Overshot Fishing Tools & Junk Baskets Built for Fast, Certain Fish Recovery

When the fish has a grabbable top, drill pipe, tubing, or sucker rod, an overshot is the right tool. If loose debris with no grabbable top is present, such as bit cones or hand tools, run a junk basket instead. The Fish-Condition Decision Tree shown above takes the user down either path.

A junk sub is a down-hole tool with a profiled external surface that catches large, heavy debris like carbide teeth, bit fragments, and bearings from an active milling or drill-out run. They’re usually run just above the bit and not on their own fishing trip.

When the fish diameter sits close to the hole diameter, a spiral grapple work best since it’s designed with a left-hand helix. A basket grapple surrounds the entire fish circumference, the more common solution when there’s normal clearance.

Not always. Basket grapple wall thickness reduces internal catch bore relative to the basket’s outside diameter. If the fish is large in relation to the hole size or near the bit diameter, a reverse circulation junk basket might not clear it. Large single piece fish require an overshot or alternative retrieval.

Yes, standard on every order are both an in-process and a final inspection. If an independent third party certificate is required by the customer’s compliance framework, SGS and DNV third-party inspection are available as additional options.

Yes. The standard catch length and connection classes for both spiral and basket grapples can be combined to meet specific customer catch ranges. Customers simply provide their required specification, which is covered under our same inspection and Incoterms framework.

These three tools commonly occur together during the same fishing or milling operation. When ordered as a combined purchase, all three ship under a single Incoterm and one inspection pass. That reduces coordination effort for the three distinct suppliers and avoids three customs entries.

It depends. While these three tools do clear debris after a problem has occurred, junk baskets also protect bit cutting tools from debris damage when used proactively ahead of core bits or diamond bits, prior to the start of the run’s drill-out operation.

ANSI/API Specification 7-1, Rotary Drill Stem Elements, defines the thread and gauge specifications for REG and NC connections that Welong uses across its entire overshot, junk basket, and junk sub product line.

Assuming one tool can handle both a grabbable fish and loose debris is the most common mistake. Because each has a distinct operating principle, external catch versus internal collection, selecting the wrong tool means an additional run at significant rig-day cost.

Yes. Short catch overshots are built for fish tops too short or too damaged to engage in a standard-length bowl, available across Welong’s connection range in both spiral and basket grapple configurations.

Types of overshot break down by grapple (spiral or basket) and by catch length (short catch, standard or wide catch). The parts of the overshot include the top sub, bowl, grapple, grapple control and guide as explained in the previous sections.