Monkey climbers advantages/disadvantages?

tortoise100 · Jan 7, 2011

I know of a takle shop near me that sell monkey climbers very cheaply and I was thining about giving them a try , should I bother ?

I don't actually have any real need as I feel I have most of my basis covered with my current bobbins just thought they look like somthing fun to try out .

The main disadvantages I can see are that it looks like you would have to have the rod very high and that you have to transport a long metal rod without bending it .

I normally have the rod tips either under the water or very close to it and the handle end up in the air .

Wobbly Face (As Per Ed) · Jan 7, 2011

Depends on length of climbers. The only advantage I know of is they are not as effected by the wind. Bobbins and arms can get blown about when windy, side movement causing fasle bleeps on buzzer. Down side is more tackle to cart, as you have already said and unusable on hard ground if they have to be spiked into the ground. I use hangers myself attached to the pod.

richiekelly · Jan 7, 2011

depends on what you want to use them for,i still use some that i made from plastic pipe and some old umbrella spokes for zander on a local water where ther fish are very shy,[dont know why they are so shy as they are hardly fished for] i dont have my rods high but put the spoke behind the reel on an angle with an open bail arm.

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Jan 7, 2011

Matrix make a monkey climber called the cheeky monkey,

www.johnsonrosstackle.co.uk.

Look up Matrix

tortoise100 · Jan 7, 2011

the blanker said:
depends on what you want to use them for,i still use some that i made from plastic pipe and some old umbrella spokes for zander on a local water where ther fish are very shy,[dont know why they are so shy as they are hardly fished for] i dont have my rods high but put the spoke behind the reel on an angle with an open bail arm.

You make it sound like that they might be more sensitve or have i missed the point ?

I too will be after zander though I had planned to make some sort of rear rod rest mounted thing so I could use open bail arms though that is not something I have much experiance of ,I have used very light bobbins and bait runners but then I have not had much success.

mol · Jan 7, 2011

The big disadavantage was the needle, if if was damp or had grit on it from rainwater splashing up the monkey wouldn't climb the needle or it would suddenly get stuck half way up. You also needed to carry a satalite system that cilpped onto a pod as you couldn't get the needle in the ground. I can understand why they're not really used anymore, they have disadvantages and no advantages over bobbins, swingers or springers, I certainly wouldn't go back to monkey climbers.

The matrix ones look nice but don't show drop packs very well due to the length of the needle and friction between the needle and monkey.

richiekelly · Jan 7, 2011

dayglowfroggy said:
You make it sound like that they might be more sensitve or have i missed the point ?

I too will be after zander though I had planned to make some sort of rear rod rest mounted thing so I could use open bail arms though that is not something I have much experiance of ,I have used very light bobbins and bait runners but then I have not had much success.

i think that for the zander i am fishing for [when the lake is free from ice] they are better as they dont have the restriction on the fish taking line that other systems do.

---------- Post added at 16:36 ---------- Previous post was at 16:27 ----------

mol said:
The big disadavantage was the needle, if if was damp or had grit on it from rainwater splashing up the monkey wouldn't climb the needle or it would suddenly get stuck half way up. You also needed to carry a satalite system that cilpped onto a pod as you couldn't get the needle in the ground. I can understand why they're not really used anymore, they have disadvantages and no advantages over bobbins, swingers or springers, I certainly wouldn't go back to monkey climbers.

The matrix ones look nice but don't show drop packs very well due to the length of the needle and friction between the needle and monkey.

i dont get the problem of grit stopping the monkey from sliding as the home made ones i use are about an inch across but i know the type that you mean that did have this problem,i also carry thin strips of lead that can be put onto the monkey to counteract any drag that there might be,the advantage that i think you get with them is that they allow the fish to take line without feeling resistence which is what i need for the zander i am fishing for,bobbins/swingers and certainly springers do not allow this and would cause more dropped runs than i get now.

noknot · Jan 7, 2011

They were ****, why do you think they became obsolete???

richiekelly · Jan 7, 2011

noknot said:
They were ****, why do you think they became obsolete???

they became obsolete because other things came along that were more suited to carp fishing but are not suited to fishing for zander,by the way i have a friend who still uses them for carp and has caught fish to 46lbs using them so they do still work,its just down to personal preference,old fashioned yes but they still do the job for zander.

mol · Jan 7, 2011

the blanker said:
i think that for the zander i am fishing for [when the lake is free from ice] they are better as they dont have the restriction on the fish taking line that other systems do.

I don't understand how you manage to do this. Surely when you have a run the monkey has to climb so the fish must be pulling the weight of the monkey/bobbin up, which is the same as a carp style bobbin lifting. I can see that the bobbin doesn't have to be pulled from the line like it would with a pike style drop off indicator and a carp style bobbin is that what you are on about?

MarkTheSpark · Jan 7, 2011

Nothing whatever wrong with monkey climbers. They are better than bobbins in any wind, don't get lost, tangle in the line, and you can use them well forward, in between line guides, to achieve better sensitivity than swingers.

