I had an under in the Grapevine tournament die today and I think it might have been because of the culling ring. I like the procull rings because you aren't poking another hole in the fish and I haven't had a problem yet. However, I wonder if you put the fish at more risk because the line runs next to the gills. You are "clearing" the gills and make sure not to poke them when inserting and removing. However, with the line pulling and the fish bouncing in the box does that then rub against the gills and hurt them?

Who knows, my fish may have already been hurting from the hook. I also think a small fish like a Grapevine under will have more stress because they are so small with that culling ring and float. Only reason I had culling ring on this one I knew it would be first to cull.

While talking about dead fish, is it just a Fish & Game law you can't cull dead fish? It would be waste of game? I know you don't cull dead fish, but not sure the source of that because it isn't in many tournament rules.

thanks!

Tournament rules normally state to follow all state game laws,so that would include culling dead fish.

I have used Chris' culling rings since the beginning, I do use the old school clips. I have never had an issue and I will bet it wasn't the culling ring that caused your fish to expire.

Never need to cull :0(

here is a picture of them.



video explaining.

Just don't like it. I am not going in through the gill plate for any reason.

I don't like them for that one fact of being by the gills. I used clips for years and got tired of them coming off the fish or if the jumped out of the livewell, we didn't have anything solid to grab them and make sure we still can hang on to them. So I have the Ardent cull rings.

Poking a (additional to your hook which didn't seem to bother them much) hole in their mouth is worse than running a cable thingy through their gills?

If your going to run something through the gill plate you might as well put them on one of the old shoe string stringers.

I use the pro cull rings and have never had any problems.

Remember they are not a chunk of rope they are very smooth plastic tubing.

Hi Rob,

Chris here with ProCull Fishing.

I'm sorry to hear you had a fish die while on one of the ProCull Conservation Clips. This design has been on the market for a few years now and this is literally the first I've heard of someone having a problem with the Conservation Series. I know there are hundreds of these sets out on the water all over the country, and the results of our testing and feedback from other anglers has all been positive.

Now, I'm not saying the cull ring was not a contributing factor to this particular fish's death. It's just hard to pinpoint the exact cause (especially this time of year with the warmer water temps). We have all had seemingly healthy fish go belly up at the end of the day with little known cause both with and without the use of a culling system. It could be that fish's third time in a livewell this week, it could be stressed out due to high water temps, or it could have got ahold of some bad shad at the Sizzler.....who knows. All I can say is our testing and feedback has all been positive and even have the endorsement of the Conservation Director of the New York BASS Federation.

With all that said, I definitely want you to be happy with your ProCull product, and if you feel uneasy about using the Conservation Clip system in any future tournaments I would be happy to exchange your cull rings out with one of our other systems at no cost to you. If you want to exchange just shoot me a PM. All of our other available systems can be seen at ProCullFishing.com. Just pick one and let me know what you want!

Thanks!
Chris Atkinson
Owner-ProCull Fishing Products

Now that, my friends, is customer service.

Chris provides top of the line CS! A couple years back I had bent one of my culling rings and needed a replacement, Chris called me and I was on the water and he drove a nearby ramp and met me there to change it out, FREE of charge. That is what I call some good customer service!

I was fishing a night tournament last summer and lost my black culling ring. Talked with Chris about a replacment and what it would cost. A Couple of days later I recieved my replacement in the mail which by the way was FREE!!! Now that is exceptional customer service. That is hard to find these days. ProCull is the only culling system I use now and never had any issues.

Thanks for the info Chris. I haven't had a problem with the Conservation Clips before. There may have been too many other factors to blame it on the clips. It was 90+ degrees and very humid. I also think this fish struggled because it was only a 12" under. I think the float weighed more than it did. The other unders I had without clips did OK. Think I will avoid putting the clips on such small unders. Appreciate response.