pulley rig tensioning for bite detection

I've been using pulley rigs for a bit now, but tension them the line against the breakaway lead so I can detect bites easily. Reckon some fish are therefore dropping the bait when they feel the tension. But on the other hand, doesn't slacking off the tension risk a fish taking the bait way down and being damaged or killed when unhooked? What's the best practice with pulleys and breakaways? Tension and then slack off a revolution on the reel?

Advice welcome...

have you had a lot of missed bites on the pulley rig??the idea of the rig is so a fish can move of with the bait and hook itself and so when reeling in over rough ground the lead is up and away from any snags.what length of snood do you use on the rig??

It's not a bolt rig as far as I know, so in effect when you tension a pulley it's working exactly the same as a paternoster rig with the snood hanging in the flow and the rigbody and mainline tensioned.
You sill have the pulley effect that lifts the weight out of the snags when you have a fish on.
The way it is being described is for it's effect as a bolt rig, but that's not really what you use a pulley rig for.....it's more for the non-snag effect.

[beachcaster]

what i ment was i use this rig nearly all the time depending on the venues being fished and species,and i have always had fish hook them selves on it, never had to strike a fish yet on this rig with a snood of between 12"/24" inches.as reguard to strikeing i am talking about dogfish who continualy lift and mouth the bait without getting hooked ,i have seen this happen on numerous occasions.

Last edited by beachcaster on Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:25 am, edited 2 times in total.

What are you complaining for if the fish are hooking themselves i wish i had that problem. i tend to only use pulleys when after smoothies and i never really strick until the fish has started to move off and have the bait right in there gob. perhaps you should change to 3 hook clipped down with short snoods if you want to start striking fish for a hook up.

actually, the hook snood is longer - 90 cm or so. i have had some missed bites. on the other hand, slacking off has led to a bunch of big flounders taking the hook way down.

who strikes flounder bites

longish 90cm snoods will give fish a chance to get the bait down and can lend itself to better hook up. a pulley dosent necessarily act as a bolt rig. unless used in a run where everything is under pressure in the tide including the taking fish. fixed patternoster is better in places with no tide for hook up. flounders generally swallow a bait down. look at the sticky on unhooking them or cut the snood. pulling out hooks does them damage. try a fixed patternoster where you are fishing. if it's snaggy and you need the 'snag free' benefits of a pulley then use a fixed pulley. put a stop knot behind the sliding bead on the pulley to increase hook ups. if you get a good fish it will slip and act as a standard pulley. hope this helps...

good tips. will give it a shot.