Paracord is versatile stuff – useful in all kinds of situations. Lately I've been using it to make fishing lures and now I've started using it to create sliding sinkers.
When a fish picks up your lure, you want it to feel natural. If the fish feels weight from a heavy sinker it may spit out the lure before you can set the hook. To combat that, many anglers use sinkers that allow the line to slide freely, so there is no unnatural weight. Your tackle shop probably has a variety of such sinkers, but they are not cheap.
When a fish picks up your lure, you want it to feel natural. If the fish feels weight from a heavy sinker it may spit out the lure before you can set the hook. To combat that, many anglers use sinkers that allow the line to slide freely, so there is no unnatural weight. Your tackle shop probably has a variety of such sinkers, but they are not cheap.
Using paracord I can make sliding
sinkers that are effective, inexpensive and can be easily customized
to provide the characteristics I want.
I use 650 paracord, which is coreless,
or I use 550 paracord after I pull out and discard the core.
The idea is pretty simple. I just push
something heavy into the cord, melt the bottom to seal it and then
melt and flatten the top. I then use a hot pin or needle to poke a
hole in the top.
Some people stuff bbs or split shot
into the coreless paracord, to give it weight. That works fine. I
choose to push a length of solder wire into the cord. I can easily
cut the solder wire so it is just long enough to give me the weight
and length desired.
Regular solder wire is just the right
diameter to fit into the coreless paracord.
When paracord is held in a flame it
melts and creates a hard, plastic-like bead. That makes it very easy
to seal off the bottom of the sliding sinker. When the plastic-like
bead is forming you can pinch and flatten it. (Be careful because it
will be very hot. I often use leather gloves. Some people wet their
fingers with saliva and then pinch and pull back quickly.)
After the flat plastic-like top has
cooled and hardened, use a red-hot pin or needle to poke a hole
through which you can thread your line.
I push my line through the sliding sinker and then tie on a swivel, and then attach leader to the other end of the swivel. I then tie a lure to the end of the leader, 3-4 feet
below the slider. Rigged that way, the sinker will pull the line to
the bottom. As I troll, the sinker will bounce against rocks on the
bottom and my lure will ride just above.
My process creates a sinker that is long and skinny, like a tube. The longer I make it, the heavier it will be and also the higher my line and lure will run above the bottom. By varying the length I can create sinkers that work at varying water depths and trolling speeds.
My process creates a sinker that is long and skinny, like a tube. The longer I make it, the heavier it will be and also the higher my line and lure will run above the bottom. By varying the length I can create sinkers that work at varying water depths and trolling speeds.
– Dave Webb
