reels

[kai akua]

very good point thier....

however, do you think that since you guys dont back down 99% of the time, it makes for greater pulled hooks? (esp, when alot of line is in the water). not your crew, but in general for the rec. sword fleet?

[hannaman]

I don't think the reason for pulled hooks is because alot of line in the water. Its all in the set and staying tiiiight.
Most guys like to put more heat on the fish when there reeling in and depending on the set will pull alot of hooks. This is also a deep fight hardly ever on the surface. They will surface sometimes on the strike but once the fight settles in they go deep.

[FinalPoint]

There are lots of boats out there that work the fish with the engines. However, fishing from a center console like most people out there, a wind-on and short leader makes sense. Fishing from a sportfish, I think windons are still a great idea, but it still helps to bring a fish up behind the boat with the engines bumped in and out of gear so that the fish can be landed from the back of the cockpit.

[kai akua]

glad to hear that some boats back down on swords. if the fish is hot we back down when swordin, if not we winch it while we drift.

you can very easliy work a fish from the side of a center console, its just as effective as a sport fish backing down.

[swordfish123]

i didnt want to start a new thread about this BUT... but for all you guys who make wind-ons out there.. i have a suggestion. I built my own wind-ons a couple days ago, more for experiment than use (especially since i didnt get to go swording. damn weather) anyway i know i did everything right and they were good wind ons... i used 130 dacron and 220 momois xhard leader. i know dacron is out of style but whatever you use i quickly discovered a very easy way to make the serving.

read the whole thing before you dismiss the idea...

Get some 2cm heat shrink tubing at home depot. it comes in a little clear packages with a red label for like 2 bucks in the electrical department. It will say that it shrinks to half its original size, it wont matter that it shrinks at 90C. after you have added a tiny drop of superglue(get some with a brush tip applicator) at the end of the dacron or spectra where it meets the leader, let that dry. next take a 3/4 to 1 inch piece of shrink tubing and shrink one half down with a cig lighter so the opening is just large enough to feed the mono leader through, then shrink up the other side just a tad. Slide the tube all the way down your leader up to the place where it meets the dacron. add another tiny drop of glue and slide the tube in place. The tube will already wrap tight around the mono and...if shrunk properly..should fit perfectly around the end of the dacron. This allows you to use to neat shrink tubing without damaging the mono with the heat.

I dont even have wind-on guides, just regular old rollers and it never once got caught up after many many passes through. my bimini knot with 50lb line is much more bulky than this. the serving is short and compact and very easy to make. I know they are not proven...but i really think ya'll should experiment with this. If i had pics i'd post em... sorry. hope this makes sense

Tell me what you think..

[INSPECTOR]

Hey Swordfish 123,

I like that idea with the heat shrink. I'm still building up my swordfishing weapons, but when I purchased a rod specifically for swordfishing a year ago, I did not do my due diligence. My roller guides are not proper for windons either. The connection point will fit thru my rollers O.K. but get caught in the guide's mounting legs. This may very well be the solution to my problem. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?

BTW - I'm on the side with the windons - easier to get the fish close to the boat without having to leader or handline the last 15 - 20 feet and risk losing the fish.

[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.

[hannaman]

HEY KIA, I like the idea of melting the tip, pretty ingenious. I guess it would work even if I left the tag end sticking out a few inches on my squid rig. As for my rigs I don't use snap swivels, just a heavy stainless ball bearing swivel crimped straight from my wind-on to my much shorter leader. loop to loop, crimp swivel crimp, crimp hook.

[kai akua]

the melted tip works great, my father capt. Bobby Brown, showed me that a while back. i havent seen one fail in 9 years of fishing with him.

hannaman, have you ever considered a pig-tail swivel? makes setting up a snap, no need to bust out the crimper every time it is needed to re-attach a new leader. they are preety beafy swivels. give one a try, you wont be disapaonted. thier like $8 a pop thouh.



Hanapa'a

R

[hannaman]

Yeah I actually have a few of those laying around. Peter Wright showed them to me once, Definately serves its purpose. I use that same swivel with the snaps cut off.

[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