As the Cyclops rig had its origins right here in the forums, I'm hoping you will get some truly expert advice.

I'm definitely not a soft baiting expert but have used the Cyclops. They work well in deep water, I've fished them successfully in 50m from a drifting boat. I would cast slightly ahead of the boat so that the rig will be almost below the boat by the time it hits the bottom. A little bounce up and back to the bottom and so until the boat starts drifting away and you get more of an angle on the line then it's time to wind up and start over.

Now lets see what the good guys say ...

guess not..
experts not particularly needed,just another opinion...

Won't claim to be an expert...but

I use them anywhere between 15m and 80m and you can use them in pretty much any form of sbing outside of obviously washfishing. They aren't really suited to long casts like a jighead the most I normally do is a slow lob infront of the boat if on a drift, but normally just straight down.

Technique I normally use is a rapid descent, wait, and then a slow or fast retreive anywhere from 5 to even 15 metres depending where the fish are and how they are feeding then back down again and repeat until you need to reset due to angles. Also catch plenty of fish just with one in a rodholder, especially with a grubtailed SB, the wormhooks give the grubtails a great action not just on the drop and retreive but also just dragging along. They do seem to work best and give the best action to any softbait with a decent tail, not so much on shads where the twitch and jerk technique is better suited to lighter jigheads imo.

One thing you will want, especially if your using gulps is some wire to wrap around the heads and split ring, as they do come off more easily than jigheads.

Heres an article I wrote which describes how I have been fishing them. Its a good time of year for them right now. Good luck

Excellent guys....Just another wee question....cause where i normally fish,out by home,its very shallow 5-15mtrs...would these be worthwhile in this depth...if not what would be an ideal set up/rig?
cheers

Home Bay?  anyways use a jig head 1/2 oz or 3/4. Personally I would go with a small egg sinker & a 5/0 worm hook... Say a 1meter 20lb trace (Stren fluorocarbon) slide the sinker on then tie on the hook...