What is a sinking minnow?
Sinking minnows for trout are often very dense lures: heavy and not very bulky, with a pisciform shape, flat sides and compact form. Models for trout are now numerous. They are stamped "S" for "sinking" or "HW" for heavy weight (high density).
Physics: density and inertia
A sinking minnow is a swimming fish whose density exceeds that of water. A lure or floating object will be less dense than water. Water has a density of 1, which means that for a mass of 1kg will have a volume of 1L, in other words, a ratio of 1.
What's important to understand is that a sinking lure, which is denser than water, is heavy, but above all not very bulky. A 100g lure will not necessarily sink if it has a large volume.
Another physical concept that must be assimilated in order to fully understand the operation of sinking minnows is inertia . Mathematically or physically, inertia is the resistance a body opposes to change in its motion. Extrapolating from this, the heavier the lure, the more energy and force it will take to set it in motion. That's one of the reasons why sinking minnows have had such a hard time catching on. You have to reel them in quickly or set them in motion with strong animation, at least stronger than for a floating or suspending minnow. The impression is that these lures swim poorly, even though they have enormous potential!
The strengths of sinking minnows
- Fishing in the current
The inertia of a heavy, dense, sinking minnow, which makes it more tedious to set in motion, is a real strength in currents. In fact, because of this strong inertia, sinking minnows are less likely to be "swept along" by the force of the current, which has less influence on them.
- Hollow fishing
They can be used to fish through rapids, or to fish insistently in veins of water. This applies to fishing downstream, but especially to fishing upstream. The sinking minnow is much less influenced by the force of the current in its swimming trajectory. The angler is more directive and more methodical in combing the desired spots.
- Livelier animations
Animations will also be livelier, less linear, which tends to trigger reflex attacks from salmonids. Salmonids standing with their noses in the current will see a lure emitting strong visual and vibratory signals and intercept it in a flash by reflex! The large presence of this type of lure in the water makes it possible to fish large areas in search of active fish, especially when prospecting upstream.
- Easy to launch
Another advantage is that sinking minnows are very easy to cast. On short casts, it's easy to be precise by casting just under the rod or with a flick of the wrist.
