I was constantly thinking about this last year when I would get frustrated by the limited casting I could get with light weight floating crank baits.  Another thing that frustrated me about those particular baits was the fact that they can only be fished on the surface of the water.  Sure, I'm well aware of the fact that you can buy lures that will sink to different depths, and I had several in my box, but what if one or all of those got lost in a snag and I had to break off? 

Whatever the reason, I always wished I had some way to control the depth and castability of my favorite top waters.  So I started thinking last year, "why not just attach a split shot to the line about 12 inches or so in front of the lure?  It will improve the casting distance and make the lure sink to a deeper level on the retrieve.

I thought it was a dumb idea last year.  I got caught up in thinking things like, "oh well I've never heard of that being done," and, "that will mess up the action of the lure...there's no way that will produce a strike."

Well the other day, I finally decided to try it.  I don't keep a whole lot of sinkers in my box.  I think I had one.  It was big for the job too, but it was more of an experiment than anything.  I tied on that big sinker (1/3 oz?) about 12 inches in front of a plastic blue top water floating crank and cast it WAYYY out.

And what do you know...BOOM!  Largmouth (not a huge one, but not a baby either) smacked the hell out of that lure and ran with it faster than I could bat an eye!

Only thing was, that big sinker I was using caused the line to snap when it inevetibly got caught under a rock or something, but that didn't matter.  I tried out the method and it worked!  I'm on my way to the shop right now to pick up some SMALLER sinkers, maybe some little split shots. 

Anyone else tried this before?

Johnny

So you think the sinker was the reason you caught the fish ? How deep was the bait when he hit it ?

I have used the same method for catching sauger out of the tail waters of a dam.  I took a 1 ounce egg sinker(really swift current) and put the floating crank on the end of a carolina rig.  I would just throw it out and let the current put the action on the bait.  It worked that day for sauger. I was fishing a flooded concrete slab and didn't have to worry about the hang ups.  Just my experience. 

Edro,

That's a good idea!  Hadn't even thought about how that could work with a current.  Filed away for use next time I'm fishing the river!

BB,

Do I think the sinker was the reason I got a strike?  Yes and no.

Yes, because if the sinker hadn't been on the line, the cast wouldn't have gotten to the spot I wanted to send it.

No, because that bass hit the lure because it looks like a little blue minnow swimming in front of it.

Not sure about what the depth was.  It's pretty shallow water.  If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it was somewhere around 2 feet.

I thought some more about this today when I was out trying out some heavy soft minnows I've got.  Rubber swim baits that look just like minnows.  HEAVY weights in them.  They shoot to the bottom fast, which inevitibly causes me to lose them every time.  The advantage being that I can cast them as far as I want to, which I like.

Anyway, using the sinker and floating crank method, you can get your bait where you want it to be, at the depth you want it to be, without having to worry about snagging the lure on the bottom.  The sinker may get caught, sure, but I'm betting that would be easier to negotiate out of a hang up that a treble hook would. 

I didn't get to pick up the sinkers today as I opted for some new jig-heads (budget) instead, but as soon as money permits, I'm going to make this rig a regular part of my arsenal.

Speaking of those jigs I got today, I went out to the lake and landed a 3-5 lb striper on one of them...but the forum is telling me I gotta post ten "normal" messages before I can post pics.  Oh well, guess I gotta go talk some more fishing. 

Could be worse I guess.

Johnny

I have done carolina rigged stickbaits before with great success. Also if you don't use a heavy weight but one that will make it suspend, it has crazy action.

Oh it works great, that's why floating stickbaits are so versatile. I troll them on bottom bouncers for walleye and have picked up a lot of smallies by accident.

If I want to get more distance in a cast I usually replace my hooks with hooks that are larger or have thicker wire. This adds weight or I add weight to them either with suspend strips or some sticky tungsten weight putty. Some of my crankbaits and other wood baits I have drilled out and added melted lead in them. Some of my countdown cranks I use not only because I can count them down to whatever depth I wish but because they can cast a mile. For a number of years rigging a lure on a Carolina rig was the only way to add distance or depth to a lure but as I mentioned there are other ways. 

Carolina rigging Rapalas is a great trick.  As is running them on three ways, bottome bouncers, and drop rigs.

Rapala actually recommends this method on some of it's lures.  There's a lot of info regarding how to use their lures on their website.