reels

[INSPECTOR]

Hey Kai,

That is pretty good on melting the tip, thanks for sharing that and you can bet I'll be doing that from now on.

I don't disagree with you on the long leader being the better and more sure method of landing the larger fish, provided you have enough hands and worthy experienced mates leadering the fish. I fish recreationally and usually only take one other person with me on the boat. With the wind-on, the guy on the pole can usually bring the fish close enough for the gaffer, said and done. The other way, with only two people, the leader end comes up, the pole gets set down, one guy leaders the fish, fish still green, takes off, there he goes, gone. It's happened to me.

Like you said, whatever works best for you, considering all variables.

Have a great day and tight lines always!

[RiskTaker]

Hey Kai Akua:

Good post on showing those pig tail open end connector swivels. I used to use them for trolling quite a bit but that was with single strand wire leader with haywire twists. But I do not remember them being any more pricey than the snap swivel ball-bearing variety, maybe a few cents. I will compare prices next time I see them again. Lately, I have fallen away from using them, perhaps because I do not see them everywhere. But another reason was that I just got tired of looping the leader around a few times to get it all the way on. I simply reverted back to the snap swivel, ball bearing of course. To date, I have never had a failure with the snap coming undone, deforming, or the ball-bearing falling apart. So I cannot say, yet, that they are deficient in any way. I guess I will have to experience a hard knock at some point in life. In the meantime, the snap is the most convenient item for me to use.

And yes, the melted ball on the monofiliment provides one more step of security before crimp slippage can occur. But I do not do this anymore either for swordfishing, since I am recently practicing the Tag-end squid rigging approach as Adm. Mike described it. For this I like to have a sharp angled cut on my loose tag end. But to make up for a mono bubble on the end, one can simply use the aluminum crimps. They are long enough to permit two crimps, where-ever they are used. But I have never had a failure on a single crimp either. I just make sure I squeeze that crimper tool on the crimp (figure 8s only), positioned longways, until the crimper stops hard against itself. Using a good crimper.

All of my failures have always been from the main mono breaking or a hook relaxing its shape (well once from a regular swivel failure) and I guess I have never gotten to the next point of failure, like resisting a marlin with 200+ lbs. of force. RT

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Originally Posted by kai akua

and how do you risk losing a fish with a 30ft leader at the boat inspector?.......................?

and a sword can turn any which direction at any time either on windon or on a leader...

like i said though it is what works best for you, may you be a charter boat, or private boat, or just a recreational fisherman with out a boat. it is what gets the job done for the situation at hand. you jsut wont find me trusting a windon with a 300lbs fish connected to the other end of it.

when is the last time any of you guys calibrated your crimpers for the 3 crimps you use on a windon connection? and for the guys using windons with snapswivels, please change to a pig-tail swivel. I URGE YOU TO. i have never seen a pig-tail pull straight yet. i yould hate for you guys to lose a nice fish over a lousey made snap swivel.. IMHO it is just as strong as a swivel with 2 crimped connections to it.

also are you guys melting the tag end of the mono before you crimp? it helps reduce a pulled crimp if your crimps are night tight enough. pull about 5in of tag through the crimp, melt the tip with a lighter, and then tap it flat with the side of a knife to make a mushroomed or nailhead shape. then pull the tag end back to the crimp and adjust your loop size and crimp. its a little extra inshurance and takes an extra 10 seconds to do.

tight lines good connestions or in hawaiian "Hanapa'a"

Robbie B.

Hi kai akua,
Glad that you mentioned the mushroom end. Essential method.
You are dead on about crimpers too. The bench type a much better than the hand held kind. Calibrated them to know them. Test 'em on something besides fish.
I feel that I misreprensented my method of using windons. Fewer connections are better and every knot or crimp is a location for failure.
I use loop to loop windons. They are made from spectra. Ain't no way that you'll ever get me to use heat shrink on my mono. I use light (10 lb) spectra served (archery bow string server kinda like a bobbin for flytying or rod wrapping) onto the spectra mono connection. Don't like glue. Have no problem with heavy line going thru my roller guides.
I crimp or straight tie my hook. Hook may be ringed or swiveled.
keep it simple.
I am looking at adding weight onto my spectra by wrapping telephone wire onto it. Putting a light on the same way but more securely. I am open to suggestions here. Not sure about ballons or jugs yet.
Probally lean towards a ballon.
Thanks yall for leanding me an ear and furthering my sword education.

[kai akua]

Hey RT, remeber you still have 2 other crimped connections besides the one at the hook....... with a long tag end you are probally ok at the hook, but and extra crimp on the tag will help, the brass singel barrel crimp should work fine for that.

the pigtail swivles you are refering to, are probaly teh old style ones that have a galvanized aluminum looking pig-tail, the new ones are all Stainless steel and are have about 1/8 diameter pigtail shank. personaly i find them way faster than a snap.

glad you all liked the little tip. hopefully next weeks weather will be killer for you all, the week after that better be damn nice, cause thats when i fly in to good ol Ft. lauderdale to visit for the holidays! see you guys on the water then....

