More Fishing Hazards - By The Missus -Sinkers- The Untold Story Continues.......

Sinkers

Sinkers are another great pastime for non fishing days. Getting the lead is no problem, just send the Missus off to the local scrape metal merchants to pick up another hundred and fifty kg. Watching the rugby is a good opportunity to send the Missus out to the supermarket for food and beer. “Oh by the way love, could you just unload the lead before you go - I’ll make some sinkers in the ads” !

Lead melts best in good aluminium pots, you know the kind, the ones that live in the kitchen. The gas BBQ is not really for cooking food at all, it provides the perfect heat source for melting lead. Unfortunately it is impossible to maintain a pristine gas BBQ if it is used for making sinkers. By the time sinker sessions are over the BBQ is red hot. Therefore is has to be left outside to cool overnight. Ours is now a perfect rust colour as it always seems to choose to rain that night. "Oh well" says hubby, no point in moving it now, it's all wet. So now the only thing that shines is the newly melted lead spills.

Picking lead splotches off clothing before it goes into the washing machine provides an entertaining evening for the Missus. Bright silver lead is an accessory that fashion designers have yet to cotton on to in place of dull silver thread. While the Missus is picking off the lead on good work shirts as hubby was too keen to get started to change, hubby is up to more interesting things.

Making the wire twists that go into torpedo sinkers is a good winter evening occupation. Using an electric drill to twist the wire is an efficient and quick way to make them. Shortland Street takes on a whole new perspective when seen between twenty second bursts of electrical static. A good vacuum cleaner is a must for picking up those tiny sharp pieces of wire embedded in the carpet (a trap for bare feet). Wire twists are able to travel as far as sinkers and swivels to the kitchen, bedroom and even in with the dishes.

The drier is a perfect height to stand at to trim sinkers and though now bowed in the middle makes an ideal work station. Gardening secateurs make an excellent tool for trimming sinkers as they have a good pair of handles and robust blades. The fact that when the Missus tries to prune her roses they cut through them like a blunt pair of kids safety scissors is beside the point.

It is important to note that the weekly rubbish collection does not take lead skimmings. The Missus discovered this after finding the bucket removed and dropped in the gutter leaving lead splotches and fine lead sand scattered over a large area outside the house. Fortunately the neighbours no longer turn a hair at the 'fishing house' antics. Luckily our street is not a contender for Best Neighbourhood Street. So hubby’s out fishing while the Missus looks like a right idiot sweeping the street.

So now the fishing season is upon us and so is a huge pile of sinkers!