They work fine, and the fish don't mind them at all. You can use several different colors of mesh, and sometimes the right color mesh makes all the difference in the world.

They are really nice if you do alot of casting. They may not be a mess on the river, but they are generally a mess when you make them up at home. We use them mostly because our fish take smaller baits, and it is hard to fish skein size chunks the size of a dime in boiling eddy water, or any heavy current, which are typical of our water conditions in the spring. Hope this helps.