Robbie

[SM]

All this talk about melting the mushroom end. From a male perspective, I thought that concept was understood!

[TRK3]

oh gawd.....

Tom

[RiskTaker]

Deep_sea_gull:

The answers are all very clearly stated on the many posts on this forum: you just need to be curious and venture beyond the current topics.

But for bobber tie-offs, for weight tie-offs and for valuable electrolume tie-offs, consider wrapping your mainline, whether it be, super-filament or mono, with 70 lb. waxline captive loops. (Ideally, your rod will have all wind-on roller guides, otherwise, you may want to test ONE first.)

All of my rods/lines that is, have at least 5 locations of captive loop waxline tie-off locations. This facilitates the attachment of: #1, a valuable electrolume light that you do not want to lose, then #2 follows, a place to attach a heavy weight - consider using a heavy rubber band connected to a lead weight, and #3, #4 and #5, etc. are available as a predefined locations to attach some form of bobber, swordfishing size. These are not absolute requirements because you can make a reasonably strong attachment point anywhere along your line with a few wraps of a rubber band and your attachment. But the predefined locations will serve you well, once you need to get into a rhythmn to get things done correctly and repeatedly and quickly. Copper wire may be a little more abrasive: oh, back to the waxline. This acts as a chafe guard to your mainline if you do it properly...

(You know, now that it is worded this way... I just wonder why that fish snapped Capt. Dean Panos' line from one of his reports a while back. Certainly a mono nick can occur from any number of reasons. But imagine a fairly strong tug from copper wire, shielded or otherwise, being yanked off of an "un-chafe-guarded" line. A Nick is a definite possibility: only a thought.)

Oh, how do you make the captive waxlines loops, you ask?

Grab about a 4 ft. length of 70 lb. waxline, start with an initial over hand knot with a few inches of spare line on the trailing end. Start making half hitches towards the hook-end of the main line. Try to get into a repeatable pattern as soon as you understand the build-up process. Try to make each half-hitch very tight: it may slip at first but if you bend the mainline enough it will not slip. After about 10 half hitches, the waxline should be firmly attached without slippage. Continue making half-hitches, and keep them tight, until you have about an inch to an inch and a half of waxline tightly wrapped around the mainline. (A shiny rotating ridge around the mainline will indicate that you did it consistently and tightly). Your chafe guard is now in place. Time to build the captive loop: continuing on with the waxline, wrap back to the starting point with a loop and leave a small loop, maybe you can fit 2 fingers inside this loop, tie another half hitch ahead of the beginning first half hitch where you first started out, to the mainline, start a little loose then pull in tighter until the loop is about right. Do about 3 tight hitches, wrap back inside the loop to make another half-hitch that will tightly bind your last knot to the loose loop. At this point, you will reinforce your single thread loop by wrapping, round and round, the free end around the loop until you reach back to the othe side. You can pull these wraps tight to the point that they twist or until they are nice and snug, or still remain a little loose. The amount of tension and the number of wraps will allow some latitude on how tight the initial 2-finger loop has tightened up to the mainline. ( Ideally, you want this loop to be nearly snug to the mainline but loose enough to easily pull a gap but not so loose to leave a bow loop standing-out all the time. (Practice with a few and you will understand exactly what these words are saying.) Once you have finished the round-a-bout and you are dizzy to get done, tie another 3 half hitches around the mainline, then wrap another hitch around the loop portion, then one more hitch on the loop. Cut the line with cutting-pliers about 1/2 inch away. Cut the other loose end to about the same length: spark the lighter and melt the loose wax-line strands until they are burning or slowly melting to the base of the wax line bundle. Extinguish, and press the molten tip to flatten it a bit to avoid an untie situation.

Sorry about the long-winded narration: but a still-frame picture does not quite do it proper justice. And most people are not yet familiar with Camtasia software: Imagine, you could actually see a slide by silde presentation on some how-to, on your computer. Not TV, nor video but a movie with the captions you want to convey.

My time is up... tryit I hope this helps you out in some way. RT

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Wow RT,
I had to read that post 4 times to begin to see a picture in my head. You can type a work of art!
I'm just slow sometimes. You did a great job of telling me how to do it. Now I have ammo! I got all that is needed except the ride out and that is my work in progress.
Thanks.

[kai akua]

i think we need to rename the post "deep thoughts on some tackle questions"

LOL, this is the worst highjacking of a post..... doh!

:shock:

[RiskTaker]

Hi Jack:

Don't say that in a California airport, otherwise they will think you are a terrorist: or maybe you know Jack, but now you have to prove it. So much for being innocent until proven otherwise.

