No-roll sinker
Also called flat sinker, bank sinker
A flattened weight designed to stay put in current instead of rolling along the bottom with the flow.
A round or egg-shaped sinker rolls. In a river that means your bait leaves the spot you cast it to within a minute and ends up somewhere downstream, tangled in whatever it found on the way. A no-roll is stamped flat with a hole through the middle, so it lies against the bottom and stays.
It also holds with less weight than a rolling sinker needs, which matters because every extra ounce is something a fish feels and something you have to cast.
Bank sinkers work on the same flat-sided principle in a teardrop shape, and they are cheaper and easier to find. Both beat an egg sinker in any real flow.
In still water none of this matters and an egg sinker is fine, which is why the flat shapes are mostly a river and tailwater purchase.
In current, start with the lightest no-roll that holds bottom and go up only if the rig walks. Overweighting is the more common mistake.
Related terms
Where this comes up
The guides that use no-roll sinker and show it on real gear.
No-roll sinker is one of 206 terms in the glossary.
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