:shock:
What is a good way to heat the shrink tube so that it is secure but doesn’t damage the fly line?
Greg
Hair dryer
As ducksterman recommended, a hair dryer is what I use to use and it works great. Now I do not use the shrink tubing. I leave it off and do a nail knot where you would be putting the shrink tubing and then coat it with Pliobond cement for a smooth transition through the rod guides. The shrink tubing works pretty good but I have had one come off due to the shrink tubing hitting the guides on retrieves which I think caused the loop connector to come off. That is why I now use the nail knot and cement.
Use a Bic lighter. It will set fire to the whole works rendering them as harmless as they are usless. Learn to use knots instead. :twisted:
Ever used one of those loops Castwell?
yup, biggest joke on the fly fishing world ever.
Adam,
I have used those loop connectors & didn’t like 'em. At the Michigan Fish-In, FatBill taught me the Castwell knot. Easy knot, passes through the guides easily. Only question I had was having to cut flyline to reattach another looped leader. Very little line is lost & it is actually faster than undoing the old tightened loop to loop & attaching another.
Mike
That must be why Dan Blanton uses them – I’ve heard he has a sense of humor.
While not my preferred method of employing a loop to loop connection, they work fine. Hold 'em over a light bulb and rotate them to seat the heat shrink.
Yup, gotta agree with JC on this one. I used them till a fish a bit longer and the shape of a football pulled one off (loop, leader, tippet, fly and the fish were gone). If you must use um be sure to glue them on.
I use perfection loop set up now.
then I do not agree with Blanten.
When braided nylon loops are constructed and installed correctly, a flyline or leader will fail before a braided nylon loop. I have no faith in the ones you can buy off the shelf. Typically they are too short and the single catch glued loop is prone to failure - usually at the wrong time. I make my own loops. Use them on my heavier weight gear used in the saltwater for end loops in fly lines. Never had one fail. Not as bulky as loops made by folding over the flyine, and quicker to install than a whipped finish loop. Braided mono loops are the most common way of creating flyline loops that I have encountered with bluewater anglers. I first learned about construction and usage from presentations and writings of Trey Combs and Nick Curcione about a decade ago when I became interested in the bluewater game.
They are secured with nail knots at the end of the braid, coated with pliobond, Loon Knot Sense, or some other flexible covering. Glued sections may become rigid and break down due to flexing that occurs with the cast. Shink tubing can fail because under heavy tension, the line stretches and the diameter shrinks, so the tube becomes loose. Then the trap on the end of the braid is gone and with no trap the braid relaxes and no longer grips the fly line - there goes the connector.
I have seen anglers that insisted that a nail knot, needle knot, and other line to leader connection was sufficient get that sick look on their face when a tuna stripped their connection right off the end of their flyline.
Don’t know how the Castwell Knot would hold under these conditions - haven’t tried it under fishing conditions on big, fast moving critters.
I don’t use the nylon loops on my trout and panfish tackle where a nail knot connection or Castwell Knot is more than sufficient and works very well.
It only has to be stronger than the weakest knot in the set.