Crimping

[Spooled]

Never crimped before but looks like the way to go for tuna trolling and maybe chunking. What do I need and any tips. Watched a mate rig ballyhoo in hatteras utilize the crimping with a piece a wire and the mono when we were catcing wahoo.

[msc]

www.leadertec.com check under the tips and technique heading

[KingfishSam]

Couple tips for ya. First, make sure that your sleeves are the exact right size for the mono, and that you have a good crimping tool. You don't have to be gorilla strong to crimp properly--in fact more damage is done from too much pressure (overcrimping) which damages the mono inside the sleeve. A good crimper will last a lot longer.
Here's a little trick: gently melt the tag end of the mono after you slide on a crimp so it forms a little mushroom as a little extra protection against it sliding through the sleeve. Be careful not to get the heat near the rest of the leader material though.
If you're in doubt about the strength of your crimps, set up a come-along on your workbench and test how much pressure you can put on them. A 100% crimp means the line breaks outside the sleeve with no slippage. Practice makes perfect. Good luck with it!

[BlueMarlin]

What Sam said above... couple things.. first there is an excellent article about this very subject in this months Marlin Magazine... and the best tip they had was to double crimp.. they had very few failures when leaders where double crimped.

[bluefin2na]

Are you saying crimping twice with two seperate sleeves? or do you mean those double sided sleeves??

[BlueMarlin]

using two sleeves.....

[chip]

I agree with kingfishsam, test your crimps! I found that with 400 and 500 pound leaders, the most I could lift was about 275 pounds. It's amazing how thin the mono gets when it's got a lot of weight on it.

I also second the idea of burning a ball on the end- several crimps stopped there just before they slipped.

The trick is to squeeze the crimp as much as you can without creating any sharp edges to cut the mono.

You can't know how strong they are without testing them. Good luck. chip.

[Spooled]

thanks

[ccm]

Buy a good crimper. Spend at least $50 and maybe more. Dont buy the cheopo ones. Crimping is a game of millimeters. Use sharp hooks like Owners and Sampo ball bearing swivels. They are worth the money. I like Jinkae sleeves.