Texas Iron Shark Fishing Rigs & Traces

I'd recommend them as a more budget friendly version of the release action gemini, or even as a better overall option to the gemini when using a large hook.

These don't seem to anchor the same as other sputnik sinkers do with a pull. They sort off skitter across the bottom. with that said the current won't push them like other weights with the same heft. Just cast it and let it sit rather than try to pull the legs into the sand.
You do have to make sure your rig is set up properly for this style of weight. I tried to use a piece of braid with an inline reverse snell rig I made myself to give the weight length to sit on the hook but when i cast it the braid section i made ended up tangling the whole thing up so I just cut it on retrieve. You want to use something that doesn't have any flimsy bits that will catch the wind or water and end up going all over the place.

I've tried the special clip, bucket, pear shaped, egg shaped, and just traditional lead pyramid weights and these gemini weights are fantastic. They're well worth the premium to me. Here's the nitty gritty:

-the deploying system on splashdown with water made it so i never had my bait line or main line wrap around and tangle. That happens to me a lot casting into the wind
-You will need to get either a dingle dangle (they're like little pool floaties for bait they're great) or use a bit of line and make a loop if you're using a big hook, because the deploy mechanism doesn't have an opening wide enough for thicker wire.
-the legs hold much firmer into place than the standard sputnik weights. Just make sure to splash sand out of the groove so the legs on these can snap into place
-the way the legs are makes them easier to fit into a tackle box than the sputniks as well

all things considered they're a direct upgrade. The plastic doesn't feel like it's going to fail any time soon but maybe if you dropped them repeatedly on a hard deck or concrete they could? Poseidon usually steals my stuff before I'd have to worry about that haha. There's probably a fish swimming around San Luis pass right now with a fancy lip ring because I was excited and forgot to put my bale up and snapped my line off

The hardware was all really well made and it worked fantastic to make casting further possible with some gemini and special hookweights. The bait didn't helicopter around like would happen into the wind pretty common with other rig setups.
The pulley never bound up after being ran for multiple days without a rinse. I wouldn't recommend doing that because it did dull my hook pretty heavily but it was a pretty good testament to the hardware standing up to the elements. I caught a nice little sand shark on the 5/0.

I was surf fishing out on the freeport/brazoria county beach towards San Luis pass with these. Big flat beach where I was, and there was a +20mph headwind. These things would hold until an absolutely massive amount of seaweed collected on the line during high tide, which was pretty impressive, har har har. That said, they clearly hold well.

PROS:
-great aerodynamics. I tried flying just the weight a few times and it didn't really tumble too bad. They flew way straighter than the stick lure I tried tossing, as well as the egg shape and sort of pear shaped weights.
-durable. I don't see any wear or tear after a few hours of tossing, dragging, and resetting the legs with a good pinch.
-They seemed to tumble less in air than the egg and other sort of teardrop shaped weights, albeit a little bit less far. I'd call it a positive trade for reasons I'll get into.
-grit didn't impede action of the legs at all. Just blow sand out of the grooves if they get too full.
-the plastic on the legs feels like it doubles to keep sand from scuffing them. That will help resist corrosion.
-super well finished. didn't see any weird lead tag ends etc in any of mine, and I bought quite a few.

CONS:
- I'm not sure there's a way to make the wire of the digging legs have more memory? With that said, they don't seem be losing integrity from resetting the bend.
Also it wasn't a fair test due to the seaweed pulling so much. Easily 10 lbs of seaweed

-the open gap at the wire where you attach weight to the line did cause a few tangles while I was baiting hooks in the wind. I had finger mullets spinning around like crazy and one wrapped around the attachment shaft and pulled up into the circle. I had to cut the knot. This is the only real criticism I have.


OVERALL:
Zero regrets in my bulk purchase. They fly pretty straight into the wind. They hold well if you reset the bend between casts and don't snap the legs back until ready to toss. I like these way more than the egg, or the pear shaped sputnik sinkers. I feel like I can probably home remedy the gap in the loop on top of the weight.

These are Bad Boys, I use these religiously inshore.

Very solid, used in the surf all day and night, spectacular hold.

Glad to have found the only place to sell it in the US.
The name says it all, it's a great product to make outstanding working bait presentations, especially if you intend to cast them hard and far away,

Purchased these sinkers for some night fishing trip on the beach, I was thinking they were just some kind of cool looking fishing weight to have, but let me say that these sinkers performed great for me on a rather dark night, their glow does give you a way for you to see where your bait is going and if that wasn't enough the rig with the glow sinker did manage to catch the most fish for that night.

Purchased a full set to have a good variety of weights, where I come from we fish with clip down rigs and believe me these things are like an arrow they go the distance and some.

Excellent customer service.
Purchased a mixed set after reaching out and asking questions so that I could understand exactly how they work, my package arrived quickly, and they were very well packaged
They aren't cheap, but they sure are worth it, especially since they are so easy to retrieve

I use them to fish for shark off the beach in Florida, they have been doing a fantastic job keeping our baits in place at 200+ yards.
They really make a difference when reeling them in, legs fold away and that funky shaped tail does seem to lift them off the bottom, and they reel in super easy when compared to other spider weights.
They quickly became my go-to surf fishing weights when dropping baits off for those closer to shore baits.
Definitely recommend them, and they arrived fast, plus customer service is top-notch they really care about their customers.

Extremely pleased with products, these sinkers really hold the bottom with a big bait when others just roll, even on strong currents.
Will definitely keep using these sinkers, after months of use they haven't failed me yet.