Running ball sinkers by Kim Bain

Earlier in the Back to Basics Series we delved into the use of snapper leads. Last month we looked into the moulding of running sinkers (specifically ball sinkers); this month we follow that up with a look into the uses of running sinkers.

There are many types of running sinkers used when bait fishing. The most common would be the ball sinker, with bean/egg and barrel sinkers vying with each other for the minor places on the podium with bullet weights being a distant fourth.

Just as an aside - when it comes to soft plastic lures it would be the bullet weight (aka worm weight or Texas weight) that would be number one in sales and usage. However, Aussie anglers also use ball sinkers instead of bullet weights when finesse isn't required with soft plastics (such as targeting snapper with 7" soft plastics in more open water after dark).

Ball sinkers are a moulded lead ball with a hollow through the centre down which the fishing line runs. With ball sinkers, as with 99% of fishing situations, the objective will always be to use the lightest (least intrusive) sinker that will still put your bait in the strike zone.

The strike zone may be the surface (light weight or no sinker), suspended/mid-depth (medium weight) or on the bottom (heavier weight but still choosing as light a weight as you can get away with). Accordingly most anglers will have a wide range of sinkers in their very heavy tackle box.

In my 'base-camp' kit bag I carry everything from pea-sized models to stonkers, aka 10-balls. However, I typically carry a much smaller selection in my pocket/bum bag. If you are only estuary fishing then you'll seldom use a sinker much larger than a four-ball sinker as your biggest size. In fact, in shallow low-flow creeks and backwaters you may only ever need a small container of '00' size peas. The estuary sizes of ball sinkers are generally 00, 0, 1 and size 2. The bigger the number, the larger the sinker diameter and therefore the heavier the sinker.

The main influences on your choice of sinker are water flow (current), drift rate (breeze and current), the depth at which you want to present your bait, desired casting distance and size of bait. In rough surf with big baits that you want to cast out far beyond the breakers, you'll often be using 8 ball sinkers; the smaller sinkers will be left behind in the tent.