After a fruitless day's mackerel spinning when the fish were out about 120 yards and I couldn't
get to them due to the weight of my spinner,I came up with this idea.
Basically to give myself a little added weight without having to buy £2 each 40g spinners,I drill
a few holes in a piece of wood around 3 inches deep.The diameter and depth of the hole is going to govern the weight and length
of the spinner so feel free to do a variety of sizes to give different sized spinners.
Melt your lead,taking all of the usual precautions of course,gloves,eye protection etc,and pour
into the holes.Let it set and cool down.
Take a wood chisel and split the wood to reveal your small lead 'bars'.If you can find some,mahogany
is very good for this as it splits very straight.Alternatively,use this tip supplied by Giles Mathews,(thanks Giles),and put
the filled wooden mould in the freezer for 15 minutes and then when the wood is soundly tapped,the lead bars should slip out,allowing
the mould to be re-used.
Take out each individual bar and flatten it with a hammer.
Then simply drill a hole in each end and fit an 8 or 10mm split ring to each end,and then a treble
hook to one,and a swivel to the other.
You now have a nice weighty spinner which will cast well over 100 yards.It also has the advantage
of being nice and bendy so that you can twist it into shapes that give a great movement in the water.When they are just made
they're very shiny,but to keep them that way I give them a scoosh of chrome spray paint to keep them bright.
I did wonder how long these would last,so when I tried them originally I made about a dozen thinking
they might wear out after a few fish but I'm still on the first one and have caught well over 100 mackerel,some coley,and
even sea trout on it.
