Re: Sinker Sale
I have noticed that the Wally world here has just not been restocking things like sinkers or any items sold loose, they have brought in individual and double packs for three time the cost of the loose items. I've noticed this with sinkers, floats, boat plugs, and other items that were usually in the bins at the bottom of the shelf, I just figured it was a way to cut down on theft and to get more money out of each item. I also noticed that the general quality of the tackle as dropped, it's all really low end stuff now, nothing even decent anymore. A few years back, I was buying 50 packs of Mustad hooks, larger quantities of Gamakatsu hooks, etc, now its 2 and 4 packs only, I bought several Ugly Stick Tiger rods as well, all of that is gone now in favor of no name tackle and junk. They do have a lot of Berkley tackle but again, low end stuff. I can remember buying Penn 320GTI reels in blister packs, no that section is full of Johnson kiddy reels and some Chinese made Walmart brand junk.
I'm sure the lead free push has got a lot to do with it but only a few states have made it law so far. Lead is still legal to use here.
Also, if I am fishing someplace that I will no doubt be losing rigs and sinkers all day, I use scrap steel to make throwaway sinkers. I've taken old axle shafts or bar stock and cut it up and either welded on an eye or drilled holes. It takes only minutes on a lathe and mill to knock out some throwaway sinkers from steel. I've even see guys use old spark plugs, nuts and bolts, or what ever they could find when wreck fishing.
I do one of two things, either I just fish with junk weight, what ever I have at the time, and if I know it's going to most likely get lost, I'll attach the weight with a rubber band or lighter line than the rig is made from. This way I only lose the sinker, not the rig and bait.
My favorite is to take old bicycle tubes, cut them into rings or rubber bands and use them, they hold well and don't have the bounce that a rubber band would have and they're a bit harder to break off making it harder to accidentally lose your weight.
I have also tried a few different shapes when it comes to weight, I've done real well using a longer piece of bar stock with a tapered top end, it seems to glide over instead of get hung up. I do some tog and seabass fishing here, and in deeper water its not uncommon to use 16-20oz of weight to hold bottom. I've gone onto party boats with a tool bag full of throwaway weights of all shapes and sizes, what I lose don't matter since I really have nothing but some time invested in it.
Each with a 4 ounce sinker. That pound of lead can cost me up to $4-6. Anyone else notice this??, or is it just something going on locally? I am now the proud owner of about 20 lbs of new lead sinkers! Fish On!! 
