A great many styles of fishing sinker exist, each with a purpose or technique for which it was designed. And while choosing a sinker isn’t terribly complicated, knowing the ins and out of sinkers makes a big difference in how effective your rig will be.
For instance, too much weight will deaden your bait or lure, impairing its action and decreasing its effectiveness. Too little weight can mean poor casting or currents washing your terminal tackle far from where you intend it to be.
And, of course, using the wrong sinker for the job is going to be a real bite killer.
So if you’d like to know more about fishing sinkers, keep reading!
Table of Contents (clickable)
What are Fishing Sinkers?
Sinkers come in a nearly endless variety of sizes, shapes, and weights.
Sinkers, whatever their shape and material, are designed to weigh down a lure or bait, causing it to sink more rapidly than it otherwise would.
Consider live bait like a cricket. Without some split shot to weigh that little critter down, it might not sink at all!
They can also cause your lure or bait to present itself much differently than it would without the weight. The Texas and Carolina rigs are good examples of this, with bullet weight causing the soft plastic worm to take on a head-down position on the bottom.
And for surf fishermen, heavy triangle sinkers are essential for long casts and keeping their rigs put under the pressure of tide and current.
Common Fishing Sinkers and Their Uses
Split shot
Split shot is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: small, round pieces of lead that are designed to be easy to crimp and release from a line. Typically, you use pliers to accomplish this task, and it’s always wise to avoid unnecessary contact with lead.
Split shot is never very heavy, but you can add more than one if needed.
Split shot comes in a range of sizes and weights, allowing you to carefully tailor your sinkers to your needs.
And you always want to use as little weight as you can to allow the casting distance you need and the staying-power necessary to fight currents, if necessary. Too much weight will deaden your lure or bait, making it far less attractive to fish.
Split shot is commonly used with live bait like crickets, nightcrawlers, leeches, and minnows, helping you cast them and keeping them submerged.
Bullet weights
It’s easy to see how bullet weights got their name.
Bullet weights are most common in bass fishing.
Used in conjunction with soft plastic worms, most famously in the case of the Texas Rig, bullet weights help slow-sinking worms reach your desired depth more quickly, something that can be essential when you’re fishing deep for bass that are holding to a hole or channel.
They also create a head-down presentation to your worm, lifting that enticing tail up where it can wriggle to great effect.
You can really see that difference in this underwater footage: