improved terminal rig

[Charkbait]

Well I took it upon myself to do some testing.

I started on Tuesday and fished 7 hours in the surf, caught a nice big strong fish and tested the crimps out.

I then only retied my shock knot on Friday morning, landed a bigger stronger fish then without retying my terminal knots at all. Saturday repeated it on a sissy 40" striper, and then a big strong fish on Monday again. All this with the same terminal end, only retying my shock knot and monitoring line wear.

I use 20# Suffix Tri running line to an improved albright to 65# big game...nothing special right.

it is then crimped using a thimbal to the swivel of the hook leader. I had SS swivels this time and will continue to use those. Good news for those of us who put in a lot of consecutive days or can toss really hard. It took some guts to do this testing for sure, I thought I was going to have a heart attack several times not knowing if it would hold up.

In general I will break off an 80# leader at the knot on a cast about once per day, never happened this week and I'm sold.

This is the key! It protects the line against wear through from the swivel and spreads out the stress over a larger section of line during a cast and fighting a fish so instead of the width of a swivel being in contact with your shock leader you have almost an inch of area.

[Jeepcreep]

Hey chark,

I use a 40 or 50 lb shock, to 17lb suffix tri running line. I was, until recently using a doubled palomar loop to an improved albright. I found that the Tritanium ties a nice slim beauty, so i've been using that the last 2 trips out this month. No problems casting, or fighting with this set up.

My question is about crimping. I snell my hooks on 80lb then an improved clinch to the swivel. As you stated before, you land a fish, you loose confidence in these, and retie. Or you don't, and you worry the whole time your fighting in the next fish.

I had a nasty hand injury this year, and can't tie as fast, or as often as i once could. Crimping seems to be the answer. What size crimps and pliers should i get for 80lb mono, or 100lb mono? How much is too much to spend on the pliers? And where'd you get those sleeves?

Thanks
Chris

[Dixie719]

Ben,

Shoot some pics of what your talking about, would love to see a real time photo of what your doing, so I'm on the same page!

[AirDown]

Ben,

Shoot some pics of what your talking about, would love to see a real time photo of what your doing, so I'm on the same page!

I was thinking the same thing. Also I like the Slimbeauty knot also. Some find it hard to tie. Even with my eyes I like it for size and durability.

[Jeepcreep]

Slimbeauty is a tough one to tie. The only trick i know of is to use a running line that has very little memory. Braid is perfect, but the 17lb tritanium gets it done too. I can't tie it with Siege or big game, without wanting to throw the whole rod and reel into the ocean. Even with the tritanium, it'll sometimes take 2 attempts. The profile of it makes it worth it, IMO.

[Charkbait]

I basically still tie up and snell my hook to a swivel as usual, but instead of tying the shocker to the other end of the swivel. I may or may not crimp the 80-150# hook leader and will do this without a thimble since it only has the weight of the bait pulling on it. The force of the 8oz or better on a cast is what causes me to break off at the knot so I use the protective thimble on that side of the rig. I'll try and post a pic soon, its raining like hell here now and my stuff is still outside on the truck rack.

[Charkbait]

I've tried a bunch of shocker knots and keep coming back to the improved albright, slim beauty included. I can tie an albright in about 30 seconds so until one breaks on me I'm sticking with it.

[WALTON]

Ben,
We have been using something very similar,I think, we have been using loop protectors,(spring type),same idea -line goes thru spring,which is lighter than a loop protector,comes out gets a alum
crimp-have held up very well--although any item adds weight --the cast. Take a look at wind on leaders-they are any lenght ,but wrap around reel (5 times min.),spin or con.,thus all the thrust is on the reel,not on the knot, -the connection bim to bim is small goes thru eyes, easy(smaller than any uni to uni-in this size mono-I have been using BHP Tackle(the best on the E. Coast) He has made mine out of "Soft Steel" a very soft ,pli-able mono-This system costs a few bucks-unless you make your own wind on-not enough time-but it has no equal(silly statement) but true for me-cause I can't break it off even using 10oz-12oz. I used this a lot with braid-real strenght.
I like all the rest of us am always looking for the strongest and lightest way to throw heavy weight. long post sorry-