 Here at the tree house this morning today. We're gonna be looking at a homemade trot line versus a Store-bought what's better. We're gonna decide so the last video if you guys missed it I was fishing for gills and sunfish Not only just for fun also to eat I had a nice plate of the big bluegill that I caught and the other ones I use for bait So I went out I set five jugs I got I lasted about two hours Had four four or five baits just get taken didn't didn't catch any and I just got a massive headache And I just had to come in and basically take three days of just laying in bed I had some real bad virus. I thought it was old Willis coming back there for a second Why I was shopping for some terminal tackle the other day I just came across one of these cheap o trot lines And I think this one was around ten dollars, which in my mind is a pretty good deal But it looks like there's some cheap components on here. So in this video, I'm gonna attempt to build a trot So in today's video, I'm going to attempt to build one of these trot lines See how it compares to the store-bought and then we'll get a verdict on if it's worth it Then on another video will actually take it out. I've already built some jugs Well, we'll lay down the lines and do the whole program Colonel Sanders Who's going on here World War two chickens Anyway before This just gets too crazy. Don't forget to check out the new America series merch. We got the red white and blue toss jig We've also got the American clutch Just some really cool all-american performance apparel and polo's hats the whole nine Available you can always use My code LFG get 10% off your order go to squad comms link down below. Let's get to build So here's the components that I'm using. I'm using the number 30 waxed bank line or tarred bank line. I'm using the 18 tarred bank line I'm using number three three out again. I think of the three odd swivels I've also got some one-on swivels some big ones I'm also sandwiching some beads on my drop swivels And you can find those at Hobby Lobby or whatever. I actually borrowed my daughters She just discovered that I'm using those so see how that goes You're gonna put them back. All right, you'll put them right here. I'll take care of them Because you steal them. I'm just borrowing them. I was gonna get you some more though What kind what colors would you like? When all sparkly pretty colors or do you want just pink or what do you want? You just want those same ones. Okay, I'll get you a bunch more I'm about a third of the way through making my line right now. So I'm just gonna show you guys a couple of these Rigging so you can kind of understand how it's done, but it's really simple. It's just time consuming So if you're gonna do this at home first thing you got to do is check your state Regulations, maybe even some specific lake regulations on how many drops you can have on a line Some states are different with jugs and with trot lines and everything like that I'm in Texas and the state of Texas Your lines have to be or your drops have to be three feet apart We're going ahead and I'm loading all the beads and all the swivels onto one end of the line bead swivel bead So just load those on there in that order however many you got. I think I'm doing 25 You happen to have a yardstick It's pretty handy for three-foot regulations Measuring this with the yardstick and then I'm just going a few inches Beyond that so that way I know that I'm legal Making sure that I don't move my finger from that spot and then I'm gonna cut off some of this 18 bank line here So cut off about six to eight inches there and this is going to be our our stop So on the store-bought one that I have they're using some sort of rubber bead You know that I'm sure that works pretty good It's kind of like making a serving knot if you're into archery Not the long lengthy serving over the main line But just like if you were putting a peep on with some serving Or just to stop something from moving up and down the line Tying in some string silencers, whatever I'm just doing it like that overhand knots and You top bottom top bottom and I end on the top tight real tight burn the ends Put my foot on one end so the trot line is not moving and I just tighten up the other end by holding it my cheese Now I'm just tying overhand knot Tight on that line And I'm gonna come right back down Do that overhand knot again Just on the bottom At a little tip on this knot it doesn't have to be perfect, but there's a certain way where you tie it going top to bottom Where you have to switch it up from the top one that you do Lines just cross a different way it makes it bulkier and Doesn't really fit that well together. Just get that last finishing knot there It's all tight. So snip the ends pretty close Then when you're done, it's gonna look like this and then I just take the lighter Yeah, just like you would in You know archery situation Just take that lighter Get it to kind of melt down almost until it is going into the knot itself and just take a Take the flat side of the lighter You know backside your knife or whatever and just mushroom that out or flat And it out right on top of the big main knot and a little tip on doing that You don't want to stomp it or stamp it immediately after you get done burning it like Light it melt it wait three to five seconds so at the tacky part When you melt that rope down doesn't just stick to your lighter Because then it's kind of stringy you'll pull it off and you're not getting that that mushroom effect So when you're all done, it should be nice and clean look like this And then I'm just going bead swivel bead Pull that up And you're just gonna repeat the process on the other side You know these knots don't think are gonna gonna wear out especially being you know melted and stamped down You might say like why even put the beads on there if it's gonna stop the swivel from moving it definitely will But what you're gonna run into what I have discovered is when you pull that swivel Towards the knot start to rotate it because the whole purpose of this is to have this go all the way around freely But if you don't have something like a bead There then the swivel will actually catch On the knot and then you're gonna get line twist because you have to imagine the fish is going to pull one way or the other and Even though that knot is pretty clean when you start to rotate it It's gonna catch on that knot and start twisting your line. That's what you don't want So the beads are just a really cheap way to do it. You guys could probably find something better Maybe I'm wrong but drop a comment. You're not gonna hurt my feelings. So the main line is built now I put One-Ot swivels on the ends that gives me some options for rigging whether I want to float it have it down at the bottom There's there's different options with having those swivels on there and good quality swivels I might add they're all black nickel coated They're you know, they're oversized basically So I think those those are gonna hold up much better than the store bought ones and same thing with the Hooks I got as well. These are black nickel coated for a Shaughnessy hooks I've actually never used a Shaughnessy hooks on a juggle line or a trot line but I've used circle hooks and like octopus style hooks and I don't know. I just I lose a lot of fish on them So I wanted to try these a Shaughnessy's and see how they do nice thing about a trot line is you