Crimped Mono Test Results

crabbait · 06-12-2003, 11:48 PM

On my last trip to Englund's (before talking with some of you guys at the TA meeting), on the advice of one of the fine staff, I bought a cool stainless crimper, some 200lb Jinkai mono and some oval "G" size aluminum sleeves rated for 150-200lb line.

I heard that some don't care for crimped mono because it is hard to get the crimp right so I thought we would give it the old crimp test! I read on a salty website that you should melt the tag end of the line and blunt it off to form a kinda "button" so I did that on both ends, then formed two six inch loops, crimped both closed with about 8" of line inbetween.

My brother "volunteered" to test the breaking strength of the loops. He placed one loop over a stout but broken off tree limb, inserted a length of stout pipe through the other loop and proceeded to exert increasing body weight until something let loose (highly scientific, ya know). He was able to suspend his entire body weight (advertised at 218lbs) for a few moments when the loop over the limb broke. Both loops got a little smaller in the process but the actual break occurred in the middle of the loop, not at the crimp.

I should have performed the same test with two loops tied with Perfection Loop knots (actually a "bend" I bet) but did not think of it 'til now.

Overall, we learned that crimps should at least initially prove strong enough for anything a tuna throws at them and that the broken tag end of mono can draw blood, even when the crimp stays on the tree. Luckily it was very little blood between his knuckles and not an eye or something. Hey, I never said we were very smart!

PS: Almost forgot, the Englund staff guy said he had done a lot of commercial fishing and other salty stuff and had once fished with Jon for tuna aboard the Puffin! Said it re-introduced him to prayer and helped to establish his personal relationship with his maker. Was not interested in a return trip. Some of you guys must be real animals! Go, Dogs!

[ 06-13-2003, 12:56 AM: Message edited by: crabbait ]

Miss B Haven · 06-13-2003, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by crabbait:
Said it re-introduced him to prayer and helped to establish his personal relationship with his maker. Was not interested in a return trip. Some of you guys must be real animals! Go, Dogs!

Yep- some days will definitley make a believer out of ya! :grin:

bait boy · 06-13-2003, 06:53 AM

Hey bro can you come hang on this for a sec' I don't want to get hurt [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

Grain of Salt · 06-13-2003, 07:53 AM

Crimping is fast and strong, however......while at the fishexpo in Seattle a couple of years ago Jinkai had a booth with a test machine set up to challenge anyones knot....several of us trollers gave our best knots to the machine on 50 pound test and all of us lost to the crimp (professionally applied by the factory rep) then this troller from Canada comes up and says let me try eh?....he whips a knot out quick and the machine pops and strains till the crimp gives out, the canuk smiles and wanders off...i follow, offering to ply him with beer for a lesson, but to no avail...i did however grab the knot off the machine but have yet to figure it out....

Woody · 06-13-2003, 08:18 AM

Quote:

My brother "volunteered" to test the breaking strength of the loops. He placed one loop over a stout but broken off tree limb, inserted a length of stout pipe through the other loop and proceeded to exert increasing body weight until something let loose

I thought I was going to bust a gut I was laughing so hard. As a father of three sons, I've seen variations on this more times than I can count. "Go ahead, trust me, It'll be fine, what, are you CHICKEN."

corrirod · 06-13-2003, 08:54 AM

Crabbait,

Did you try putting a flemish knot on before you did the test? That will reduce the load on the the loop, which in turn will reduce the load on the crimp significantly.

crabbait · 06-13-2003, 09:12 AM

Did not try that, Rod. Where would that applications work best? I have crimped mono at the hook where I have used the little ring that goes through the hook eye (slide up between the tandems) that comes with a second grooved ring that the mono sits in. The crimp sleeve goes down pretty much against that.

The other place I have crimped mono is at the other end or the lure leader where a loop is needed to attach to the corkscrew swivel. Where would I use it?

Disclaimer: None of this stuff has been wet yet. I am not a tuna fisherman. I just buy all the equipment and play with it in the living room while waiting for the guys to weld my tuna boat. Dog thinks the feathers are cool but can't understand why I won't throw them for him. Don't follow me, I'm lost.

wak'm&stak'm · 06-13-2003, 09:16 AM

I and RJ never lost a jig all year with crimps....

As an experiment I put a crimp on the swingset, and hung 2 small neighbor kids, a dog, a sack of spuds, spare tire, 3 empty gas cans, a lawn mower, the night stand by my bed by it and it is holding up just fine....I will check on them in an hour.... :smile:

corrirod · 06-13-2003, 09:58 AM

I should've called it a flemish "eye" to make more sense.

Here is a link that Orca posted on another thread that shows how to make it. It adds double strength to the loop and reduces the load on the crimp exponentially.

Flemish Eye Link

ANDYCOHO · 06-13-2003, 06:42 PM

That is a great link Rod, Thanks!

Crab bait, how much what that crimper, it seems like it might be something worth while to have.

Pilar · 06-13-2003, 08:14 PM

The perfect loop is easy to tie, requires no tools and holds pretty good. This knot works on any mono line > 60# test. It is about the only knot that works in the 100 + class of lines.

Crabbait, we should have a test to see if one or the other works better. So far every leader that has broken, snapped in the middle somewhere not at either knot. Usually a handline fish that is large and in charge.

It is easy to drag a handline fish and not know he is on.

crabbait · 06-13-2003, 09:56 PM

Andy - it is a "High Seas Crimper", stainless steel (China, 'course), $38.95 at England's. They had a cheaper one that would do the same thing but it was not stainless. I guess you could do all your crimping at home and leave the crimper out of the salt environment.

Pilar- I'll get some more beer and see if my bro wants to test a crimp v. a P. loop! I think the loop is a great knot and have tied all the upper end of the leaders. Saved the crimps for the hook ends (not sure about the leader length, yet. Started with about 8' of mono.)

Plugs are not compatible with feathers? You talkin cedar plugs or those overgrown bass thingees with the lip on them that Yo-Zuri puts out? What about the Wahoo plugs with the eye at the top, two tandem hooks and no lip? We always had one of those wet in Mexico on a short line. The guys said they caught a lot of most everything on them but they were about a foot long. I have seen them about 8" advertised. We fishin those?

Another thing we dragged around in Mexico was a 2x4 about 15" long painted red with an eye way off center in one end. It had flashers the length of both sides. The thing whipped all over the place and was hard to pull in when we had fish on and needed to clear.

I noticed that the weight on the jigs (6-7") goes everywhere from 7/8oz to 2oz. Are they all compatible?

bait boy · 06-14-2003, 12:48 AM

Bugleman was talkin about rapala cd-series plugs divers with the bill... Yeah a bass plug on steroids. they cut your troll speed to keep them running straight.

06-14-2003, 05:11 AM

Quote:

The perfect loop is easy to tie

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">It was hard for me to learn from knot books but Pilars explanation made tying it fairly easy.

CB,
Put the leader into a length of polly pipe and pull them with a come-a-long.

crabbait · 06-14-2003, 09:18 AM

Keta - That would take all the adventure out of it! You probably wear a helmet on your tractor, too.

Thanks, Dog.