I have been soaking up some research on wind on leaders and I had a couple questions.

1. How do you match the braid portion of the wind on? Same as the main line? Closer to the leader weight? Would you ever go stronger than the mainline?

2. Is there any difference in live bait performance between a wind on and a traditional topshot spliced connection with hollow core?

3. What's the best way to make a spliced loop on your mainline?

4. What are the ways to connect your wind on to the main line loop? I couldn't find a video on the youtube channel.

5. Would you ever use a wind on connection for a trolling application?

6. What's the smallest test leader you would use with 100# hollow core?

7. I have watched the wind on instructional video where you show the double sleeved approach and I plan on using that for making leaders. Is there any benefit to a longer braid length on the wind on?

Thanks for any feedback.

Usually the braid we use is 1 line class heavier than the leader, but there's no problem going equal line classes or even above if you're just using the leader for abrasion resistance and not breaking strength.

There really isn't a difference between a wind-on and a served connection as far as live bait performance. The size of a 3 turn cats-paw won't affect how the bait swims.

The best way to make a spliced loops is the way you make it best. There's really only one way to make it and it just take practice. I start out with about 5 feet of line, and use a reverse latch splicing towards the end of the line. Bunch up an excess of line before the latch, close the main line in the latch of the needle and pull it out of the braid in one motion so as to not pop the latch back up and get it stuck in the braid. At this point you'll have a loop in your line you just have to keep pulling to turn it inside out. After that you just tuck the tag end back into the line going away from your loop. For this part make your life easier and use a loop needle instead of a latch. A tip would be to leave some slack on both sides and push it towards the middle where you tuck the tag in that way you can have a tight connection. After you see that both sides came together you can pull all of the slack out and tighten everything up. This video might be of some use. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3193qo2JpFE

The best way is a 3 turn loop to loop cats-paw, we'll see if we can make a video about it. There are some diagrams online for how to do it, the only advice I could give would be to keep your finger inside of the loop when you cinch it to keep the loops even otherwise one tag could be too long and it won't look right.

Usually, for trolling applications, guys are using a longer 50-100 yard leader of mono for the extra stretch. Wind-ons are good because you can easily change a short leader on the boat without having to do another serve or a big knot, but for trolling since you're using longer leader the time it takes you to get it off offsets any kind of gain. It also makes it harder to do a cats-paw if you have a large coil like that since it tends to get twisted, unless you make the wind-on on a line spool.

You could probably go down to a 60# leader into the 100# braid, I wouldn't go any lower but I'd also recommend trying to match up the braid to be at most 1 line class above just to ensure the best connection.

The only benefit to doing a longer length is security. The custom wind-ons that Blake here makes usually have a doubled over length of about 2.5-3 feet or so so you're using 3 feet of fluoro or mono when you go inside the braid. The longer that braid is, the more leader you use up to go up inside of it which costs you money in the long run. Some guys do really short connections, but for redundancy I'd keep it at around 2-3 feet just to be safe.

quote:

Originally posted by Fishaholic:
I have been soaking up some research on wind on leaders and I had a couple questions.

1. How do you match the braid portion of the wind on? Same as the main line? Closer to the leader weight? Would you ever go stronger than the mainline?

2. Is there any difference in live bait performance between a wind on and a traditional topshot spliced connection with hollow core?

3. What's the best way to make a spliced loop on your mainline?

4. What are the ways to connect your wind on to the main line loop? I couldn't find a video on the youtube channel.

5. Would you ever use a wind on connection for a trolling application?

6. What's the smallest test leader you would use with 100# hollow core?

7. I have watched the wind on instructional video where you show the double sleeved approach and I plan on using that for making leaders. Is there any benefit to a longer braid length on the wind on?

Thanks for any feedback.

One thing I'd like to mention, whenever I insert leader into my hollow braid I'll go a full "wingspan" arms wide, about 6 feet NOT 3 feet. While 3' may hold, it's not a certainty especially if the leader test is more than one line class below the braid. You want to be conservative, use a longer serve or make use of three nail knots rather than one, insert the line further than may be necessary, use appropriate glue. So, you have three independent things going on to secure the leader within the braid. Any single failing won't result in a problem or heartbreak. Conservatism may be it's own reward.

1. How do you match the braid portion of the wind on? Same as the main line? Closer to the leader weight? Would you ever go stronger than the mainline? You can certainly go up or down one or two line classes, mono/fl leader to braid test.

2. Is there any difference in live bait performance between a wind on and a traditional topshot spliced connection with hollow core? Nope, both would do the same.

3. What's the best way to make a spliced loop on your mainline? Use a reverse latch.

4. What are the ways to connect your wind on to the main line loop? I couldn't find a video on the youtube channel. CharkBait USA - that's our channel, but you may also visit ToroTamer's website and then hit their tutorial page, vids are more brief than on CB's YT channel.

5. Would you ever use a wind on connection for a trolling application? You could, but typically we want a longer topshot than the typical 25 feet which is used for bait. You do want some stretch on the troll, that's your shock absorber.

6. What's the smallest test leader you would use with 100# hollow core? I would be comfortable at 80 with a dual wall of 100#. Could go 60, but I'd not go lighter and I'd want to insert the leader further into the braid at the lighter tests.

7. I have watched the wind on instructional video where you show the double sleeved approach and I plan on using that for making leaders. Is there any benefit to a longer braid length on the wind on? The longer the insertion of leader into the braid the more secure. I go for 6' typically, some less, some more. 6' has worked for me very well without failure. No reason to go longer on a windon than what's necessary for security - but this becomes subjective.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chark,

Mark, Sergey,

Thanks for the detailed responses. I really appreciate them. Saved round on a casting application.

For a wind on for a casting rod. Would you go longer mono length or the same 25ft like you would for bait?

Tight Lines,
Nick

That one is entirely subjective to angler and application. I'll usually start out with 25 feet for bait, 25-50 yards for iron or other lures.