can experiment pretty easily Got 25 hooks on this thing So I can put different style hooks and see which ones hold up better Which ones are losing fish more and all that stuff. So the last part of our build here We're putting the hooks on our Drops, so I'm using that That number 18, which is probably 180 pound Waxed bank line. So I want to try to keep these around a foot or shorter in length So just making up for the knots. I'm gonna tie. I'm going for like 15 inches So the first thing I'm gonna actually do Is just tie an overhand knot close to one of the ends And I'm gonna cut that down and Then I'm going to just burn that down close to the knot Mushroom it Stamp it out So now we've got just a knotted ball on the end So I've normally done the loop loop knots in the past But I want to try this system because there's less There's just less room for error basically on the fish twisting twisting out of it And I literally just discovered that the base of my knife is magnetic the whole What's going on here? I thought the magnet was inside of here But maybe it's just a slip of metal and I had no idea what's going on there But anyway, so then I'm gonna slip this on here with the hook point facing up I just it's kind of like that snail when it gets to the end. It just gives that little little bit of Angled up trajectory. I could go ahead and snail the whole thing But I think this will hold like Maybe if I get like a 40-50 pound catfish it might pull that knot out But I've been putting this on my bench vise pulling the string as hard as I can and I've only had one that I thought might slip out But the rest are are holding up really good So I don't think we'll have a problem But if I do discover I have some missing hooks when we take this out on the water I will I will snail these up which by the way all you guys past fishing that know the snail knot for like flipping For tying on your straight shank flipping hooks and all that stuff that is a different difficulty of not then snelling a Like a catfish line like this where your lines already cut you already have this open in right here You're not attached to a rod and reel. It's very quick and easy But anyway, I want to experiment try this little stop knot and see how it works Other end. I'm just tying a loop. Just make that little overhand double over overhand snug that up Just gonna snug that up. I'm gonna Cut it close again The reason I'm cutting this down is because I don't want it to get caught Through the eye the swivel I'm gonna put it through So I've got the stop knot to the loop and you can attach these and put them back on really quick Something that would probably be another advantage if I wanted to go the extra mile is to make a quick Quick detach right here. That's another component. You'd have to buy But you just slip this through the swivel feed that through and you're done And you can take these off every time keep your lines clean And good to go on the next trip. So here's a look at the whole thing Lay it out. I've got those one-on-swivels there at the ends then every three feet We've got Our little beads and swivel are all locked in My driveway is about a hundred feet long. Just to give you guys an idea here And then on the other end We've got our swivel It's like on the other end and this is going to be the flow So this is gonna be my my jug to set on the end. You can literally just use like a Like a you know laundry detergent jug or milk jug or something like that if you want to this is just a noodle It's got some You know some nice little features to it. I bought this is like three or four bucks You got a hole on the end so you can you know attach the line you got a cleat down here that you could use to tie line off I'm gonna try something a little different. We'll get into this on the next video We're setting this out, but I'm experimenting with something I think will work on setting the jug at the exact depth that you want to fish That's fully adjustable if I could do this over again I would put a three-way swivel right here because what I'm gonna do is put a snap swivel onto that Far far in and far I Run the string to a weight. That's probably gonna be about five foot This line is gonna run five foot off the bottom Then obviously the float is gonna go on the other side of that so it'd be better to have a three-way Let's have a look at the old store bot. Shall we it's not bad honestly. I mean comes on this spool It's wound nice and neat It's that plasticy line So it won't get balled up very easily These are your hooks. I Think we can all agree Those are lesser hooks Your string for your drops is it's literally string. It's what's it's unwaxed It's already cut up though and they're cut up in I think it was like 16 17 inch So final thoughts on these two with the homemade versus the store bot I wouldn't look to the receipt. This is 999 So you don't have your your hooks attached You do have to do some rigging But this is pretty darn good for what you're getting and on the homemade one that I built It's about a $20 cost But I have some extras of things and I just kind of calculated the amount of string that I use But I'm going to recommend if you guys don't have any bank line And by the way, I've been saying this wrong the entire video. This is number 36. So 18 36 I would get both of these anyway if you guys like to do other outdoor things Even just having these at the house. There's a lot of things you can do with them. It's tarred bank line It's just great for a lot of stuff. You got to do some little patchings You need to hang some things you need to you know, you can make handles out of the stuff And obviously camping hiking backpack and all that This is fantastic stuff just to have around in the first place So I'll leave a link for these where you guys can pick that up in the description But this took me about six hours to build I'm obviously going to be fond of it more because I made it I put my time and effort into it, but You know is $10 worth it for a fully ready to go Trot line. Yeah, I think it is I look at it kind of like building your own arrows or hand tying your own jigs or something like that It's going to be more expensive than for someone to mass produce it in quantity but You know, you got the pride in the work. You're gonna just you're gonna enjoy it more It's like that with with anything that you handcraft I also think it's good just to learn how to do this to build a trot line build a jug line Just a basic outdoor skill just to know in case you ever really need it besides that guys This is a fun thing to do to catch fish and it's a surprise You know you're setting out some traps basically and you get to see if any any animals show up in there And you get to eat the fish which are amazing. I love catfish. So next time we go out next video I'm gonna show you how I'm doing the float to float which I've never done I've done tree to tree before so that should be a fun experiment Thank you guys for hanging out with me today here at the tree house building some fishing gear if you guys want to see more You already if you missed the last video subscribe to the channel Smash the like button and let me know in the comments What you think is better build it at home for 20 bucks or just buying one for 10 bucks and just going with it Godspeed God bless you in the great outdoors And I'll see you on the next one Okay Patience if you Don't have it right now you you will learn as a parent