Jerry Brown Spectra Fishing Line

[Shark Tagger]

I just want to say this stuff is awesome, I loaded up my international 80's with 130lb and spliced an end loop that went to my wind-on. No knots just clean connections.

I look froward to breaking in the new line

[greg1]

I just got some. Do you know what diameter lines can connect to the 130lb Hollow Core?

I'm still not brave enough to totally get rid of my top shot, but want to know my options with the JBHC 130 as my backing.

Thanks....and I hope I'm as happy as you.

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

You can loop to loop any size topshot you want.
For inserting mono into JBHC 60 to 300 lb mono. This info comes from...
http://www.jerry-brown-industries.com/old_welcome.html
Further, one can splice in a section of say 200 lb JBHC and then use even larger mono.
I perfer to pull a loop in the end of my spectra and join loop to loop what ever size topshot/windon I feel that I need to get bit. I then set my drag based on my topshot size. I fish with only about 25 ft of mono or f'carbon.
If you are not comfortable making your own topshots or windons Basil Papas makes the best.
http://www.bhptackle.com/

[RiskTaker]

ST:

I just finished writing a reply on the FS forum, which included multiple scenarios of line connections with the 130# JBHC.

What you are doing right now is exactly the way I am doing it right now. All JBHC finished with a spliced loop. From that point on you are set to do any line configuration that you wish, some examples below:

1: JBHC loop directly to a snap swivel:Perfect for hooking straight to a planer. Mono or Flouro will trail behind the planer.

2: JBHC loop directly to a snap swivel: Ready to connect for a deep drop rig.

The first two options are the main reasons to enable this configuration.

3: JBHC L-2-L to a hefty wind-on: good for all gamefishing, especially swordfishing.

4. JBHC L-2-L to a modest length top shot: In case you are just more comfortable with some elasticity. (Like in the Hi-speed Wahoo trolling scenario.) But 50 yds. should be plenty. Mono can generally stretch up to 33% so you could get up to 50 ft. of give with just 150 ft. of mono, excluding Hybrid lines.

Stick to the Loop-to-loop connections like DSG has suggested and all of these configurations are always available to you.

ST - Just wait until you have to cut your line, be it is because of chafing, a nasty line tangle while swordfishing, or whatever other reason. Once you splice it back in-line: You should be all smiles and even more proud of your investment.

Happy Holidays

[greg1]

Hey Risk Taker, any suggestions on how to inch worm your top shot into the hollow core?

I got 130 JB and 100lb Mono and I can't get it more than a half inch inside. The thing I read recommends 4ft and then brush with the adhesive system. 4 ft seems impossible right now.

Thanks guys.

[SideWinder]

Greg, 130 Hollow should take the 100 mono easy. Open up the end of the hollow with a wire doubled over, take the mono and sand shape a rounded end on the mono. start inching up. also you can get hollow needles which makes it faster.

[RiskTaker]

Greg:

Just caught your post before making trails for the family.

I am not sure why you cannot get 100 lb. mono into 130 lb. Jerry Brown Hollow core. If you have a dial caliper you can measure the line diameter to check. But stay tuned for my suggestion.

I have been successful getting 200 lb. mono (momoi Hi-catch 1.40mm into a single wall of 130 lb. JBHC). I was a bit tight though. And when I tried 200# Flourocarbon which measured 1.60mm it was the same as yu described.

My suggestion, after being better educated by Basil Pappas and Tek, is to use a loop-2-loop connection between your JBHC and the top-shot. So if your mainline is JBHC, simply slpice a loop. Then to make your life easier, get a hold of some JBHC 200#, to build yor own wind-on --> create a spliced loop and a double wall of spectra, push the outer wall all the way down for a minute, feed in the 100# mono up to the spliced loop (not the one on your mainline but the new one you are building now.) smoothe out the inner wall, then slide the outer wall over the top, smoothe out trim as needed ( it may also take a little bit of practice to balance the outer an the inner walls to about the same length, but understand that it takes more length of line to expand out to the outer wall. Smooth out tight, prime and glue. Tie your serve, then glue again. When dry, do your loop to loop. This gives you interchangeability.

But if you choose to feed mono straight into the Hollow core that is OK too, especially for a long top shot that you do not interchange. I bought a hollow needle set that makes things slide along nice and easy. But you can sand down the mono to round the edge and 100# should slide nice and easy especially if it about 1.00 mm in diameter. The other thing is: could you possibly be using JBHC 80# ? If feeding is difficult.

edit - Oh yeah, I forgot one very important thing that seems to work for me. Before I feed the mono in, or even a wire to make a splice/loop. I will first smoothe out the sect of JBHC to be expanded. Notice it is tightly braided right off the spool. Then I push it together to relax the weave, it might only be a 1/4 " at a time. The I gently smoothe it out again without overtightening. This does wonders to help things along. Even with a hollow needle I have gotten jammed up before if I do not loosen up the weave initially. Good luck and that link that DSG provided is excellent, pictures and everything.

