The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I am trying to avoid using lead or even bought substitutes.
I find masonry nails are good for both heavy float fishing and light ledgering.

My intention is partly environmental and partly economic.
I can often cast three successive ledgers into the bushes opposite

Any good ideas out there?

I use Plasticine or a plasticine substitute. You can rap it some tube to make a running rig. you can rap it around a bead or stick tied to a link to make a link ledger or you cane just put it straight on the line as a fix wait, it cane also use it to set a float.

I had heard of that Fred, must give it a try.
Assume playdoe works?
Must nick some from my nieces at the end of the month when we are allowed to visit.

Just noticed the thread brought up "similar topics", one of which was..

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=32626

Must try that if I can find suitable pebbles

Homer Simpson wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 7:17 pm I had heard of that Fred, must give it a try.
Assume playdoe works?
Must nick some from my nieces at the end of the month when we are allowed to visit.

I suggest you avoid Playdoe and cheap plasticine copies HS, as they tend to melt in water. I recommend 'Newplast' plasticine alternative as it comes in big blocks, there are many colours if you want to try and match the hatch and, when it gets cold, it goes very hard.

Using plasticine or its alternatives is fine in many conditions but, for fast waters, you may want to wrap a bit around a small weight or just put some stones in the plasticine. You can also flatten it to stop it from rolling.

You will get through a bit though as, the plasticine will come off in snags or get flicked off during a fight or pretty awful cast.

Thanks Dave

Aside from being water soluble, Play-Doh has a very distinctive aroma of vanilla, cherry and saltiness. It might be more effective as a bait than weights!

Phil

I’ve just put this on another thread, perhaps by error, but here are my one, two, three and four old penny weights.



I tried masonry nails but found them hard to work with so I now use steel or brass rod, cut to length, smoothed with Emery paper and held on by silicone rubber. Much more friendly on the line than pinching a bunch of AAA.

Tengisgol wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:18 pm I’ve just put this on another thread, perhaps by error, but here are my one, two, three and four old penny weights.



I tried masonry nails but found them hard to work with so I now use steel or brass rod, cut to length, smoothed with Emery paper and held on by silicone rubber. Much more friendly on the line than pinching a bunch of AAA.

For float weights I just attach nails with two bits of silicone tube as you would a float.
For ledger weights I use these ( from another supplier on Amazon and far cheaper).

steel washers are brilliant as the surface area is large compared to the weight, for ledgering in strong flow it helps keep the weight down and they sink slower than a bomb so on crust you often get a bite on the drop. attach a link of mono and swivel to make a good running rig .very cheap and many sizes ,so the tree fish can have a few,one other thing is cupping groundbait around it is easy ,they also rise when reeled in