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I am looking for an absolutely smooth splice between an .027 shooting line and a shooting head - 9 wt. I know this has been addressed many times for loops and knots - but I am looking for a splice. One that will hold up to extreme hauling and casting. I may never fish with it but if I do it would be for snook and reds in salt.
Bob Bolton
Doesn't spicing the rig defeat one of the main benefits of using heads, changing them as depth requirements change?
I've never had a problem with handshake knots holding the rig together. Besides, if I have the head in past the rod tip when casting it just doesn't work as well.
Just wondering aloud.
The "steelheads" invented the homemade integrated lines years ago and I am sure you can find better instruction in an older steelheading how-to book.
Basically the running line and the head are cut at a long diagonal so as to match up
They are then glued and sown together
Then the whole area (and a little extra at each end) is thread wrapped and coated with a layer of sealing glue
This sounds like a major pain in the ***.. and it is,
(that's why there are commercial integrated lines now :shock: )
but it's possible to build a line that does pretty much anything you want.
Bob,
I tried this as an experiment this last season. It came about because I 'broke' my 6 wt. sinking line, leaving me with about 30 feet of it. I wanted to turn it into a shooting head type deal and continue to use it, but I was concerned, since the splice would be continually going through the guides, about a smooth connection.
Rather than try a knot, which would be bulky, I decided to glue it and then cover it with heat shrink tubing.
If it failed, I'd not be out anything but an already ruined line, and if it worked, I'd have a nice little set up without having to find a new line.
I used braided line for the 'running' line (the backing that was already on the rod, not 'ideal' but it was already there). I slid a 1" piece of heat shrink onto the line, then overlapped the fly line and backing about 1/2 inch and added some Zap-A-Gap. I allowed it to cure, then slid the heat shrink over it and carefully heated it until it molded to the lines.
Caugth a couple of hundred trout, and some nice ones, with this, as well as a few pike ad lots of smallmouth over the course of the summer. Tippet strength was a maximum of 3x. Splice held up fine, and slipped through the guides like it wasn't even there.
Just something to consider.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Bob
here is a link... maybe this will work for you...
Brad
http://furledleaders.proboards26.com...ead=1187990455
Bob, many salt water anglers use braided mono (like the braided loops) and splice the running line to Rio T14. Use about 16" of braided mono and insert the running line and shooting head in in 8" each. Then use 10lb test mono and tie on each end a nail knot at each end. Trim all tag ends and the ends of braided mono. Then glue the knot area only with plio bond. Very strong connection and does not hang up in the rod guides.
Kerry,
That sounds like what I'm looking for. I'll try it and take some pictures. Thanks.
Bob
I think there's a good article with pictures on Dan Blanton's site.
Randy Kadish