Culling Techniques

[LennyB]

Hello everyone,
I'm  considering a new culling system this season and was curious to what the seasoned tournament anglers do when culling. I plan on using an Ardent Quick Cull system and was wondering how most guys attach that style clip to the fish. Do you poke it through their lip or feed it through the gill plate? I was using the clamping type to prevent injury to the fish, but they have a tendency to come off in a scuffle resulting in wasted time.
Thanks for any tips, MBFT

[Cheetam]

Poke it through their lip.  Then you don't have to worry about losing the clip and/or damaging the fish's gills.

[Durand Dan]

What's Culling?

[Cy]

I really like my X-Tools culling kit.  I  replaced the green clips with metal stringer clips.  I just poke them through the skin and lock it around the jaw bone.  You can also file them down a little to make them a little sharper for easier poking.

Cy

[TCook]

What Cy said, you dont need another culling system just go buy a cheap stringer and replace those those plastic clips with the metal ones from the stringer.

[Waterfoul]

I have the Ardent culling balls and an X-Tools culling scale and used it most of this past season.  Works awsome!!  No question which fish is the next one out.  Just read the weight on the ball and pull the smallest one.  You can also estimate within a few ounces what your bag weighs before you step up to the scale...

I don't think you will be unhappy with the system.

Oh... and always poke the bottom lip.  Stay away from the gills!  The hook will damage the gills if you run it thru there.

[djkimmel]

What's Culling?

Anyone can cull DD. After you catch your first keeper, just throw it back as soon as you catch your second keeper! That's culling

[River Rat]

I'm with Double D on this - how many fish do you need before you cull?!  Mines kinda dusty...

[djkimmel]

I've used the Quik-Cull system for 5 or 6 years with nary a single misfire in the livewell. I like them. No holes. I'm still wondering if they are truly better for the bass, but my bass usually are in pretty good health.

There's a dealer list here, but I'm not sure about their present status. D&R Sports is listed as a dealer. Not sure if he has any in stock. It is the tags and supplies only. No scale. I use an ancient Culm-Rite for that (don't put them away wet).

[Dan]

No matter what you do if you're culling you're not fishing so I try to look for speedcuts. One of the best additions I have made to my culling routine is a cull bag. You just drop the fish in the bag and don't have near as much flopping around and you don't have to worry about the darn thing flopping off the hook of the scale. If you buy two they are great for a beam. Once in the bag they're not flopping all around the bottom of the boat either. Their inexpensive and are well worth the investment. Here's the link http://www.bag-em.com/
They are just mini weighin bags and take up very little room and I would bet once you started using them you won't be sorry.

[Team houston]

I use the bag also, when I am lucky enough to get a 6th fish.

[Ranger5Smallie]

I use the ardent system with a scale and a bag.  Works good for me.  Lock the ardent clips on the lower jaw and never worry again.

[Waterfoul]

Nice thing about the X-Tools weigh scale... no hook.  It actually grips the fishes lower jaw.  I've never had a fish manage to wiggle enough to get off the jaws either... though the heaviest fish I've weighed with it was just over 6 lbs.  A St. Clair smallie to boot!

[River Rat]

Maybe after the addition of a nice, shiny, new 997c SI to show me the rock piles with schools of smallies I'll be able to figure out this culling thing on Tx day!

[Waterfoul]

Maybe after the addition of a nice, shiny, new 997c SI to show me the rock piles with schools of smallies I'll be able to figure out this culling thing on Tx day!

In my experience... the hardest fish to catch on TX day is the first keeper.  Followed closely by the 5th keeper.  After you get that first one, it seems getting to 4 is easy... but that 5th one... dang it can be tough!

[djkimmel]

Try catching them in a different order maybe?

I use small bags also to weigh fish in.

[Waterfoul]

Try catching them in a different order maybe?

[Jighead]

I started using the Berkely clips last year and never had one come off.  First clip-ons that I've ever used that stayed on.

Speaking of culling - I learned a big lesson last year during the Stren.  I've always struggled with whether to weigh the fish before putting them in the well, or waiting until I get five to weigh them all.  Well we got into a pretty good school of nice sized fish so I was just throwing them in the box as soon as I would catch them.  I didn't want to waste time weighing instead of casting.

