Ok here we go I’m going to upset a few here. I find this rig bloody dangerous and detrimental to the welfare of the fish.
Why you ask?
Well such a device if it comes detached is likely to impale itself in the gut wall of a fish. By the very nature of a spring which is so fine the end cannot be rounded or blunted enough so as it doesn’t puncture the wall. Any microscopic bur on the spring end would be able to catch holed and tear a minute hole in the wall, allowing the full spring end to enter. In puncturing the wall, the device will because of the reticular motion of the gut, start to screw itself in because the coils act as a screw thread.
When the device is securely imbedded several things will start to happen; the entry hole will first become inflamed, making it difficult for food to pass down and past the inflammation and spring. As a result of the inflammation and subsequent irritation and bacterial build up, the area will become highly infected. This may result in the death of the fish or at the very least, failure to thrive. The puncture wound may allow air and debris into the body cavity again resulting in the death of the fish. This last factor could become severely acute, if the spring rips away and tears a large hole in the wall. Death would inevitably ensue within a few days.
Some will I’ve no doubts say, it has never happened to me yet and that’s probably correct.
But there is in my view, an inevitability that it will at some time in the future. The knot may slip round and off the end of the spring. The fish may bite off both the hook and spring with its pharynngeal teeth, leaving a double danger. The hair may just brake. Any of which could bring about the above occurrences.
I also have very real concerns that as this rig gains wider usage less competent angler will start to use it. With such wider usage, there is that inevitability and real risk that mortality rates will start to climb.
Ask yourself this question “would you really want to put at risk the life of a specimen of your favourite Species?” All because you just wanted an easy life when using paste, etc.
For me that is a risk to far. The fish’s well-being must always come first over my personal ease of angling practice.