North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

G’day all

There are lots of ways of rigging swim baits, most of which I use, but the one thing with external chin sinkers on swim baits is, if the Billies feel the chin sinker, which is pretty common, they spit the swim bait pretty quick.

Concealed chin sinkers

I made some moulds out of aluminium to weight some of my lures, I also saw an application to use the mould to make concealed chin sinkers for swim baits that I insert in the baits mouth, yep there are other ways to do this, but this method is p#$@ss easy, quick & I pre rig the baits when they are fresh & then freeze in Sasha packs.

Depending on the size of the weight/diameter you want you just need two pieces of aluminium that are thick enough to drill out & leave enough on each side for the mould to stay intact. I also have different lengths weights so it’s a matter of cutting the Aluminium to the required length. If you make the aluminium moulds long enough you can drill multiple holes along the length so when you pour the weights you pour more then one weight at a time. I make these because the lure weights have to be consistent, so I will explain how I make them & then provide alternative options for any one who doesn’t have the gear or inclination to make the mould.

In this example I will use two pieces of 8mm aluminium, approximately 300 mm in length ripped down to 20 mm in height. The two pieces are pinned together by what ever you have lying around, a pop rivet pin or similar would suffice. Line up pieces of aluminium together & drill holes the diameter of the pin through both pieces, at least one pin at each end. The pin would be epoxied in one side to remain permanent, the part of the pin that protrudes slides into the other hole so your mould stay in line when pouring (just look at a commercial sinker mould & you would get the idea of what the pins do, on commercial moulds its usually a little round lug to line up the mould). Once the epoxy had cured put the two pieces back together & place in a vice or similar, they should be in perfect alignment because of the pins. Select the diameter drill you require for a weight, in this one I am using an 8mm metal drill bit, preferably using a drill press drill straight down the join (this is important for ease of de moulding) of the two pieces of aluminium to a depth of about 18 mm leaving the last 2 mm in tact. Move along the length of the aluminium & drill as many weights as you can fit on the length of aluminium, usually leave about 30 mm between holes. Once completed depending on the size of the wire you intend to mould into your weight you drill the remaining 2 mm out with the smaller drill bit the diameter of the wire when it is twisted up.

I use stainless wire because I mainly use them in lures & want them to last. Any one using them just for swim baits could use any sort of wire. Make a small hook like the little round screw in curtain rod hooks you can buy at hard ware supplies & or just make one out of a piece of cr.p you have lying around & place in your drill. To twist the wire up just cut off required length place in vice grips, vice or similar & use a hand drill or a drill with a clutch to twist the wire up, you should end up with a nice straight twisted piece of wire with a circular loop on one end, make enough for how ever many weights you want.

Place the twisted wire in the mould with the circular bit on the out side of the last 2 mm & pour the lead, de mould, you will end up with a lead weight & the twisted wire in the centre & the circular eyelet on one end, how far you mould the wire out will depend on the bait you are using, EG Mullet can be close, Mackerel would be longer.

Another option to do the same as above is to use thicker aluminium & drill a couple of 6 mm, 8 mm 10 mm weights & so on, so you have a good selection to suit different size swim baits.

I have them made in sizes from midgets in width & length, up to 12 mm diameter & about 75 mm in length which I use in the rear of Bird Teasers I make & also use on big swim baits (big Queenies & Macs etc).

Reading the above makes it sound harder then it is, once you make the mould it really is easy.

Alternative option

Another option for any one who can’t be bothered to make the mould is to buy your barrel sinkers & either glue the twisted wires in place & or put the twisted wire in & crimp the end on the barrel sinker to hold the wire central, you could do the same with heavy mono or Jenkai etc but personally the wire, whether moulded, glued or crimped is a far better result, mainly for when you come to the rigging part & making sure the weight remains central.

Note depending on what type of bait you are using you may have the wire extending out of the lead further to make it easier to rig.

Rigging

If I was using a Mullet, as soon as I get them home I remove the gills, it’s pretty quick & easy by removing them through the side of the gills. Use a bait rigging needle or something pointy to push a hole straight through the nose, about 5 mm from the end of the Mullet’s mouth & as with any swim make the hole central to the back bone. Slide the weight inside the Mullet through the side of the gill case & slide back so the twisted wire eyelet lines up with the hole. Either use old mono, Jenkai or similar to place through top hole, through the twisted wire, through the bottom hole & pull everything shut nice & tight & crimp shut, alternatively buy some of those small cable ties for about $2 a 100 at any of the cheap joints & use it the same as the other stuff & pull cable tie up tight, preferably under the chin & snip off.

Small Queenies are similar as above, removing the gills on the baits isn’t a necessity, it just makes it easier when getting the weight in place, especially on smaller swim baits.

Get rid of the eyes out of swim baits before rigging, water pressure will blow them out & cause the swim bait to spin.

To attach hooks you use wax thread or similar through the swim baits eye socket & tie off central on the head, there are varying ways people do it, what ever way spins your wheels, just leave plenty of length. I usually pre rig them in six packs, cut cardboard to keep them flat & Sasha vac them before freezing them.

When you go to use them it’s just a matter of tying the wax thread or similar to your pre rigged hook & leader, usually three half hitches & cut off with a short tag end to make sure it doesn’t come undone will do.

The next bait rigging demo I do at DGFC I will show all of the above, as its sounds more complicated then it is. Its quick, works well & the Billies won’t spit the bait because they feel the chin sinker. Queenies, Mullet & Finnie Scad work exceptionally well with this method, cheers Balls.

Ahhhh the Doctor is at it again. The reason we call him doctor is he can stitch up anything to get it back in the water and swimming again.

Here are the photos of the chin sinkers which Balls is talking about. He kindly dropped some off for me today and they are the first ones I have seen but as Ballsy mentioned there are many different ways to rig a swim bait and as soon as he dropped them in today we were drawing pictures and talking about the different ways to use them. They are a fantastic idea and once again thanks to Balls for sharing. We will get together and rig some baits and post the photos in a step by basis for eveyone to see.

And as for what "Sasha Vac" means you will have to ask the doctor

Very nice

The weights look like steampunk snapper leads

If you don't have time to make moulds you could run wire through barrel leads for a similar effect?