Kai Akua:

Wow dude, it just seemed like a meandering post to me. Did I really Hi-jack it? It is not all my fault. Look at the rest of the posts on this topic, they are all over the place. At least the wax loops go onto the REELS. I am just following up on someone's previous post. You're guilty too and you are in Cal.: you better be verry verry careful when your're at the airport. They don't tolerate any of that Fuddy business there.

Good luck on those captive wax lines, though. RT

[kai akua]

shall we discuse the proper dying sequnce for squid next? or how about the making of sliding dacron loops (works just like looped waxed conections but they are adjutsable), they use the finger trap metod, but weaved into ones self. great for setting your lines on your riggers, however if done porly they can chafe your line preety bad.



R

[Patudo]

First of all let me say how much I enjoyed this one.

windons vs traditional leaders: I've used both, and find each has its own advantages. Some situations one may be preferred over the other. I have to say that windons are very useful for a number of reasons. There are plenty of ways to lose a fish on 30 ft. traditional leader. by no means when you have leader in hand are you guaranteed to put fish in boat. Especially on smaller fish, its often a lot less drama to have the angler simply wind the fish to the boat rather than take wraps. unless you're very smooth and sometimes even if you are, the different pressure can spook the fish and make them do squirrelly things. If its a tough one and you gotta take wraps to move him then you gotta, but imagine wiring and gaffing a 35 lbs. mahi single handed on a 30 ft. long leader from a drifting boat at night, it's not a lot of fun. Always you got to be aware of where you are dumping leader, where is the loose leader and what will happen on a big fish if you need to dump wraps.

as for the windon itself yes there are more connections and yes there are plenty of horror stories out there but lots of people bust line, knots rods, etc. I believe its a matter of finding a good system that you trust , just like your line, knots whatever, and proving it yourself before you put gear in water. When I made windons I would loop the dacron loop end to a cleat , take wraps on the mono section and pull till I was blue in the face, never had one let go. Actually the connection between double and windon should never take such a load... it's gonna be not more than line break strain. Now, as for crimps, if you get the chance to test them, that's great, and will let you tune your crimper to get perfect connections. Even if you don't, with the right crimps and crimper, with heavy leaders say 300 lb. plus and up, even if you lose a 25% of leader break strain how many guys are realy going to be able to break that leader. sure there are some animals (professional crew) who can/have break 400 lb. plus mono but most of us are not like that. I guess if you were using a lot of lighter leader maybe 150 lb. 200 maybe 250 lb. you would want to have your crimp connections tested to be perfect. Snaps and swivels must be stronger on a windon than on standard tied to double line and clipped to leader setup , because if the wireman has to take wraps the snap/swivel needs to take some real pressure. so choose your swivels accordingly. In stead of the pig tail you could use a small shackle, or crimp direct to swivel. Both methods done right are very reliable, plus you don't have the large pig tail near your bait to cause commotion when trolling.

I think if you are a professional operation with two good crew - wireman who can really pull hard, and gaffman - in the cockpit, traditional leader works pretty good ... Otherwise, windon has some real advantages. Less leader laying in the pit, faster to clear lines on a big fish bite, angler can wind smaller fish straight to the boat to be gaffed from the rod tip. Not to drop names or anything, but yes some top big blue marlin crews do use them, with great success. The main thing with taking leader on a windon is the angler should have the reel drag set light , and only gather in line. Tough job trying to leader a fish if your angler has got the reel in full drag and trying to crank your hand through the roller tip at the same time. Aloha and thanks for listening to my rant. :twisted:

[kai akua]

very well put!

PM me with the name of the marlin boats using windons. i know of a hand full, some are good friends. most complaints from thier crews using them, is the poor quality of crimps they get when crimping in the pit to put the lures out. and the angler winding thier hand through the guides..... i have seen that once, it made it so the wire man could not dump his back wrap, not real safe, but not a real big green fish either. no harm, no foul.

Hanapa'a

Alohas

Robbie.

[FloridaFisherman]

I just bought 4 80W Two Speed Reels at the Palm Beach Boat show

The Name was Red Pig and I paid $499 each

People asked me for the website, Here it is Salt Water 2-Speed Fishing Reels

[FloridaFisherman]

Just bought the 80W from them

Its two speed and I paid $499 at the Palm Beach Boat show

Here is the website I found Salt Water 2-Speed Fishing Reels

Already used the 80w with 130 lb braid and caught a sword on the bottom in 1200 feet!

I am convinced I do not need Penn again........

[FloridaFisherman]

Originally Posted by BillyTine

What kinda of reel do you use: single speed or two speed ; Penn, shimano, or another company

It makes life a whole lot easier, I have Red Pig Brand 80 Wides with 130 Braid