In fact, I hate swingers. If you're not bolt-rigging for carp they are total cr@p because the amount of friction created by the line running through six or seven rod rings is the reason swingers have to weigh half an ounce. They don't detect bites very well at all.

Don't remember the brand I have but they are 'captive' on the rod thanks to the end of the stainless rod being crushed flat.

mol · Jan 7, 2011

The old gardners ones have a crushed top to stop the monkey coming off.

My old washing up bottle tops used to climb up even with the friction of 7 rod rings and they wheren't anywhere near half an oz

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Jan 7, 2011

Why use any kind of bobbin with alarms ????

Your line will run just the same without a bobbin and set the alarm off. Without a bobbin the wind cant blow the line around, i do use bobbins from time to time, and old fairy bottle tops, but not much.

I dont use baitrunners reels either.

mol · Jan 7, 2011

A bobbin is certainly useful if you get a drop back, the weight of the bobbin falling certainly helps pull the line over the line sensor giving you more bleeps.

tigger · Jan 7, 2011

Ray Daywalker Clarke said:
Why use any kind of bobbin with alarms ????

Blimey Ray....for drop backs of course !

I sometimes use a set of monkeys and I've never had them stick at all in wet weather or caused by gritt. IMO monkeys are superiour to danglers/bobbins in windy weather and another advantage they have over bobbins is that they don't get tangled in your line.
Mine are made from stainless barr and PTFE monkeys.

dannytaylor · Jan 7, 2011

tigger said:
Blimey Ray....for drop backs of course !

I sometimes use a set of monkeys and I've never had them stick at all in wet weather or caused by gritt. IMO monkeys are superiour to danglers/bobbins in windy weather and another advantage they have over bobbins is that they don't get tangled in your line.
Mine are made from stainless barr and PTFE monkeys.

Playing devils advocate here, but what about when your "slacklining" with the bobbin on the deck. Ive been using this method a lot this year and have had very good results you cant get dropbacks with this method. You still however need a bobbin as it helps you identify the difference between a line bite and a pick up from a hooked fish, it also helps to manage the line and stop it blowing about.

To contradict this when fishing big rivers with bolt rigs for carp a large majority of bites would be drop backs.

There was a test in carpology magazine where several forms of bite indication were tested via a diver moving a lead underwater a sett distance the sensitivity of the indicators were compared and iam sure that the most sensitive was a quiverlok indicator the least sensitve was the monkey climber..................................

richiekelly · Jan 8, 2011

mol said:
the blanker said:

i think that for the zander i am fishing for [when the lake is free from ice] they are better as they dont have the restriction on the fish taking line that other systems do.

I don't understand how you manage to do this. Surely when you have a run the monkey has to climb so the fish must be pulling the weight of the monkey/bobbin up, which is the same as a carp style bobbin lifting. I can see that the bobbin doesn't have to be pulled from the line like it would with a pike style drop off indicator and a carp style bobbin is that what you are on about?

Click to expand...

yes the monkey has to be pulled up by the fish any indicator on the line has to do this be it a bobbin/swinger or a monkey, my point is that for the fish i use the monkey for they offer the least resistence to a fish taking line,they allow me to use an open bailarm bobbins/swingers dont give me that option unless the line is clipped up,i dont want fish to feel the resistence needed to pull line through a bobbin/swinger and certainly dont want them to feel the change in resistence when the line is pulled from the bobbin/swinger/line clip.
there will always be some resistence to a taking fish no matter what system is used all i try to do is to create as little as i can.

noknot · Jan 8, 2011

The only time I would use a "monkey" again is if I were fishing open bail arm style, but have not used that method for over 20 years! The best thing about monkeys was a take at night with a fitted isotope, watch the monkey flying up and down the needle right infront of the Cardinal 55 spool, awesome! And yes they were indeed Gardners and the PTFE.......

tortoise100 · Jan 8, 2011

The tackle shop near me has these very old stock ones for £1.99 and even older stock ones but with a metal clip on the end of the monkey for £2.99 .

It is interesteresting that people say they are good for using open bail arm style as that is the style I want to perfect for zander but had not realised these would help in that way.

My uninformed opinion so far is if you are fishing true bolt rig not running leger style it would not matter very much what you used after the allarm to indicate drop back bites as long as it came off the line easly and didn't set the alarm off in the wind .

One of the best I have seen was a piece of 25mm waste pipe with a slit in it that an old boy was using along with a straight through 6lb perlon line to a size 12 with one single shot on the line for casting weight you understand he told me ,when he was packing away the tube was left on the rod cliped to it .

It made me think again about my complicated rigs he had the tench record in that lake using this rig.

noknot · Jan 8, 2011

The reason they were good with an open bail, is that they added a little tension to the line and stopped over runs/tangles as the line coiled from the spool on the take, but need to be fished very close to the spool for this to be effective, the other method was to use a line clip above the spool and then wet sponge foam in the butt ring.

Monkey climbers advantages/disadvantages?

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