The Grapnel Sinker


The Grapnel Sinker Shore angling has been practiced throughout the centuries wherever the land meets the ocean, as with most sports massive technological developments have taken place over the last 50 years. It’s almost inconceivable to think that less than 100 years ago monofilament was non existent and an angler would spend many hours waxing his angling cord, or trying to straighten his bamboo pole after being stretched by a big fish. Now day’s glass fibre has been replaced by graphite, which has been replaced by High modulus graphite even that is being revolutionised by new technology with spun graphite which eliminated the incidence of air spaces in the blanks. Anglers worldwide follow these advances with keen interest and spend hours trying to crack the code to finding the equipment that improves their own success rate. So much information is fantastic to anglers but some areas just never get covered, like the sinker or lead weight, just how important is that to assisting us in improving our angling skills.
		I believe that one of the most significant developments of the 1900’s especially in the last decades was the invention of the grapnel sinker. Its arrival on our shores from a design developed in the United Kingdom was greeted with sceptic regard as it had a price tag to it which trebled any other form of sinker available on the market. Its value was soon realised however when an angler could now venture out to previously inaccessible areas and get his bait to stay exactly where he intended it to be. In fact the true value of the grapnel sinker became even more noticed when the non return slide was introduced to shore anglers. Let’s just take a quick look at some of the features of the grapnel sinker which may assist you as an angler in its correct use.
I am going to deal with a few basic designs and give a brief description of its basic use. The original grapnel sinkers as seen in these diagrams had the wires protruding directly out of the nose of the sinker. This although successful in keeping the bait in the desired area were difficult to dislodge and could quite easily hook onto submerged obstacles when retrieving your line or fighting a big fish, so they are seldom used by experienced anglers today. Manufactures had to be careful in the tensile strength of the wires that they used as anything too strong would negate the release of the sinker and become ineffective when retrieving the line. I would not recommend surf anglers to use this type of grapnel sinker in any of our conditions here in South Africa.
The first true grapnel release sinkers that were imported from the UK were the impact grapnel, this sinker made a difference to shore angling worldwide as not only could a surf caser throw a sinker into deep waters even with adverse currents but being able to clip your bait to the sinker created better balance and made the projectile more aerodynamic allowing for extra distance. The breakaway feature when the sinker became lodged up against an obstacle would ensure that the sinker tines would release when the angler or fish tugged on it. This made a huge difference to the use of a grapnel and the angler was assured of a release under most conditions. The impact dome on the shaft of the sinker also ensured that the hook when attached to the sinker during the cast would release as it entered the water.
These original sinkers came out with high tensile 0.80mm wire tines which had advantages when fishing in fine sandy conditions but shortfalls in their anchoring abilities as soon as the sand became coarse. The short shaft of this sinker also was compromised when fishing off high points as the angler of the line pulling on the sinker would lift the grab out of the anchor position and reduce its effectiveness. There is still a very important place for this sinker on the market and it is still being extensively used by anglers all over the world.
As new improved angling techniques were being found the value of the grapnel became more and more important to the angler and many different combinations were tested - thicker tines, longer tines, longer shafts, elongated sinkers, all this just accentuated the value of the grapnel to the angler and improved angling experiences dramatically.
		Our own developments in the South African market was boosted when seasoned angler Douglas Hudson from the Margate area designed the fantastic “Dougie grab” its robust construction with significant wire tines and release system was the perfect combination for most of the shores of South Africa and could be used whether fishing in fine sand, coarse sand, shallow or deep water areas. Especially when the anglers have had to carry their tackle to most decent fishing spots, all this sinker did was ensure that extra weight did not have to be carried around. This sinker really advanced the use of the non return slide as an angler could put significant pressure on the anchor when shaking his bait out to deeper water with the pleasure of not having it breakaway from its original hold.