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If you are into fishing, you probably have quite a few different sizes and types of fishing sinkers in your tackle box. They are a vital part of our fishing equipment and are used in so many ways. Generally, we need to carry a few spares of each, in case of brake-offs and such.
This can get quite expensive.
The alternative to buying endless supplies of sinkers is to make your own. But, what equipment do you need to make your fishing sinkers? For this, you will need a few things.
- Sinker molds
- Lead
- Something to melt lead in
- Pincers/Tongs
- A good contained heat source
- Water
Finding the lead is easy. You can either buy it or farm it yourself from places like old batteries. For a heat source, any fire that gets hot enough will do. Now, that just leaves the molds.
After going through this post, if you’re still interested in making your sinkers, check out my post at ‘. How to Make Fishing Sinkers: Easy guide, For now, let’s talk a little about the types of sinkers you can make, and what you need.
So, the first thing you need to do is decide what size. Molds, like the sinkers themselves, come in many types. My suggestion, start small. Get these right, then upgrade. Buying all the molds at once can get expensive. Of course, if you make enough good-quality sinkers, you may even be able to sell some to cover your costs.
Different Types of Molds
Depending on what you want, you can make anything from a tiny 1/8oz ball, right up to a 32oz snapper sinker. Ball and Snapper aren’t the only ones you can make, however. They come in many types including
- Star
- Ball
- Bean/Egg
- Snapper
- Barrel
- Bomb
- Pyramid
- Bank
- Flat Bank
- Bell
- Raindrop
- Pencil
As you can see, if you tried to get all these molds, you probably need to get yourself another house just to store them all.
Which Mold Should I Get?
A good question. The answer to this depends on what fishing you will be doing. Sinkers aren’t a one size fits all sort of thing. There are a quite few different types of sinker shapes and sizes you can use for many different types of fishing. I won’t go through all the molds, but this will give you an idea of what you should be making.
Snapper Sinkers
If you do a lot of deep-sea fishing, some different size snapper molds are what you need. Something like the Adygil Bank Sinker Mold with 5 Cavities and the 4,8,12-Ounce pack would be an ideal place to start. This way you can make a few different sizes depending on your needs.
Snapper sinkers are great for deep-sea and reef fishing. Their long shape keeps your line of the bottom, while the shape will help to prevent snagging rocks. These are very quickly interchangeable, perfect for when the tide changes or the currents pick up.
Star And Pyramid Sinkers
A Star or Pyramid sinker is my go-to when beach or surf fishing. The star/pyramid shape that gives these sinkers their name, will help hold your line on the bottom. This is especially essential in the surf where the waves can move your line and baits around a lot.
Like the snapper sinkers, these can be changed very quickly and easily. I always tie these sinkers on with a simple loop threaded through and back over, for this exact reason.
Ball, Bean, Egg, Barrel Split Shot Sinkers
These are what you might call the universal sinker. They can be used for many applications. The Ball, Bean/Egg, and Barrel are great for running sinkers as they have holes through the middle. I would use them for all my smaller applications like inshore fishing in shallow water or rivers.
While the others are good for running, they can still be tied to prevent from moving. The Split shot, however, can be crimped onto the line to prevent it from moving. This is great when you don’t want to tie knots in your line. They are also easy to attach as they don’t need to be threaded through the line.
Bell, Bomb, Raindrop, Bank, and Pencil Sinkers 
These sinkers can be a little more difficult to make. Generally, these will require a swivel or eyelet integrated into the sinker during the making process. Though more difficult to make, they have their rewards as they can be quickly attached/detached from a snap swivel.
I mostly use these sinkers when Jetty/Pier and Wharf fishing. Great for keeping your line off the bottom, while the smooth shape helps to prevent snagging up. As with most structure fishing, there are always things on the bottom just waiting to catch your line, sinker, or hook. Keeping them off the bottom a bit is essential.
What You Need
- So, now you have your mold. Now you need something to melt in. you could just use the pot from the kitchen, but the wife might not like that. A small pot is all you will need, though make sure it’s reasonable quality as you will be using high temps.
- Safety is very important when making sinkers. As the temps are very high, make sure you have gloves, long clothes or apron, safety glasses, and a mask.
- The heat source can just be a small contained fire, as long as this can get up to the temps you need. Having it enclosed in a barrel or bricks is ideal.
- A good pair of pincers or tongs is very important too. These are used to hold the mold, and for dunking in the water.
- A bucket or barrel of water.
That’s A Wrap
Making your sinkers can be a tricky process for those that have never done it before. I will cover exactly how to make your sinkers in my other post. You can check that out here at ‘How to make your sinkers’.
Rest assured that after just a few tries, you will figure out the best way of going about it for yourself and the equipment you have. When you have mastered it, you will save a lot of money. And if they are good enough, can even make some by selling what you make.
I hope you have enjoyed my post on ‘What you need to make sinkers’. I have been doing this for years, and have lost count of how much money I must have saved. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. I always strive to answer these ASAP. As Always
Tight Lines
Tony, creator of Get Reel Fishin
