yak2you2
2008-12-19 17:07:58
A friend of mine power trolls, and was discussing an issue that he has with his wires. He not being a computer man I thought I'd ask if anyone had an an answer for him. He has hand marked wire and whenever he gets down into the spools about 20 fathoms or so, he starts finding the stops have been basically smashed out of existence. It seems obvious that it's do to the hydraulic gurdies winding the wire on so tight that the stops are crushed and broken, a problem that I never have had happen winding by hand. Anybody have any ideas how to avoid this?
Another thing that I've experienced that i've been thinking about a remedy for is, I have 75 fathoms of wire on each gurdy, which of coarse I never use all of hand trolling, but have to have in case I need extra wire for emergencies. I haven't always done it that way, I used to just put on 150 feet or so, and if I needed more I'd just spool more on, on the spot.
Lately I've noticed that the unused wire left on the spool has become tarnished and coved with salt. It doesn't look like it's doing my wire any good at all. Saltwater being as corrosive as it is, I'm worried about the long term affects of this.
I've been thinking about one day going somewhere deep, running all my wire out, then coating it with a grease on the way back on. Anybody tried this or have thoughts?
yak2you2
2008-12-19 18:17:54
Always watch your wire for broken strands and/or kinks. When you find one, it's time for a wire splice. I'm sure there's lots of ways to splice, here's how I've been doing it.
Cut out the offensive section of wire. Check to make sure that you aren't going to splice it back together with your stops 3 feet apart, been there, done that. Slide 2 brass wire sleeves on to one end of wire, bend the wire around and insert it back into the sleeves, forming about a 2 inch loop. Crimp it. Cut the end of the wire off flush with the sleeve so the wire doesn't catch on it as it's going out.
Slide 2 more sleeves on to other end of wire. Now stick the other end of wire up through the loop, go around the crimp and back into the loop, slide this end into the sleeves same as before. Crimp it, cinch the not tight, and go fishing. I like the simplicity. A guy once showed me how to do an actual splice, I believe he called it a farmer's eye, but I didn't do it enough, and forgot how.
DiamondLil
2008-12-19 19:59:40
It's not how you crank the wire in, it's how much weight you have on the other end. If you hand crank some 60 pounders(!), you'll get the same result. I switched over to hand-marked wire. While the marks eventually start breaking, the wire lasts a lot longer than machine marked. When I was younger I could crank 25 lbs all day, 30lbs killed me off. Never tried a 60 itself, but I remember a kelp island or two that would have made up the difference:)
Joe
Salty
2008-12-20 00:04:04
Somehow I lost a long post on this subject. Basically based on running a lot of wires for lots of years fishing year round, dinglebarring lingcod, trolling pinks and chums, etc. I recommend you call Frank Nakashima @ Pacific Net & Twine and ask him about his North Pacific Trolling wire. 1-800-895-4327
Frank seems to know more about troll wire than anyone I have ever talked to. From the quality of the steel, to the lay, to the roll, to the hand marking he is the authority. To me it is kind of like gurdies, there are Easthopes, then there are the rest. There is North Pacific troll wire and then there are the rest.
To save your stops try two things. Go to the blue fairleads and Canadian (Jensen) troll snaps. The snaps will go through the fairlead instead of jamming and damaging both your wire and your hand marked stop. The snaps are also easier on your hands and quicker to use once you get used to them.
two meter troll
2008-12-20 00:22:49
well on your hand guardees just flip the wire every so often. keeps it clean and wears it even.
for the guy crushing his stops. switch to lighter cannon balls and take the guanins off before they hit the block; a body might also want to slow the retrieve speed a bit and spend some time hand guiding the wire onto the spool. most times smashed stops are from the wire stacking in the spool wrong.
Katlian
2008-12-21 19:31:44
I am a firm believer that nearly all wire damage is done by crew running snaps into the fairlead. It is amazing how much more damage the crew side has than the skipper side. Even if it isn't true, it is always a great position to take with the crew.
slr
salmontroll
2008-12-22 02:03:48
Another thing I've noticed is to make sure you have enough backing on your spools, the closer the wire is to the edge of the spools, the less the angle it has to bend around the spool. Of course it's a disaster if it comes off. so only go so far.