Slinkies or pencil?

[Pete]

OK, I'll admit up front, I like pencil lead in a piece of rubber tube on my drift gear ... it means I don't have any breaks or knots between my reel and my hook and it's worked for me for decades. But I feel like I'm in a shrinking minority. If you use slinkies, and especially if you're a convert, tell me why. EjuKatE me!

[ampersat]

i've fished both and i prefer pencil lead myself. this is mostly because of the time it takes to make slinkies and the fact that i never seem to have the proper weight of slinky for a particular drift. on the other hand, when i do fish slinkies, they hang up less often and usually unsnag better than pencil lead. slinkies have a softer feel when they hit rocks and let you detect the bite a little easier. on top of that, when i do fish slinkies, i'll hit them with a load of scent which stays in the cord fibers, helping to draw fish to my presentation. can't do that with pencil lead. in my opinion, pencil lead is cheaper, easier to deal with, and more weight-adjustable than slinkies. just my .02.

[drifter]

It's all about FEEL. Lead still feels the best. However, I do use the small diameter lead for steelhead fishing. The smaller diameter in longer lengths will snag less often than the larger diameter in smaller lenghts.

I also agree that lead is faster and easier to use. Saves time on the river.

I guess I am one of the minority, too. Drifter

[fishbait]

85% pencil lead, hollow core, pinched on tag end of line.

15% Slinkies, snaggy drifts

[Eric]

What drifter said.

Since I mainly fish eggs or shrimp, I really prefer the sharp tick!tick! of lead against the soft, rubbery pull of a steelhead bite. Makes it much easier for me to detect bites. Slinkies feel like you are constantly getting a bite and that is a distraction.....in my opinion.

[Tanner]

Each one is suited to certain conditions. When I am fishing a river that I know has a smooth gravely or sandy bottom, I like to fish lead. Rougher snaggier bottom and structure, rocks, etc.
slinkies are the way to go.

[SteelieSteve]

I use slinkies 95% of the time. They don't snag the rocks as easy as pencil lead. They don't distract you with the contasnt tap-tap-tap. I make my own and have for over 17 years. I do use lead when fishing deep holes where you need the extra weight to get to the bottom.

[Jennie@ifish]

In STS they described a new method. You put wire inside the pencil lead and sticking out the bottom a ways.
We made a couple yesterday and will let you know how they work.
I love lead. I learned with slinkies, and it is so much easier to feel the bottom with lead! So much easier! Plus, it's so handy to change for me.
I've got different sizes and I know now, just by feeling the first cast which size and how much to break off.
Jen

[Tanner]

Jen,
What you have described is not a new method at all. Us walleye fisherman have been using them for years. They are called "Bottom Walkers".

[Stz ll]

Slinkies suck. Granted I have found that they don't hang up as much as lead. When I hang up fishing lead (hollow core attached to a tag off main line)when I get my line back I usually have only lost the lead. When I hang up with a slinkie I usually don't get anything back but my main line. I also prefer to feel of lead as it taps along the bottom.

[nipper]

Lately I've been using the three way swivel with the surgical tubing. I've been using 3/16" lead, so longer lengths that 1/4". Dare I say it? I bend the lengths in the shape of a banana.

Muh-ha-ha.

I will sneak away from work to catch steelhead
I will sneak away from work to catch steelhead
I will sneak away from work to catch steelhead
I've got 5 sick days built up. Sniffle, Sniffle ;-)

Muh-ha-ha

Best Fishes,

Nipper

[Chris Nordling]

I find myself using pencil lead much more than the slinkies. Tubing is cheap, lead is cheap, and no time into making bunches of slinkies. Tap, tap, tap pull is much easier to feel for me. It tends to be as easy for the rookie driftfishers to feel the bite as well. I especially like the small profile of the lead and tubing(always BLACK), when fishing for steelies in low clear water.
I agree that slinkies can sometimes give a "false" bite or take. I'm not saying I haven't felt some really good tugs from my lead hanging into a sunken tree , log or rock.
I also will go with a bank sinker of various sizes in the late fall and winter. I find that it goes straight down very quickly, starting your drift almost at the point in which you cast to. Giving myself those first few critical feet to get my offering into the strikezone.Finding a weight that works is pretty easy. They come in many different small sizes.
Making a slinkie the same weight of a 1 0z lead takes 27 of the .210 shot, and only about 1 1/2" of bigger lead. The bank sinker essentially provides the same feel as the lead as well. Unfortunately it is relatively tough to add scent to these weights though. :grin:
One last thing to add, I ALWAYS when drift fishing attach my lead/slinky to a "free sliding" snap swivel that stays above the leader connetion.
Happy Fishing :grin: :grin:

Chris

~ Team U.S.A. ~

[Bubzilla]

I can't believe than nobody has mentioned the number one advantage of slinkies over pencil lead: they don't abrade or nick monofilament like lead. I've read and heard lots of different opinons about whether lead or slinkies have the best feel. I remember that Bill Herzog said slinkies. I don't know. I never, ever, ever miss a bite no matter what I'm using, so it doesn't really matter to me! And of course, as everyone said, they're far less snaggy.

Lead has it advantages, though. Most importantly, it's greater density. Lead will always get down faster. That's a major plus when you're fishing pockets or small holding water where you need to get down immediately. Plus, lead is hard to beat for side-drifting.

I'm glad I don't have to choose between lead or slinkies. They both have a happy place in the ol' tackle box--right below my Thill floats! :tongue:

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: Bubzilla ]</p>

[ampersat]

hey you surgical tubing guys: a little more info on how you rig yours up, please?
i used tubing for a little while; i would push the open end of the snap swivel through both sides of the rubber tube and close it, then tie my line to the side of the swivel with the snap, and the leader to the free end. i found i slung weights off every once in a while. also, it's very hard to get the snap through the rubber when your hands are cold.
these days, time on the water is precious and time in the water even more so. i use a single swivel, and tie a tag end onto the same side as the mainline, leaving the free end of the swivel for the leader. i pinch down the hollow pencil lead on the tag end. i try to keep mine as straight as possible; any sort of bend in the lead makes the rig spin when i reel it in, twisting up the line.

[David Johnson]

Both have their use in my boat (for clients, begginers and "pros") but slinkies take up about 80% of the lime light. I only use lead in real deep and/or fast water and pea gravel bottoms.

I usually rig just like ampersat does but this year I am going to do some test fishing with a sliding settup.

[Jennie@ifish]

Bubz... It gets down faster! That is so true, and that had never occured to me.
That answers a few questions I have asked myself concerning certain holes and why lead works better in them!
Thank you!

Jen

[HOGTIDE]

I like a long chunk of hollow-core that goes tap-tap-tap on the bottom.

Hey do you remember 'Bouncing Betty' the snagless sinker? Someone found a way to market all of those old unsold superballs!

[ampersat]

in a longer leader situation, i'll run a sliding setup. just like the before-mentioned rig except that the tag end is tied to one side of the swivel and the other goes over the mainline. it's up to you whether to run a bead between the slider and main swivel. some think it's easier on the knot. i'll use this with the longer leaders because it's easier to feel the bite. with shorter leaders, the lead will pass the fish sooner and pull the hook to the corner of the mouth. on a longer leader, there's more time from the time the fish bites to the time the lead gets all the way behind the fish, and that's more time for the fish to spit it.

[byteme]

I have been using the cheap green parachute cord (found in the camping section of sporting goods stores) to make my slinkies. The braid is loose enough to allow you to squeeze shot out (of the top) to adjust your weight. When you take shot out put them in an empty pocket in your vest (if you have one) and reuse them.

[byteme]

I have been using the cheap green parachute cord (found in the camping section of sporting goods stores) to make my slinkies. The braid is loose enough to allow you to squeeze shot out (of the top) to adjust your weight. When you take shot out put them in an empty pocket in your vest (if you have one) and reuse them.

[Amerman]

When drift fishing it's 1/8 inch pencil lead 100% of the time for my boat. It's hard to find but it gets hung up way less than thicker lead or slinkies (aren't they those things that bound down stairs). The great thing is the rare time you do get your lead hung up, it is so thin your swivel pulls out and you get everything back but the lead. By fishing a heavier main line than leader if your hook gets hung up, you simply loose the hook and get your lead and swivel back. It's common in my boat to fish with the same swivel so long that all the black paint comes off. I think last year I had one make it 10 to 20 trips.

[Wet Willie]

Ampersat, I set up the same way as you explained.
I use my hook file to make a point on the snap so it goes through the tube easier.(and into your thumb easier, ouch!!)

