Just curious

[tphoyt]

When I was a kid my neighbor would take me
Offshore fishing and he would use lifesavers candy to get the bait to the bottom to avoid the fish he didn’t want to catch. He would save old nuts and bolts and attach them to the line with a lifesaver. It would get the bait to the bottom quickly and the candy would melt away and drop the weight from the line leaving the live bait to swim freely. Has anyone one ever heard of this or done it? This was 50 some odd years ago and I have never heard or seen anyone else do that.

 

[aspeck]

Never heard of that before … surprised the lifesaver melted fast enough for that, but interesting idea.

 

[redneck joe]

Nuts and washer with a lifesaver??

 

[Mc Tool]

Wild stab in the dark but .......did he bake home made brownies too ?

 

[tphoyt]

Anything’s possible it was the 70’s

 

[Mc Tool]

I have used sacrificial sinkers but only in 4-600m deep to massively expedite the drop. Usually a foot long bit of broken axle with a hook welded on one end, idea is to hook axle weight over normal 10oz lead sinker on end of ledger rig and when it hits the bottom the axle sinker unhooks leaving one to only wind up 10oz .....and hopefully a fish

 

[rolmops]

I do the same thing, not exactly with live savers but with old nuts and bolts and weak rubber bands. The weight reaches the bottom and one good jerk breaks the rubber band. the expense of some old nuts and bolts is zero , while lead sinkers are expensive when you loose one every time you drop a line. It is great when deep reef fishing

 

[dingbat]

Sounds like many of the tall tales told by First Mates over the years.

Live lining bait rig…3’ long dropper line tied 3’ above a heavy snap swivel. An egg sinker of suitable weight (3-4 oz.) goes on the bottom.

Works great anchored or drifting

 

[tphoyt]

The guy I called my farther was a commercial fisherman for awhile. Their weights were old window sash weights. But their rods and reels were leaf springs and electric motors so it didn’t much matter how much they weighed.