| Author | Message | ||
     Mark Goldsmith (Yellowcat)  BOC PALADINPost Number: 562 Registered: 2-2003 Rating: N/A |
BOC Cat Clonk Review First off I’d like to thank the BOC and the Cat clonk club for allowing me this opportunity. I thoroughly enjoyed this review. It’s not very often that I get to try something so new and yet so old in the search for my favorite fish, catfish. Needless to say the weather and fishing conditions haven’t been that good this year. To be quite honest they were terrible. The high water did seem to start the fish biting earlier than usual, but the fish are usually small this year. As you all know clonking is a very simple idea where you use a wooden clonk to strike the water and create a sound that causes catfish to bite. It really sounds simple but it is not simple by any means. There is still speculation as to what actually causes the fish to bite. Some say that the clonk imitates the sound of mating fish. Others say that it imitates fish feeding and still others say that it is the sound of frogs swimming in the water. I don’t know myself what the sound imitates but the big question is “will it make catfish bite”? After many hours of practice with the clonk, then actually fishing with the clonk and catching quite a few fish while doing so, I would have to say that it does make fish tend to bite more. I will try to explain why I think the clonk works and how well with a 1-10 scale. Difficulty in learning proper technique: 6 At first glance the clonk looks very simple to operate. It is not terribly difficult to learn but it does take a few hours to master. After about an hour in the bathtub I heard the first strong clear clonk. You will know when you hit the right note. It’s kind of like whistling, when you do it right it is unmistakable. At first all I could get was a lot of splashing sounds with a faint clonk sound mixed in. The hard part is that you can’t just make one good clonk you have to make three good clonks in a row. The most important part of the stroke is the depth. The speed and angle of stroke are important but the depth is the key. The clonk needs to be plunged into the water at a depth of about 2 inches, with a strong smooth follow through and a flick of the wrist to finish it off. If this sounds difficult it is at first, but once you have the technique down it gets much easier to repeat. If you can’t do it right in the tub you will never hit a good clonk with lantern light and wave action. Strength and durability: 8 The clonk is surprisingly light. When I first picked it up I thought I would probably break it the first night out. I was surprised to see that the clonk held up very well to being in a backpack, which gets fallen on repeatedly, thrown in the boat and tossed around in general. On a few occasions I have accidentally hit it over the rock I was standing on or the side of the boat and it didn’t even produce a noticeable scratch. The wood must be high quality to be so light and still so strong. Comfortable to use: 6 The clonk fits the hand rather well, but the stroke is awkward and unfamiliar which puts some strain on the wrist and arm. It does take quite a bit of force to get a good loud clonk, which can cause some fatigue. Since the clonk isn’t used constantly though, you have time to rest the muscles. Ability to move fish: 9 If there is any part of the review that I am confident in, this is it Every time I would clonk my baits would start swimming. At first I thought it was a coincidence but almost every time without exception when I clonked my baits would start making my polls dance. I tried to use the clonk for about an hour or so each time and then not use it again for about two hours to see if there was any difference in the bite. I must say that I did get more bites in the 30 minutes to an hour after clonking than I did in the two hours of no clonking. I think this is directly related to one of two things, either my baits moving more attracted the fish or the clonk was moving the catfish around the hole along with my baits. If the clonk does make catfish move more then it just goes to reason the more they move the more chance they have to find your bait. Ability to draw the bite from larger fish: 5 I have to give the clonk a 5 on this one because I used the clonk every other weekend and the fish that were caught while clonking were the same size as the fish caught without clonking. So I can’t give it a low score because the big ones may not have been biting no matter what I did. But I can’t give it a higher score because one of the reasons I was so excited to use the clonk was to catch bigger fish. In cunclusion, it is hard to say for sure if the clonk works as well as it is supposed to. We all know that there are so many variables to cat fishing that can affect the bite that nothing is certain. All I can say is that I caught fish with the clonk and without. The clonk didn’t allow me to catch any fish larger than the ones I caught while fishing without the clonk. One thing kept running through my mind on the nights I used the clonk, and it was whether or not I would have been catching fish if I hadn’t been using it. I guess I’ll never know. But like I said the one thing that I am sure of, is that I did catch fish while using the clonk and it does tend to make fish move. I know that I probably caused more questions to be asked than I actually answered. I hope that this gives you some information on what the clonk is all about and helps you make the decision to clonk or not to clonk. Some of the fish that were caught with the clonk are posted in new yellocat pics. patience is a virtue. Hotsprings, North Carolina | ||
