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Terminal rigs and sinkers for live bait fishing. Includes fishing rig information and tips on sinker weight, hook size and other terminal rig setups.
Terminal Rigs and Sinkers for Live Bait Fishing When I was a lad out after shiners, I attached my sinker about a foot above the hook, and that was that. How many fish were lost because their delicate nibbling went undetected is problematical, but it was undoubtedly a good share of those attracted to my primitive setup. That heavy sinker, directly on the line between the hook and the rod tip, canceled out any strike except a most robust yank by some unsophisticated panfish. Plenty of thought is required to get just tie right terminal tackle setup for taking bottom fish. And that thought should start with the sinkers to be used. Most sinkers are too heavy. Sinker weight for any type of fishing should never be more than required to get the bait down on the bottom. Any additional weight above this requirement kills both the action of the rod and that of the bait itself. When one is using a fly rod and worm, it is best to cast upstream, without weight, allowing the current to carry the worm deep. Where water conditions don't make this practical, attach a very small split shot. Many fish are lost each season by anglers who clip their split shot directly to their fly rod leaders, when using wet flies or worms. Unless this is carefully done the leader becomes frayed, and eventually the shot will so weaken it that the first heavy fish hooked will break out at the crucial moment. A much better method of attaching split shot is to a small drop per a few inches long, looped at one end. This loop can be used to attach the dropper above one of the taper knots by threading the end of the dropper through the loop and drawing taut. Then the split shot can be clipped to this short dropper. When you no longer require split shot to get your lure down on the bottom, it is a simple matter to remove the dropper. A wrap-around sinker is another method of giving your fly rod leader weight. This is simply a small, thin strip of lead which is wrapped directly around the leader. It is easily attached and as easily removed after use, and there is no harm done to the leader. Sometimes, when you find yourself with a too-light fly rod leader, as when casting into a stiff cross wind, this same bit of lead strip can be used to make the butt section of your leader heavier. A little experimenting, moving the weight back and forth on the butt sec tion of your leader, will give you just the proper combination. It will also serve as a reminder to have a few leaders tied with heavy butt sections, against the time you again fish under similar circumstances. When an angler is using a bait-casting outfit, the sinker arrange ment and attachment are just as important as they are for the fly rod fisherman. Sinker weight is used to give balance to a bait rod, making it cast most efficiently. But even here, most anglers tend to overload their rods with too heavy sinkers. It is never advisable to use more lead than the least amount you can cast with. If your casting outfit seems a bit light, you are approaching the ideal weight. Remember, it isn't distance you are concerned with here, but deli cacy of presentation and weight sufficient to get your bait down on the bottom. Of equal importance with the weight of the sinker used, is the method of attaching it to your bait-casting outfit. When fishing for panfish, it is good practice to have a dropper about fourteen inches long for the bait. This dropper is attached to a swivel at the end of the line, and another dropper, eighteen inches long, is attached to this swivel for the sinker. A terminal rig of this kind gives you a very delicate feel when anything touches your bait if you lower your bait a bit after you know your sinker is on the bottom, there is no weight between your rod tip and bait. The most casual nibble is detected, and the hook is easily set. A similar terminal rig is excellent when drifting a bait through a riffle. Here, however, the sinker dropper should not be over six inches long. The bait dropper should be at least eighteen inches, and for very clear water it should be twenty-four inches long. This method of drifting bait has been developed to a fine art on the steefliead rivers of the Pacific Northwest. The cast is made up stream and quartering across. Just sufficient weight is used to get on the bottom, but not enough to hold against the current. When title sinker is down on the gravel, the flow of the current holds the bait about six inches above the bottom. The eighteento twenty-four inch bait leader is directly downstream and in this manner is carried through the natural feeding channels to the waiting quarry. The sinker is felt bumping along on the bottom. Any pause is investigated with a sharp strike. Quite often a steelhead angler sets his hook into some underwater object such as a log or root. But on the tenth time it is a big steelhead who has had the temerity to pick up that gob of eggs. Big trout are also susceptible to this terminal rig in heavy water where flies are not producing. Many fishermen use this method on small-mouth bass in some of the fabulous Ozark Mountain streams. But instead of using salmon eggs, they use streamer flies and small plugs. Another clever method of attaching a sinker, especially when angling for bullhead or catfish, is to thread the line through the eye of the sinker, attach a swivel to the line, then your bait dropper to this swivel. The swivel prevents the sinker from working down close to your hook, but once the rig is on the bottom a fish can move the line through the edge of the sinker without resistance. When the hook is set, the impulse is felt directly at the bait, without the ham pering weight of the sinker. Another sinker rig I saw an angler use has considerable merit for swift-water fishing. This angler was fishing a steelhead river by standing at the head of a riffle and casting directly downstream. He used a flat sinker sufficiently heavy to get his bait down on the bottorn. It was attached with a short dropper. Any tension on his line caused his sinker to plane to the surface, raising his terminal rig off the bottom. A slacking of the line would send it deep. By adroit manipulation he touched all the deep, favored spots those huge sea run rainbows used. On the retrieve his sinker, planing to the surface, avoided the cobblestone bottom, and there was a minimum of hangups. In rigging either hooks or sinker to a terminal rig, one precaution should be always kept in mind. Never rig with droppers or leaders which test as much as your line tests. If you are using a twelve pound test casting line, use droppers testing at least three or four pounds less. Then, if you should happen to snag up, it is the dropper which breaks when you pull free, saving your valuable line. Sinkers merit much more study than the average angler gives them. There are many specialized shapes on the market, each designed for some specific purpose. A good, well-rounded selection of sinkers can be obtained very inexpensively, and they are just as essential as a well-rounded selection of hooks and lures.
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