Scraps For Weights In Snaggy Areas.

by William

When I'm fishing in really snaggy areas, like where there's a lot of rocks and underwater brush piles and trees stumps, I like to use a bunch of scrap metal instead of store bought weights.

My pops has some land and a hobby shed-like house with a lot of old junk in the back end of it all. When I go over there to visit, sometimes I bring a bucket and I just start filling it up with old scrap metal that he doesn't intend on using anymore.

He has told me that if he can't use it, and if it ain't worth selling because nobody wants the crap, and if I don't take it, then it's just going to go straight to the junk yard anyhow.

So I take the scrap metal and use them for sinkers when fishing for catfish and whatever else in the river that I can catch.

Extended Interview - Tips For Using Scrap Metal For Sinkers

Jason: How do you set it up?

This sounds like a good idea. But could you explain it a little more? By that I mean...

How do you rig the scrap metal to go fishing with it? How do you attach it to the fishing line? Anything else might be helpful too.

William: Yeah, no problem. Here's what I do:

I put the scrap metal on the drill press and drill an 1/8 of an inch hole into them close towards the side. The sizes of the metal that I usually like to use are no bigger than an a couple square inches. You can probably use a regular drill and metal drill bit if you want.

Here's the fun part. I will either slip them onto an o-ring of some sort, or an old key chain ring. Sometimes I will rig it up as a sliding sinker straight on the fishing line if I don't already have a sliding sinker rig, and other times I will just tie it on kinda like a drop shot rig. It just depends on the situation.

Jason: That's cool. That seems easy enough and and efficient. That is a great way to save a few bucks, huh?

Have you thought about pouring your own sinkers also? Of course you would need to by the mold first, but after a while it pretty much pays for itself.

Either way, I sort of like the idea of using old scrap metal for makeshift fishing sinkers.

William: Yeah, I thought about using molds. My pop and I do quite a few things in his hobby shop, so it would be easy to figure out. It just seems to be really easy this way. And the money is already paid out into the metal that is left over. I just figure that I can just make the best use out of nothing and turn it into something good.

Jason: It seems like that the scrap metals would have rough edges, which could fray or even cut through your fishing lines. If so, what do you do about that? I assume you would have to file them some, right?

William: Absolutely. I'll use a flat file for the edges to remove the burrs, but mostly when I just have a few, or when I need to clean some up while out on the water fishing. Usually I will just run them on the belt sander because it's much quicker. And I'll use a small round file for the hole that was drilled.

Jason: This is great stuff William. Thanks for sharing your tips about using scrap metal in place of sinkers. It's a nice way to save money. If the metal does get snagged, you could just break off without having to worry much about it... just simply rig up another drop shot and your right back to fishing.