| Dale Willis (Ragpicker_d)  BOC PROTECTORPost Number: 344 Registered: 1-2003 Rating: N/A |
Mark, that was a great review and well written to boot. I may have to try one of those Clonks, I need all the help I can get. Couple of guestions: Does it come with complete instructions and how easy are they to follow. Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be. - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) Salisbury, North Carolina | ||
| Jon Saxon (Verotik) BOC PALADINPost Number: 440 Registered: 6-2002 Rating: N/A |
Well done Mark. Harrison, Arkansas | ||
| Mark Goldsmith (Yellowcat) BOC PALADINPost Number: 563 Registered: 2-2003 Rating: N/A |
Dale, The best instructions are the videos on the site. They show you exactly what to do, but a lot of it is trial and error. patience is a virtue. Hotsprings, North Carolina | ||
| Chris Tornow (Dgde4x4man) BOC PALADINPost Number: 496 Registered: 1-2003 Rating: N/A |
Nice review Mark. I still am picturing you in the bathtub with a mask and a snorkel on. LOL La Moille Illinois | ||
| Tim Linder (Southedisto) BOC PROTECTORPost Number: 315 Registered: 5-2002 Rating: N/A |
Nice review, sounds like it might be worth checking out. To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed" (T. Roosevelt-Dec 03 1907) | ||
| Toni Smith (Catfishin_queen) BOC INITIATE Post Number: 33 Registered: 4-2003 Rating: N/A |
I want a set!!!! Sounds cool -- and FUN! (Not too late for a birthday present!!!) lol Anything is possible; everything is negotiable. | ||
| stephen van scoyoc (Sv73)  BOC SQUIREPost Number: 122 Registered: 5-2003 Rating: N/A |
great review mark only one ? do you think you will use it again or will it end up in the pile of fish stuff we all have in our garage. Remember its not the SIZE that matters, it’s how it Fights Clarksville, TN. | ||
| Chris M Sheafer (Kccats) BOC PALADINPost Number: 739 Registered: 6-2002 Rating: N/A |
Very nice review! One way to double check how well it works is to have someone else in another boat fishing somewhere on the same body of water with no clonks. When I was looking around on the internet about the clonks, I found that in Spain, they use the clonks and watch the fish finder. They drop their baits when they see the big fish coming.... and they know what depth to drop to. It would be interesting to find out if that could be duplicated here. You would bypass the little fish that way and just concentrate on catching large fish. Are you planning on doing futher testing with the clonk? | ||
| David Raleigh Clarke (Catmandu) BOC PALADINPost Number: 440 Registered: 2-2003 Rating: N/A |
Great job Mark!That was a well written and very informative review in my opinion.Your right about the weather and water levels being terrible so far this year.So using that clonk sounds like an advantage. Again ,nice job on the review. I'd rather be lucky than good! Chunchula Al(near Mobile) | ||
| Jim Pauley (Wvbowhunter) BOC SQUIREPost Number: 130 Registered: 3-2003 Rating: N/A |
I think I need to see some more indepth (no pun intended) reports and comparitive data say on the same lake with nearly the same fish structure. Some electronic data on fish movement would be interesting to. | ||
| Josh Haskell (Josh_jess)  BOC KNIGHTPost Number: 272 Registered: 4-2003 Rating: N/A |
Mark nice review. It sounds like you gave it your all and for that we are appreciative. I look forward to hearing more from other field testors. God made us brothers, but catfish'n made us friends. __________________Desoto,Kansas_________________ | ||
| Mark Goldsmith (Yellowcat) BOC PALADINPost Number: 564 Registered: 2-2003 Rating: N/A |
Thanks for the kind words guys and gals. I think over time as more and more people try the clonk the information will start to make sense and shed some light on how the fish react to clonking. patience is a virtue. Hotsprings, North Carolina | ||
| Robert Gilvary (Bobpaul) BOC PROTECTORPost Number: 345 Registered: 1-2003 Rating: N/A |
Mark, I read your review when I was home at lunch, and enjoyed it very much. Very informative. | ||
| Dean W Tegtmeyer Jr. (Lakecat) BOC PROTECTORPost Number: 361 Registered: 12-2002 Rating: N/A |
Mark nice review like liked how you personally rated it. I'm just anther crazy catter along the shore waiting for that bite. | ||
| Mark Goldsmith (Yellowcat) BOC PALADINPost Number: 566 Registered: 2-2003 Rating: N/A |
Thanks Robert and Dean for the positive feedback. I can't wait to see what the findings are from the other reviewers. patience is a virtue. Hotsprings, North Carolina | ||
| Mike Lovejoy (Lovejoydc1) BOC SQUIREPost Number: 179 Registered: 4-2002 Rating: N/A |
Good review Mark. Well written. Thanks for your time and trouble. Attitude is everything ! | ||
| Brian Taylor (Sirstanlee) BOC INITIATE Post Number: 23 Registered: 10-2002 Rating: N/A |
Very nice review, and I could easily tell you if it works. Let me try it, and if I catch a fish, it works. Can't seem to catch anything my normal way. Son: "Why is it raining?" Dad: "Because God's crying." Son: "Well why's God crying?" Dad: "Because of something you did." |
