How, When and Where to Put Sinkers on Fishing Line
If a different weight is desired, the pencil lead can be removed from the tubing, and a different size pushed tightly into the rubber tube. There is a wide variety of fishing sinkers available and even greater variation as to how they can be rigged and used. It bears remembering that the correct choice of weights for fishing can be as important to angling success as employing the right lure or bait. Having the wrong type or size weight is among the surest ways of turning off fish; whereas the right weight can bring instant angling success. Both the pegged and the sliding worm weight have their tie and place.
The leader will float higher than the sinker, so it’s less likely to get caught on any weeds along the bottom. Make sure that the sinker can’t slide over and off of the swivel. If it can, then slide a stop bead onto the line before adding the swivel.
Since they’re easy to attach to your line, you can put them on and take them off without untying any knots. The streamlined design of trolling sinkers allow them to snake through rocky cover. Bob McNallyThese weights are streamlined and designed for use while trolling baits or lures. Most are long and slender, and some have simple wire loops at each end for attaching to line and leader ahead of baits and lures.
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Hall of Fame angler Ron Linder devised this improved slip-sinker weight. Its slight bend and bottom-bumper-style wire probe at its end allow it glide over rocks, shells, and other obstructions when taking baits deep during drifting or slow-trolling. This sinker is a design improvement over the original Lindy Walking Sinker. Some styles of worm weights are made with a wire screw that bores into a soft plastic lure’s nose. This anchors the weight to the lure, which can help make it more weedless , and in detecting light strikes from fish.
Sometimes the wire loop is big enough to slide over the swivel. If so, you can add a bead between the swivel and your sinker to prevent this. Sometimes, for saltwater applications, you’ll need to have a heavy sinker that slides. In these cases, you’ll use a sliding sleeve and then clip a heavy pyramid weight to it.
The shape of the sinker is important, because when used correctly, its design makes it stationary. They’re simple to rig and use, and they can be fished as a sliding weight similar to egg or barrel sinkers. They can also be pegged to one spot on a fishing line with a toothpick, which makes them work much like a jig. Rigged this way, the sliding sinker becomes, in essence, a deadly and simple fish-finder or Carolina rig that resists line twist. Depending on weight used, it can be fished on the bottom in almost any depth of water or current.
It’s used primarily for freshwater bass fishing with soft plastic lures. According to Bass Pro Shops, sinkers are one of the most important elements of your fishing tackle. Choosing the best sinker for a given scenario–whether a traditional split shot, convenient rubber core or more sophisticated tied sinker–involves many factors. Fortunately, putting a sinker on fishing line is a quick and simple process, making it easy to try different options until you find one that works well for you.
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