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Greg,

Showing you how would be best.

Since A pic is worth a thousand words and I can't just show ya...
http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=12275
I am unsure if you will have to sign up for this. It is worth while to register. It's free and there is a world of info about JB spectra usage.

A few quick suggestions. Round the end of the mono with a fingernail buffer from your woman. Start coarse and go to fine. You want a mushroom shaped end on the mono without and points or snags. Start by opening the spectra first with a homemade doubled wire loop puller. You want to push the spectra over the mono. NOT push the mono into the spectra.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions. I do not mind helping.

[JahMussa]

Greg1... if you are in SFLA, stop by and I'll show you what you need to know. If you are in Jersey, I"m sure Basil would spend some time with you too.

-Tek

[greg1]

Tek, I actually ordered it from you I think. I live in SC. I was able to get the mono 21 inches inside the JB before it got too difficult. The JB started to lose its shape. I guess I poked through it too many times with the tag end of the mono.

Is 21 inches enough?

Is the JB now weaker where it started to lose its shape?

Should I scrap the finger cuff idea and do a loop? I looked at that special needle and the instructions that came with it, but I couldn't wrap my mind around the procedure. My brain don't work so good like that. I need to see someone actually do it...not learn from a few drawings.

Any advice is great. Thanks guys.

[JahMussa]

Call me at 561.654.7873 when you have a minute and I'll walk you through it.

I don't do them any smaller than 36" (for myself only ) and usually 4 to 5 feet on my customers. You can get by with 18" but after all the time and expense we put into our trips, I can't see where saving 60 seconds will help.

Once you get the hang of it, you will be able to insert the mono 4 feet and serve it under 5 minutes. It does take some practice and with a little help, you'll have it whipped in no time.

When you call, just have your mono, spectra, wire spectra opener, needles, etc. in front of you. Don't forget the emery board (600grit) and a single edge razor blade

[greg1]

What servesd as a wire spectra opener, and is the special needle required? My brother has the needle at his place. I have regular sewing needles.

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

The wire spectra opener is a section of bent in the middle fishing wire. I think that I use about 40 lb wire. Take a pair of pliers and close the loop at the down some but do not crush it all the way down.

[JahMussa]

Originally Posted by Deep_Sea_Gull

The wire spectra opener is a section of bent in the middle fishing wire. I think that I use about 40 lb wire. Take a pair of pliers and close the loop at the down some but do not crush it all the way down.

Correct... take a piece of single strand fishing wire like you would use for a Kingfish. About 12 inches and bend it in half. With a pair of pliers, squeeze the bend together to make it small but don't pinch it to tight so that it is pointy. You want to keep the tip a bit roundish.

If it's pointy, it will want to poke through the side wall as you are running it up inside. If it's rounded, it will flow through the inside and won't want to poke through.

Once you have it made, just insert the rounded part of the wire into the end of the spectra and start sliding the spectra onto the wire. When the wire is all the way inside the spectra, take your razor and cut the end of the spectra off so it's clean (cut the frayed end off).

Now continue inching the wire down the spectra for 5 feet. When you are at your 5 foot mark, poke the wire out the side and remove the wire.

The spectra is now open and you'll be able to get your mono in easier. First though you will need to take your razor and do a clean square cut across the mono. Now take the emory board or 600 grit sand paper and slighty round the tip of the mono. It should look like a rounded bullet head.. not pointy and you can't have any burr's on the mono that could catch the spectra fibers.

IF YOU catch the spectra fibers and mess it up... START OVER!

-Tek

[greg1]

OK. I got 46" in. The wire and the sewing needles went through with ease. I guess I just couldn't sand a bullet on the end of the mono.

I've cinched down the JB with 10lb braid on the end where the mono enters the JB. I'm just going to dab with a little crazy glue. My brother has the JB adhesive system at his house and I don't think I want to spend $30 for that on one reel. I think the superglue and finger cuff should hold under 30lbs of drag.

Here goes nothing!

[JahMussa]

Congrats on getting it going!

Crazy Glue will not bond spectra to mono. It simply coats it and gives the appearance of bonding. To test this... put a drop of glue on a ziplock bag and fold it to glue it together. JB glue will bond it.. most others will not. Spectra is made from the from the same stuff that is used to make the super glue bottles. So if the glue doesn't stick to the bottle... it won't bond spectra to mono, without a compatible activator or pretreating.

With that said... it may work for one or two times. Just not something you want to put into production.

Also... I use 30# spectra to serve 60# mono connections and use 50# spectra serves for 80# up to 300# windons. Make sure your serve is tight.. about 3 lbs of pressure will do when serving.

