale. They come with a bracket to mount in your live well.

[Cbump]

I went through 4 brands and couldn’t find one that the clip didn’t pop off on a lively fish. 
Bought a metal stringer and used It to replace the clips on a set. No more issues. Sorry not sorry. 

[TnRiver46]

I think palanuik lost that elite event because his cull clip got hung on something in the livewell and his fish croaked 

[Wildbillb]

I find some of these longer ones with floats tend to get tangled up with eachother and hung up in the live well causing issues.

 

I can't remember the name of mine.  I'll check them at home.  You just have to be pretty exact on how you attached them.