Perhaps something to consider when T-Rigging

[airborne_angler]

Ive been tinkering around with baits  and different Rigs in my 55 Gal Aquarium.

I was dropping in a Berkley Powerhawg t-rigged in a natural manner and noticed something.

When I dropped the rig into the water,the sinker went down to the bottom rather quickly,as it should,but the bait sorta had a slower glide to the bottom.

Then I would give the line a few initial tiny twitches,and the bait behaved very inconsistantly on every twitch. Sometimes it would move forward,other times it would slide sideways,until it got reunited with the sinker,which may be up to a few feet away in a real world casting situation.

So the conclusion of this for me is,that when fishing a T-rig and casting it,Wait till it hits the bottom,and twitch it ever so lightly to incorporate tiny unnatural, unpredictable movements up until the bait and sinker reunite(which youll only have to guess when that happens). Then once the bait and sinker meet,the bait will move in the direction it was meant to.(example: a craw will obviously move backwards.)

If a fish has followed the bait on the drop,and didnt grab it,it may be staring at the bait. Who knows,maybe these strange movements will trigger a strike.

Now im not sure if this is new for anyone,but It was cool to study the actual way the sinker and bait dont stay together on the drop and how the bait behaves until they are reunited.

[Catt]

X2 

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Which is why I never peg a sinker unless I have to. I despise fishing heavy brush and trees unpegged so thats about the only time I do it.

If you want to add to your experiment try seeing what happens when you use different sinker weights with certain baits. Some achieve different or better action with more or less weight. Also the initial drop rate of fall after casting or coming over a drop off can trigger strikes as well on certain days.Light and slow fall not always better. Also the sinker weight can determine how far the bait jumps when you twitch your rod.Got to remember that something as light as a 1/16 oz per say will move forward several feet when moving the rod tip thus forcing you to fish very slow whereas say a 1/4 or more can be jiggled in place.

[NorcalBassin]

Thanks for the idea... I usually use dartheads but will give it a shot.