Cat Tip of the Day: Hanging No-Roll Sinkers

[SteveD]

My standard cat fishing slip sinker rig used to consist of a No-Roll sinker sliding on my main line tied off to a swivel that attached to my leader. A couple of years ago Larry Haugh gave me few Sinker Slides and told me to try them out and see what I thought. Within a week I had ordered a bulk shipment of Sinker Slides and now that is all I use as the basic setup for my slip rigs. They provide several advantages over the no-roll sinker approach. The Sinker Slide allows the line to flow freely and easily for a perfect slip rig plus you can change sinker sizes without having to cut your line and retie like you have to do with no-roll sinkers. Best of all at the end of the day when transporting your rods you don’t have a large no-roll sinker sliding on your line beating up the rod guides or the rod blank. With sinker slides you also have more flexibility with the types of sinkers you can use on slip rigs and I like to use flat bank sinkers or spoon bank sinkers. One other thing I like to do with the sinker slide is attach my sinkers using a rubber band. I just slip the rubber band through the bank sinker hole and loop it over the sinker and attach it to snap on the sinker slide. If the bank sinker gets hung up I just snug up the line and the sinker will break off at the rubber band and all I have to do is hang on a new sinker. It works great and saves you fishing time by not having to retie the entire rig.

So yesterday after I finished my spring time sinker inventory I’m looking at this big, heavy pile of No-Roll Sinkers in my Sinker Box that I find myself seldom using any more. That seemed like a pretty big waste of resources and I started trying to figure out how I could rig up those no-roll sinkers to fit on my Sinker Slides and on my 3-Way Rig drops. I just don’t want to have to run my main line through the no-roll and I needed a cheap and easy way to convert them to a hanging type sinker that would hook on my sinker slide snap or on my 3-Way Rig drop snap. Well I’m lying in bed thinking this thing through and I had a flash of genius. I just needed to use a length of mono to create a loop off the no-roll sinker that will hang on the sinker slide or 3-Way drop. Use a fairly light piece of mono (10 lb test or so) that will sacrifice itself if the sinker should get hung up so you can just break it off. This was just too easy. Here is how I did it:

Step 1: Cut about a 12 inch piece of mono (10 lb test should be adequate). Slide a bead on the line to about the middle point. See Step 1 photo

Step 2: Double the line up and slide it through the top of the No-Roll Sinker so that the bead stays at the top of the No-Roll. Now slide another bead onto one piece of the line coming from the bottom of the No-Roll. See Step 2 photo

Step 3: Double up the line from the bottom of the No-Roll and slide the bead up to the bottom of the sinker. Now tie a loop knot in the doubled up line leaving yourself a couple of inches from the bottom of the sinker. See Step 3 photo

Step 4: Snip off any excess line below the loop knot. Grasp the bead at the top of the No-Roll and lift it up to create a loop at the top of the sinker. See Step 4 photo

You now have a sinker with a loop that you can just hang on your Sinker Slide snap. It works just like any other bank sinker and allows you to quickly and effectively make use of any no-roll sinkers you have on hand.

You will find that they tie up very fast. I set up a little assembly line and tied up a bunch of hanging no-rolls in just a few minutes. I stored them right back in my sinker box and they are ready to go. I don’t have to order any sinkers until I have used up my inventory of no-rolls that I was never using.

Hope you find this tip useful. Good Fishing!!

[DTro]

I like to use sinker slides too, and now I know how to utilize them no rolls I have sitting around.

Thanks!

[Gordie]

great idea Steve I'll have to tie a few up for next season

[mudslinger]

Brilliant!!! now I have to find a Guiness.

[mplspug]

Steve you need to start patenting these ideas! We might have to start calling you McGyver.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

I tested this one out tonight and I think this is how I'll incorporate all my no-rolls this year. I just need to buy some smaller beads because mine are pretty big.

[harvey lee]

Great idea Steve. Looks like I will be tieing up a few dozen.

[nsnutter]

This is a real slick idea Steve ... Jeff and I tested these out with some 5 oz. no-rolls a few nights back ... unfortunately we had issues with the sinker wrapping itself around the leader ... any suggestions?

[MinnesnowtaWild]

Yeah I kept getting tangled so I went back to putting them right on the line.

Only if there was something I could stick through the no-roll like really small tubing so it won't tear up my braid.

[SteveD]

I don't know what to tell you. I was using some 2 oz Hanging No-Rolls and didn't have any problems the other night. I use rubber bands on my sinker slides with flat bank sinkers all the time too and I don't get any leader tangles with those either. I've never tried the 5 oz Hanging No-Rolls - I don't have that much current on the St Croix.

[nsnutter]

Yeah Steve the current was really ripping where we were testing them out ... that might have had something to do with it, plus the use of heavier, larger sinkers just gives more physical size to tangle up ...

[MinnesnowtaWild]

The other thing I noticed Steve was the slides I am using (Team Catfish) have a much larger snap than what you have pictured there, so the sinker hangs much more than yours does. That is why I think it's doing that.