Weighty question

[Garyoutlaw]

I know this may be a dumb question but I am committing myself to fish Minnows under a bober on #4 Gold aberdeen hooks with a small split shot..simple enough rig I asume but how close to your hook/ bober do you put the split shot ? I am fishing Thill unweighted spring stick bobers rather than slip's just because I get em' cheap:p

[CrappiePappy]

I know this may be a dumb question but I am committing myself to fish Minnows under a bober on #4 Gold aberdeen hooks with a small split shot..simple enough rig I asume but how close to your hook/ bober do you put the split shot ? I am fishing Thill unweighted spring stick bobers rather than slip's just because I get em' cheap:p

Not a dumb question, at all. But, it's probably going to be answered with a whole range of distances :p (don't think there's any set rule on it )

I didn't really know how far from the hook I placed my sinker .... so I went and looked & measured. I have two rods rigged with slip floats, for minnow fishing use. One had sinker 4" away from hook (tie eye) ... the other had the sinker 7" away from the hook. I think that 4-5" is probably closer to the normal distance used by most, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it :D
I have a habit of using the 4-5" distance, when fishing in a fixed position .... and the 6-7" distance, when drifting or moving around. It's just a personal preference thing ... no scientific backing for it :p

The distance your sinker is, from your fixed float, depends on how deep you want to fish. Just be sure and add in the distance from the minnow to the sinker, in your depth equation
If I know the depth from the surface to the top of any cover ... I usually set my rig so that the minnow is less than 6" from the top of the cover. If I don't know how deep the top of the cover is, I start shallow and gradually move the float up the line, until I start getting bit ... or get hung up :rolleyes: LOL !! Then I adjust it a little shallower. This is mostly in regards to casting with a minnow/float, as I do fish "down in" the cover when in a fixed position (tied up/anchored). And I also tend to use the shorter distance, between sinker & hook, when fishing around cover ... as opposed to fishing open water, where I tend to use the longer distance setup. This is done mostly to limit the minnow's freedom of movement (short distance/cover) ... or give the minnow more freedom of movement (long distance/open water).

... cp

[whackmaster]

CP covered it pretty good...but I'll throw my .02 in....about 6" normally would be about right...not really a right or wrong answer....but keep in mind what CP said about starting shallow and working it down til you get snagged and then bring it up a little....thats exactly how I do it and seems to suit me just fine.

[lag]

This is an interesting post. Recently I went on a fishing trip with several other guys. Three were fishing from a pontoon in the bushes. They were all fishing minnows with floats and using minnows from the same bucket. Two of the guys were wearing them out the the other guy couldn't buy a bite. After about an hour he pulled in his rig and made the other two do the same and compared the set up. The two guys catching all the fish had the hook set about 4 to 6 inches from the sinker. His was about 14 inches. He moved his to 6 inches and started catching fish. Evidently his minnow was moving out of the strike zone.

[Locator79]

I usually put my split shot around 6" to 8" above my hook. I like to leave enough room to let my minnow swin around, I may be wrong but I feel that the closer your weight its harder for your minnow to wiggle. But if you leave too much space, a minnow can swim around too much, and get you tangled up in brush.