knot to drennan soft strand

[Krill Mix!]

what kind of knot can i use to drennan soft streand, i want a good and strong knot. //Robert

 

[john blundell]

i presume you mean you're making pike traces??? Or something of the sort.

Twist them mate don't tie a knot.

http://fjames.proboards6.com/index.cgi?board=pre&action=display&thread=1106406878
http://www.pacgb.co.uk/tips/twisttrace.html

These links tells you exactly how to.

I actually use Fox Carbo flex and crimp my traces. It's quicker. I don't know if it's better, but it's certainly no worse, and more convinient.

(you can probably get crimps small enough for soft strand too)

John

 

[stephen cotton]

In my experience use crimps for softstrand knotting the stuff weakens it by quite a margin (wrong knot?). If you get micro crimps the whole thing can be made very neat.

 

[MarkTheSpark]

I agree. They say you can knot it but don't bother. Crimps is the way to go.

By the way, Softstrand frays like b***ery when you cut it if you don't anneal the spot you want to cut with a lighter first. To get it through the crimp, I usually dip the end in superglue to hold the very fine steel fibres together.

But I think it's some of the best wire out there, by a large margin.

 

[Chris Bishop]

You can safely knot your hooks to almost any wire using a knotless knot. I wouldn't twist soft strand as it's plastic covered.

Use a lark's head hitch to attach the swivel and a crimp to keep the tag end neat.

I've had some very bad experiences with this wire breaking when I got some a few seasons back for zander fishing.

Supple wires are also more tangle-prone.

 

[pete the levelspiker(pac)]

had problems with drennan 7 strand snapping for no reason a few years ago,so i stopped using any wire from drennan.
now that qed tow rope is no longer available,i`ve been using et and wychwood 49 strand.
whether crimping or twisting,it`s always advisable to use the larks head knot to attach the hook or swivel to the trace wire,it doesn`t slip,so a crimp or a twist can be simply a way of tidying things up rather than having to rely on it not slipping under pressure.

 

[MarkTheSpark]

You can safely knot your hooks to almost any wire using a knotless knot. I wouldn't twist soft strand as it's plastic covered

I'm not sure that it is, Chris, which is why it frays so easily. I confess I've not knotted it and bow to your knowledge in this area, but crimped, my traces have been faultless

 

[Chris Bishop]

It's more like a whipping knot, agree most knots are ueless with wire as they pig-tail even the so-called supple ones.

Cut the wire to slightly more than the required length - say 3ft.

You attach the bottom hook first.

Find the "flat" side - opposite the side where the extra point is brazed on - and pass the wire through the eye so a short tag lies along the shank on this flat side.

Hold this with thumb and forefinger and bring the long end down the shank on the other side, take it around the bend and then whip eight or 10 tight turns, before passing the long end out through the eye; makign sure it all stays nice and tight.

Most wires snug down fairly nicely with opractice.

Then cover it in shrink tube to keep the tuns neat and help reduce damage from forceps/pliers when you're unhooking a fish.

Thread the long end through the eye of the top hook in the same way, so the trace is lying along the flat side, then hold hook in thumb an forefinger take wire around bend, whip up shank etc and repeat process to attach top hook.

Swivel at the top of trace is secured with a lark's head, with a crimp to keep the tag end neat, with the bottom eye/connecting and little bit that ends up poking out beneath the crimp covered again in shrink tube.

It's quite quick when you get the hang of it.