The CERAMIC SINKER

Is it just for the environment or is it actually better than lead?

Published: Thursday, August 25, 2011 4:00 pm
By: Big Ten Tackle

We all know that density is something that makes one fisherman different from another. Density also affects the sinker. If it floats in the water, it's a bobber. But if it sinks, it's a sinker! Density determines how fast it sinks and how much weight it has once in the water.

To determine the density of a material, its air weight must be compared to its water weight. We use water as being the standard for density with its density rated as ONE. Lead weighs 11 times as much as water and is considered a heavy metal! Gold is even heavier than lead but way too expensive, as is silver.

Lead has been the standard in sinkers for over 100 years, mainly because of its cheapness and easy molding applications. People think that small is better in a sinker, which is not necessarily true, as we will try to show here.

Lead is a poison to many animals, especially the smaller pieces that are eaten by mainly birds. The birds are eaten by foxes or even domestic pets and the lead causes many internal problems and eventually death.

It seems that most newer sinkers today seem to try to get the lead out but retain the density to keep the product small. I think that density has its place, but lighter density also has many advantages, and so our ceramic sinker takes a plunge into the depths of marine markets.

Ceramic can be made in many densities but we will consider the White Ceramic Slip Sinker from Big Ten Tackle. This environmental life saver, as you can see from the picture, has a density of 3 times the weight of water. Lead, on the other hand, is a whopping 11 times the weight of water. A 1/2 ounce ceramic sinker will be a little over 3 times as big as a lead sinker of the same weight.

I see many advantages of a lighter density sinker. Casting a 1/2 ounce sinker, lead or ceramic, is basically the same, so your distance of the cast is not affected. The difference is in the water, where the ceramic can be reeled in at a slower rate without dragging the bottom, which leads to less snags. Slower reeling can also be used for trolling with a hook below the ceramic slip sinker. Heavier ceramic sinkers will also work better with lighter floats, not sinking them like lead does, since ceramic loses 1/3 of its air weight in the water.

Unlike lead, ceramic has a fish attracting sound when it strikes rocks, making a sound like a crayfish tapping its tail! The ceramic slip sinker we are showing here is swivel loaded, so the line is protected by the swivel when casting.

Thinking outside the box is something fishermen have done for years. Overcoming a standard in fishing is very hard to do, whether with bobbers or sinkers. When a product shows all its true advantages, the fisherman must weigh the facts and see what suits his special needs.