[Chris Nordling]

The lead usually flies after a few hours of using the same set-up. The rubber does take a few knicks, wears thin in places similar to slinkies. I can't recall ever having the lead knick up the mono. I too can have the same sliding swivel last more than a few trips.
When it's cold out,put a flame close by. Just so the tube "relaxes" and isn't as tight and the lead or sinker will slide right in. A hot snap swivel usually pops right thru some cold tubing.
I think David and his clients will enjoy the sliding setup. I find it especially helpful when trying to "feed" the bait to a finicky salmon or steelie :grin: :grin: A bead sometimes helps between the two swivels, but can get caught in places. If it's the right color, it could get smacked at too.

Chris

~ Team U.S.A. ~

[David Johnson]

I've used and caught fish on both solid and sliding sinker set-ups but for the last couple years I've been running them on a solid tie. I'll rig a couple rods solid and a couple on sliders.

[Vinny]

One day on the Klickitat last summer I fished for hours, many snags in the rocky bottom. I used the same slinky all day.

I can't remember if I caught a fish or not, but I didn't lose that slinky until the next day.

[Snapset]

The only situation where I fish slinkers exclusively is a broad, shallow run where the casts are long and the water is not deep. Here, lead sinks too fast and is too grabby on the bottom. In this situation a slinker gives you more weight for casting and less "sinkability" to hang up on the bottom. If you run out of slinkers, try fishing with line 2 lbs stronger than what most of the other guys are using. You will go home with more rigs than you came with.

[O'City Fisherman]

I use slinkies since I have the time to make them.

I agree with everyone with feeling the bite. You will feel the bite better on regular led and not the slinky. :tongue:

[FM2]

I have found slinkies work great for me. There is different sizes of shot and I found the .250 a great size. I make up bunches when the rivers are blown out and can't really do much outside. I have different sizes, I start with 8 shot, then 10, 12, 14, I think you get the picture. This way I can easily adapt to the river conditions very quickly. The main reason I like the .250 shot is you don't have to make slinkies 10' long to get any weight to them.

amp has a cool idea about adding scent to them, will be trying that one out for sure.

my $.03 worth :grin: :smile: :grin:

[ 12-05-2001: Message edited by: FM2 ]</p>

[Chris Nordling]

David,
I too have caught fish on the fixed setup as well. I guess for each situation, something different can apply. What's new huh ? That's fishing. :smile:
So David, when it's just you, the river and fish (no clients), what do we find on the end of your line ? Cmon....... you can share with us..... :grin: By the way, thanks for your responses to my e-mails. We will have a good time when I book that trip with you! I'm sorta leaning for the B10 or a db trip :smile:

Chris

~ Team U.S.A.~

[David Johnson]

My personal steelhead rod is a 1084C IMX GLoomis with a Lews reel and ten pound clear Maxima line. At the end is a fixied swivel with a 10 pound, 26 inch leader and cheater, corkie or birdi and from a #1 to a 2/0 Gamikatsu hook. Some times yarn, almost always eggs. Color, hook size and drifter size are all dictated by water conditions. For wieght it's almost always a slinky, lead when it's deep with a pea gravel or sand bottom.

[drifter]

Amerman: Scott, where do you find 1/8 lead? Does is come in hollow or just solid? As a posted above, the small diameter does snag less. Thanks, Drifter.

[Chris Nordling]

A very big THANKS to David. Is he a nice guy or what ? Now onto your sweet, no name, pooled up fish spot...... :grin: .

I'm off to do some scouting on E.C. I'll let you guys know when I get back. Maybe :tongue:

Chris

~Team U.S.A. ~

[Amerman]

Drifter

The 1/8 inch lead I have found only comes in hollow. Its says Sure Sink on it and is made by Northwest Tackle MFG. In Vancouver Wa. It appears, that in the time it took me to use up my last 20 pound order, all the lead makers have quit making it. I searched hi and low and could not find it anywhere. Finally OMyKiss found it for me ( Thanks Grant). He had it special ordered through BiMart. So ask at BiMart or call the company direct. Hope that helps.

Another tip for lead fishing is buy a pair of whole punch pliers and flatten the end of the lead punch a whole in it and clip it right in your snap swivel. By punching the whole thin your lead will pull out every time it gets hung up never loosing any gear.