Weighted Jerkbait Leaders

[Red Childress]

I am going to tinker with making my own weighted leaders this winter, insted of paying extra for pre-fabricated ones.

It looks like a rubber core sinker placed at the 'snap end' of the leader is all a guy will need to complete the project. After I pinch the sinker onto the fluoro, I will probably trim off the extra rubber in order to give it a more realistic look.

Has anyone tinkered with weighted leaders before??

[Anzomcik]

I am going to tinker with making my own weighted leaders this winter, insted of paying extra for pre-fabricated ones.

It looks like a rubber core sinker placed at the 'snap end' of the leader is all a guy will need to complete the project. After I pinch the sinker onto the fluoro, I will probably trim off the extra rubber in order to give it a more realistic look.

Has anyone tinkered with weighted leaders before??

I have not tinkered with weighted leaders, because i have never heard of them.

What is the purpose, and the advantages?

I have made my own leaders for jerk baits. Infact no one else makes them with my little trick on then so it is my invention. But i am interested in these weighted one.

[Red Childress]

The main advantage is to get them to run deeper and hover a little longer before floating up. From what I can gather (and visualize), certain baits will not perform very well if they are "front" heavy with lead. It will take some tinkering with different weights and baits to tune them out.

If I trusted my craftmanship, I would get out the old drill and start punching holes and filling them with lead but that is a whole other can of worms that might get very costly during the prototype phase.

I am also going to look at cutting the rubber cores in half and try applying them to the shank of the trebles in hopes of keeping the bait more horizontal during the glide or porpoising phase.

[Anzomcik]

The main advantage is to get them to run deeper and hover a little longer before floating up. From what I can gather (and visualize), certain baits will not perform very well if they are "front" heavy with lead. It will take some tinkering with different weights and baits to tune them out.

If I trusted my craftmanship, I would get out the old drill and start punching holes and filling them with lead but that is a whole other can of worms that might get very costly during the prototype phase.

I am also going to look at cutting the rubber cores in half and try applying them to the shank of the trebles in hopes of keeping the bait more horizontal during the glide or porpoising phase.

Ok i understand, a trick i know but never used was to take lead solder wire and wrap it around shankes of hooks. Or before you drill try duct (or any other good tape) taping weight in the various places to see how they run. This wouldbe really cheap way to try locations. Just a few more ideas

[JIM T]

RED, go to a decent golf shop. Golfers use lead tape on certain clubs to change characteristics.it sticks to a golf club through rough usage. IT'll stick to your lure.

[cband]

One trick I learned was to use lead strips that have adhesive on the back. I found them at a hobby shop, they are used to weight little wooden cars that people race. They are low profile and stick pretty good and no drilling or bulky soldering wire.

[toothyfishman]

A pretty big % of lures are black on their top of the back.
Some of those sticky weighted strips painted black would blend right in if they could be applied to the top of the back.
The wouldn't be in the hook area either, as long as they wouldn't try and flip over with weight on top.

[Red Childress]

I thought by adding equal amounts of weight on the hook shanks, the bait would still be balanced with no threat of rolling over on hard pulls. I have been upsizing my hook sizes anyway, so there should be plenty of shank to add at least a 1/2 ounce of weight to each treble.

I am friends with our local YMCA director and I am going to try and use the swimming pool one of these early mornings to test out some 'weighted' baits....all he can do is say no. :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I will probably try them all to see which is best.

[Editor]

Hey Red,

While I was at the Tri Esox Musky Show this past weekend one of our clients Stealth Tackle introduced his weighted leader, they use a #240lb solid wire 12inches in length and slid a bullet weight on and secured it with a shrink tube.
The bullet weights come in 1/2 3/4 and 1oz. John uses a 150# Ball Bearing swivel and #5 Stringease Stay-Lok Snap. The Musky guides in Wisconsin who use this claims it adds depth to floating jerk baits allowing the lure to suspend on the pause, also it produces a side to side shimmy such as on a suick or bobbie. I attached a picture of it below something you should consider.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t217/editorone/stealthweightedleaders.jpg

Take Care

[Red Childress]

Thanks, Bob. I had already scoped out those leaders last week and started thinking about using the rubber core sinkers. I think the rubber core sinkers will stay in position as long as they are put on the snap end to keep them from 'crawling away' during the cast.

The rubber cores come in incremented sizes as well for easy weight matching for various baits...

Did anyone out at Chicago have any complaints about their baits running too 'front heavy' since the lead is out in front of the bait?

[deadeye]

A different approach that has worked for me for a lot of years is to insert a weight system like the Fudally System. Many years ago I put the JB Weight System in all my wood jerk baits except my Amma Bama and Hughes River glide baits. I bought 3 complete sets of weights before they went out of business. They came from 1/8 oz to 1 1/4 oz. The great thing about this system is I can weight a 6" Bobbie and have it suspend or sink. The bigger the lure the more weight I put on and I can suspend a 10' Bobbie or Suick at what ever depth I want. I have been throwing jerk baits for over 15 years and my rotator cup and back have taken a beating. The best thing to come along are the new drop belly glide baits. They will sink to suprising depths and are easy to retrieve.

[Red Childress]

Thanks, Deadeye. I have heard about the Fudally system but really have not examined it closely. That will give me something to do in my spare time today.

[Red Childress]

The other benefit of using the rubber cores (on the leaders) is that you can remove them, if the need arises.

[Red Childress]

I finally had a chance to try out my weighted leaders over the weekend and they worked great. I purchased 3 different size rubber core sinkers to use and liked the 1/2 oz best on the DC-10's and for getting regular jerks/glides down an extra couple of feet. It was nice being able to crank the big blades at a moderate pace and still run them several feet down.

I just pinched the sinker right below my swivel (but on the fluoro itself) with pliers while making sure the rubber core laid along the leader during the pinching process. (I will eventually slide the sinker down to the snap end and see how much a difference that makes in the performance of baits other than blades.) I use a 20-inch/200# fluoro leader for blades/jerks. The thickness of the 200# really helped in preventing the sinker from sliding down the leader during the cast, IMO.

[Red Childress]

Had a chance to play with some different baits while using the weighted leaders on Saturday. The Hellhounds worked great and I was able to get them down 2-3 feet at a decent pace.

It appears to me that since I am using longer jerk/glide leaders (20-22") and keeping the weight on the opposite end of the leader, the baits are not nose diving so quickly which allows the bait to glide the way in which it was intended.

[Red Childress]

Moving up to 3/4 and 1oz rubbercores to see how things run....should have them by the weekend.

Been changing placement of the sinker and have noticed some baits glide better and others do not or stay the same.

[Red Childress]

The 1oz. ran very well and I probably like them the most for larger (8+ inch) glide baits. Not only can I run the glides horizontally but also have some vertical movement as well during the pause and subsequent jerk.