Soon enough I had five and had to stop fishing to go through the whole process.  While I'm goofing around doing that my co-angler starts whacking fish that were a good bit bigger than what we had been catching.  I know without a doubt that if I had been fishing instead of weighing and tagging for that few minutes I would have picked up a good two to three pounds.  Dumb, dumb, dumb!!!

That one school gave him 19-01 and me 17-8.  His bigger fish were caught with me bent over my livewell fumbling around with fish for too long instead of fishing!

[rufus]

Doug,
I will give you the flip side of that story. In a BFL a couple years ago on St Clair I ran to an area that I knew was flat out loaded with post spawn females. It took me 12 minutes to get to that spot as it was flat calm and we arrived at 7:16. On my first cast I hook up and put a good fish in the boat on a spinnerbait. As was normal I grabbed my scales, cull tags, and cull board. As I opened the lid to get my stuff my coangler, Dave, yells get the net. The fish still on the floor flopping I netted his fish and he quickly threw it in the well and made another cast as I was gettting ready to weigh and tag my fish. Before I could get my fish on the scale he yells get the net again. I net his fish and once again he quickly throws it in the well and fires another cast. I finally get my fish on the scales, but did not have time to get a weight before I had to net another and then another and finally his fifth and his limit. I still did not have my fish in the well  . I looked at my watch and it was only 7:27!!!!!!!!!! and I have 1 with one cast and my co has 5 in 5 casts. Well, I finally got my fish weighed and politely asked Dave, who was going balistic and saying "Holy Cow I just cashed a check in 11 minutes!!!!!! How did you find a school like this!!!!", could you please let me get my fish in the well before you make another cast. He laughed and said "heck ya, I will just wait til you get 5, how's that?" Well, fortuntely, the school was huge and I was able to get the rest of my limit in consecutive casts as well, but it had me a little flustered for a second. We both ended up with just under 20 pounds and I believe I was 5th and he was 7th. I have since decided to get my limit while a school is hot and then worry about culling later. Normally, I am fishing specific spots anyway and usually with a little breeze I blow off of the area anyway so the fish aren't getting hammered and as you all know the coangler is not allowed to fish off the front of the boat.
In the BFL Super Tourney this year I was drop shotting a specific spot in deep water. The fish were stacked on top of one another and I was was catching them on every single drop from the second I pulled up. My coangler was literally too far back in the back of the boat to fish what I was fishing. I told him to cast up by me, but you simply had to be vertical to catch them. I told him not to worry as soon as I got my 5 I would pull him right on top of them, which I did. We ended up catching fish on every drop for over 3 hours straight and culling was a nightmare. They were all clones and I had to balance beam almost every one of them because they were so close. Since it was a 2 day I left that spot (I wasn't too worried about beating them up I had found 5 other spots with just as many fish on them in practice so in hindsight I probably shoud have stayed the whole day there) after going through over 30 4 pounders and my co had caught about 10. He did not catch as many due to the fact every time I would cull the wind would take us about 50 yards from the key spot and I would have to troll back. When I would I would instantly hook up again. It got to the point I started netting my own so he could keep fishing. YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE THE GREAT LAKES!!! What I am saying is to me the most important thing to get my nerves down and relax is getting that first (most of the time it is the first one ) 5 as quickly as possible and then worry about culling. 99% of the time we don't have to worry about it happenig that quick anyway, but at least get 2 or 3 in there first before you make that decision. I plan on investing in a Cul-M-Rite system this year to make it faster. Right now I have an X-tools system and it does work good, but I don't always trust the scales eve though they are fairly accurate. Culling is just one of those problems we all love to hate. I am constantly counting my fish because I am too OCD. Many times I have my co help me and I help him so we can get it done quicker and get back to fishing.
I am already ready to catch a few more as I type this so I better quit before the wanting springtime blues set in.

[Jighead]

What I am saying is to me the most important thing to get my nerves down and relax is getting that first (most of the time it is the first one ) 5 as quickly as possible and then worry about culling.

That's exactly the game plan I started with after catching the first one (a 5-6) on my second cast.  But my next 4 were sub-par to the ones that my co-angler was catching when I was busy weighing fish.  I was going through the same thing Heath - I just couldn't get finished up quick enough in-between netting his fish.  Finishing just 8oz. out of the last check made it that much worse in hind-sight.  My co-angler ended up in first place that day, finishing somewhere in the top 5 I believe.

The whole decision to weigh or keep fishing probably should be an organic one that presents itself based on how the fish are showing themselves.