You can also use a special crimp we sell that is getting great reviews. Really easy and will hold up for some time. They are not recommended to lbe fished for 6 months straight. They only cost $1 so change them out every few trips to be safe (if anyone is considering them)

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Good Job there Greg1.

I find that I needed to look at my ends of my mono under some magnification before I could see just how ragged they were. Once I overcame that problem, I was well on my way. I'm sure that you are too well on your way.

JahMussa,

Is the crimp system you are selling the Sato? Is it applied with regular crimpers? Can you provide some pictures?

Shark Tagger,

Thanks for the thread. I am sorry for derailing it so. I trust that others will find this information useful.

[greg1]

Shoot.

Well, how well will it hold just w/ finger cuffs, spectras serve, and super glue? This weekend the only thing I plan on doing with it is trolling for grouper.

I guess I need to bite the bullet and order the the JB adhesive, but what do you guys think about trying it w/out for grouper trolling one time?

[JahMussa]

Greg... finger cuff, serve and JB glue will hold for sure. Super glue... not sure how long it will hold once it gets wet. Keep in mind that the serve is only there to keep the mono from coming out during a slack condition. As long as you are tight... the finger cuff will hold the line. Troll your rig and see how it goes. It may be just fine for the day.. or two even. Until you try... you won't know.

DSG... Yes.. Garry Sato improved upon the Pandellas system that was out a few years ago. I was the first to bring this system to the east coast and it's been a hard sell. This was the first year where the Cali guys really endorsed it on the LR trips to Mexico for cow YF Tuna. Since it was designed for LR style of fishing, the topshots or windons are changed frequently as no one wants to loose a world class tuna for being lazy.

Here's the picture of the tool, crimp and the finished product.





The crimps are aluminum and won't hold up well when used "Florida Style". Meaning that some of us only respool our reels every 2 or 3 years vs every few months. The crimps will corrode if you keep them on for long periods of time. I have changed customers topshots on Sword gear 6 months later to find a crimp that has just crumbled away in my hand. Or has at some point, crumbled away leaving only the Jerry Brown adhesive to hold the spectra to mono.

Garry Sato and Jerry Brown both say that either the crimp or glue will work by itself but using them both together gives the added security. I have been installing the Jerry Brown glue along with 2 of the Sato crimps... just to be safe during the this last year. There hasn't been one lost fish due to a glue or crimp failure.

The guys rig that came back with only the glue left to hold... he didn't know how long he had been fishing with only the glue. Good thing for him it was glued with Jerry Brown and not crazy glue

If you are considering the Sato Crimp system... You will need to buy the custom crimp tool and the crimps are $1 each. There is a starter kit that has a mix of everything and is worth every penny! But if you are using just one size, you can go ala carte. I also spend time with the guys using this system to teach them how to properly use it. Now that we have over a year under our belts fishing crimps, and since some of us don't change out our topshot/windon nearly enough... I recommend that you at least replace the crimp NO longer than 2 to 3 months.

Or better yet... spool up with spectra and go directly to a windon leader. Yes.. you can still make your windons with the crimp system but this will allow you to constantly see the crimp and inspect it for possible failures before they cost you a big fish.

This hopefully isn't taken as a doom and gloom post about the crimps as I really believe they make serving your topshots or windons VERY easy for the average person. I personally still use them but I don't let them sit buried 100 yards deep on my spool for very long.

-Tek

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Greg1,
I tried the serve and super glue. It bonds to itself. NOT to the serve and does not penetrate the spectra. Over time my super glue broke apart. Going over my rollers seemed to bend it enough that it broke the bonds between serve threads. I had no failure or fish loss since the finger cuff did not slide up the mono. I think that you can get by for a fishing trip the way you are suggesting. I can not reccomend that you fish this way regularly.
One thing that I always want someone that is just learning how to insert mono into spectra to do is destructively test your work. Don't take my say so. Tear one up for yourself. Then you will gain confidence.

Tek,
I have for several years used JB hollow core. I like to fish about 25 ft fluorocarbon windons for tuna. I change them often and make my own. Thanks for the look at the Satos system. I know more about it now. That is a maybe later for me right now.

[greg1]

Thats the thing. I can't pull it apart with my hands. I know I can't recreate fishing conditions with my hands, but it seems to be holding pretty well.

I guess I need to bite the bullet and pay the $30.

[JahMussa]

If you want the glue.. I have it in stock.

[Islander]

Buy the glue, its cheaper than a doctors visit........Because if you lose a fish you'll bust a knee cap kicking your self in the azz!!!! :lol:

[Lake]

Tek, do you carry spectra rigging needles?

[JahMussa]

yes... I have a few sets in stock along with the glue if you need that too.

-Tek