I do alot of rockfishing and use rotten bottoms alot.so heres a couple tips....Purchase some Gemini style leadlinks(cheap ones are £5.00 per 100 on ebay) snip the clip approx 4mm from the bend on the open side and theres your rotten bottom clip..easy.Your leader ties onto the eye as usual. You tie a weaker than your mainline peice of line to the eye of the clip and a weight to the other,put the weight on the clip when casting and it will usually release when it hits the seabed...you can tweak the clip slightly outwards to personal preferance to get a near 100%release rate. On the same theme you can purchase some long tail wires ( the ones with a loop at each end ..approx £5.00 a 100 ) cut them in half and bend the end around to the desired shape to make your own heavy duty rotten bottom clips. (two clips per wire..so its the cheapest method) The shop bought rotten bottoms with the disc on the wire that is supposed to release on impact with the water can release early if powercasting...so i avoid those and find it safer and much cheaper to make my own as described.
These homemade clips work best with weights that have a loop shape eye. If using longtail style weights (where the eye is smaller) then it is best to bend the eye 45 degrees and the weight must be put onto the clip from the bent side first so as it will release easily.If you try it youll see what i mean. But my personal preferance is to stick with the larger loop style lead weights like the breakaway beaded style when using rotten bottoms,as the release rate is highest.
You can put your usual bait clips on the leader above these clips.e.g impact shields
