Porcupine Sinkers

[yicjme]

I may not be in the correct forum but have been searching for a mold for porcupine sinkers or sputnik sinkers. DoIt does not make one and apparently none of the other larger mold people makes one that I can find. Any ideas???

[m.t.pockets]

Do you mean SURF CASTING SPIDER WEIGHTS?

[rhahn427]

Easy to make ........ Bend wire in half push the bent end thru a pipe ....... Fill unit with lead then bend the straight wires to give you the prongs

[JRammit]

Never heard of such a thing, had to look it up... Its a wacky looking device!... Wonder how many fish you lose cause they hit the sinker instead of the bait

[Vodkaman]

I fished estuary banks as a boy. A 4oz weight would wash along and be trying to climb up the bank in less than 30 seconds if it weren't for the prongs. We never caught more than the occasional flattie and then we had no clue, more a pleasant surprise when the hook was lifted from the water.

 

As my knowledge of fishing strategy improved, I left my father to continue with the broom stick rods, pronged weights and 50Lb line, and I fished light rods, 5Lb line and 1/2oz leads. Even though I was catching fish all the time, he refused to change his tactics, claiming that he was looking for the monster fish. Neither of us ever succeeded, but at least I had something for supper.

 

Dave

[diemai]

An ordinary sinker mold souped up with crosswise drill holes for wire shaft insertion whilst casting , ...... and later wire pieces assembled  through the holes , secured with plastic tubing on either side not to slide out , .......just saw it on a German site , but can't seem to provide a link , sorry .

 

Greetz , Dieter

Edited October 26, 2015 by diemai

[yicjme]

Do you mean SURF CASTING SPIDER WEIGHTS?[/quote yes they have a lot of names]

[diemai]

OK , ......i was a little short of time , when writing my post above , ..my apologies , ....now I can get into the subject a little deeper .

 

There is a German blog about how to make those "porcupine sinkers" or "spider weights" by pimping a mold for ordinary , bomb-shaped heavy sinkers .

 

Sadly I'm unable to provide straight links with my IE browser and also it's a little complicated to get onto the blog !

 

Please use Google or Bing search function and type in term "zeebarsland.wordpress.com" !

 

Now the site of "WordPress.com" should appear , ......click on top term "zeebarsland.wordpress.com-zeebarsland" and the entry site of the blog should appear .

 

Now scroll down the site and look after the listings column on the right , .......click on term "Tips und Trix(12)" , it is almost at the bottom .

 

Now scroll down appearing page and you will see a series of pictures dealing on making these particular sinkers out of a mold for ordinary sinkers .

 

 

 

In a nutshell , ......the mold has been modified by just drilling some holes through it's cavities to accomodate wire pins whilst pouring in the molten lead , ......the pin's purpose is solely to create a pair of crosswise holes through the readily cast sinker .

 

Now the author uses some thicker steel wire and a hammer to beat a groove above each hole exit(utilize a piece of soft pinewood to lay underneath) , .....these groove's purpose is to accomodate the plastic tubing cover(in this case ear cleaner sticks)of the wire prongs .

 

These pieces of plastic tubing inside of the grooves are neccessary to lock the wire prongs in place in their working condition , pointing towards the eye of the sinker .

 .

When the sinker is retrieved with a fish on or to change bait , the prongs would spring open at tension and the plastic tubing would release from the grooves and as a result the wire prongs would fold backward not to snag up during retrieve .

 

For the new cast the wire prongs would just be turned back into working position and the plastic tubing would lock them back again .

 

Needless to say, that the wire prongs must be able to pivot freely inside of the crosswise holes through the sinker , yet be bend snug enough against the sinker , so that the plastic tubing slid over each wire prong would reliably lock them in place , .....BUT..... also open up under the tension of line pull to have the prongs fold backward reliably ,too .

 

Might take some tinkering to get the hang of it and satisfying results , ......I never was in need of such sinkers , so I do not have any practical experience, .... ..but by these blog pictures it does not look too difficult to do , ...the author states in the end , that he used roughly 30 min. to cast 20 sinkers and another two hours to do the grooves and rig wire and tubing to them  .

 

If you should have any more questions , maybe regarding translations , ...just feel free to call back in , ........good luck , Dieter