Juglines have to have a valid gear tag regardless of how many hooks are on them and can have no more than 5 hooks.

www.txcatfishguide.com

The wardens were at bass pro this past weekend showing some of the results of the game thief operation. i was asking questions about the jugs
and was told the following by one of the wardens.
-it must be white ( non commercial )
-must be orange ( commercial )
-cannot have more than 5 hooks
-must have your contact info and date
-illegal in some bodies of water
may be worth further investigating

I make mine cheap, quick and effective but they don't flag. I don't find it necessary I just check and rebait often.

Here is the deal I cut each swim noodle into 12 inch pieces. This gets you 4 per noodle and one small piece to toss or use for anything else you want.

Next step I attach tared twine to the noodle I use about 35 feet of line. (I never jug deeper then 30 feet anyway). I just thread the line through the hole in the noodle and tie it.

I then tie three loops in the line one about a foot up from the bottom, one about 3 feet up and one about 5-6 feet up.

I then tie a small 1 pound dumbell to the other end as a anchor. These cost 44 cents at Academy, they are small and work great. I think they are almost the perfect jug weight.

I use spit rings and snap swiveles to attach 1 - 2/0 Khale Hooks where I fish there are mostly pan size cats so I don't use big hooks. I use snap swivele and spilt rings cause they are strong, the swivles let the cats spin and if I want a new depth it is very easy to tie a new loop and move the hook fast.

I know what your thinking but what about the white color all the noodles are pink and blue etc. Easy cheap and fast. White duct tape around the noodle. I then write the name, address, etc with a sharpie on the duct tape.

Last I add a thick rubber band to it. I can then let out as much line as I need and use the rubber band to keep the rest of the line on the jug.

I have some boxes they look like a milk crate but are a little longer one way then the other. 15 jugs fit nicely in each one.

I know some will say I would be better off buying premade ones but I take a lot of satisfaction from building and maintaining my own stuff.

The only bait I use is dead shad or live minnows/perch/etc. Shad seems to work best.

Oh one bonus with 12 inch noodles if you are after pan size cats (I am) you have a slot checker in hand each time you are taking cats off. I keep 14-24 inch cats so I hold em up to the noodle if they go about 2 inches past the length of the noodle into the live well they go,

Good info Jack. I Keep all of my jugs in a large tub you can buy at Wal Mart. I also cut slots on the tub to hang my hook stagents on. I also keep extra hooks, weights, stagent, etc. in the tub this works great for me.

Heres mine:
13" of 3.5 White noodle (Sliced for line storage)
20" of 1" pvc, capped on both ends w/eye bolts
RR spike for weight
2 Snap swivals for leader lines
Identification tags, attached to top eye by wire ties (Datd on the rear)
pvc loaded with 2 1oz egg sinkers
pvc off set for better flagging.

Hooker,

Nice noodle! I was doing some noodling of my own south of the old dam on LL and ran in to one kinda like that - are you missing one? I left it out there.

************* has a good write up on how to make the flagging jugs and where in the Houston area to get the white foam baker rods. As the previous post said it is a construction site supply place.

I think Chads pre made flagging jugs are for sale at Anchorage Marina on Conroe.

I have never fished the drifting variety only the anchored ones in deep water. Caught a mess and had a good time, the kids love to see em shinning when they stand up and the spotlight hits em. Good luck and safe fishing.

This my be a dum question but are those noodles the one you buy at walmart that people use to float around on while in the water?

Bhunt,
ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Could be , although they sell only colored, which have to be modified to be used.
Check w Chad about white noodles

Minno Bucket, lost one about 5 mos ago (Long gone)

Hooker were do you get this noodle stuff that everyone is making?

Just incase anyone wants to see more accurately what I described above here are some pictues.

First this is how I store my jugs all rolled up. You can see how compact the noodle and dumbell are. Again this dumbells are 44 cents at academy and I just can't imagine a better weight.




Now in this one you can see how I rig the khale hooks, snap swivels and split rings. Again this makes changes in depth easy to make quickly. Just tie another loop and move one of the hooks and done.




Last this one give you an idea of how they deploy. With my son driving and me setting them we can set about one jug a minute with out rushing. Again they ain't fancy, they don't flag but they are cheap, fun to build and they do fill a freezer with cats on a lake most people do not consider to be any kind of quality cat lake.

Jack, thanks for the picture, I built some today and I am excited to try them.

No problem I figure that the store or internet bought premades probally are "better" but for just farting around and putting fish in the freezer mine work just fine.

I also get a lot of satisfaction from building and tweaking stuff on my own. Anyone can buy something it is a lot more fun to make it if you can. I may not try to build a rod and reel from scratch but a floating jug with string, hooks and a weight even I can handle that.

Besides it got my son involved as well what more could ya ask for. Keep those kids fishing and it will keep them from doing "other things" ya know,

Besides that Jack,
Hell mine are cheaper then "Store Bought"