Salty: do you use snubbers in between the ball and 'rigger cable? I got a couple of these green rubber / plastic snubbers from Cabelas and they seem to help keep the rigger ball from getting caught as they flex. (Also a lot easier to handle than rigger line). So far I've dragged and bounced but not lost a ball since using the snubber. Just a thought..
Come up to Squam, we need some more of those fancy balls in our underwater stores. Seems like allot of rats or skippers, cling-ons, whatever people call em. Too bad they have to get hooked, but how can you avoid the little suckers. Not getting too many on Squam as long as you stay away from Sandwich, but they are moving into Deephaven lately too.