Solid vs Hollow braid

[BMITCH]

Keep us posted on this Bob. I bought a reel that has 600 yards of JB Hollow that is new. I want to use it as backing and splice it to 130 lb mono, but I am scared because I don't know what I'm doing. I can watch video's all day, but I need to see a serve done right if front of me to know I'm doing it right.

Yeah me too Daron. I was fortunate enough to see it done just recently. Looked fairly straight forward but the jig was key in making the connection. I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks. I NEED to get this down as the season is fast approaching. Sometime I need a fire lit under me to get anything done

[bill19803]

ill put my nickle in one more time  and then  go hide  in my boat installing   downrigger   and  fish hawk unit

Ive build  top  shots   for   about 8 years now  and cant say i remember  any pull outs or  failures  on  tuna  to  232.
this method  works   on  topshots  for  60   to   whatever
Head  down  to local  drug  store  and  get a  nail polishing block  ( a couple of bucks)   Look up  what a net mending needle  looks like about  6 inches  long and make one out of   stiff plastic  or even  cardboard. go to home depot  and get  2  small    lever  clamps   and  find a  chunk of    2  x 4   18 inches  long. Find a  good   brand of    super   glue    and  get  some  25 lb  braided   spectra  solid.(i use red to note  floro,  green to note mono)   Thats all ya need  to make  top   shots  till the cost of  floro   bankrupts ya.
Load  the   net mending needle   with the   small  test braid. Drill   oblong  holes  in  2 x 4   that   tightly  fit   shaft of the  lever  clamps and  jam them   into  holes. thats  your  jig.  Take  the   nail polishing block   and polish  end of  plastic line  until its  smooth  with  no burrs  on  end  and  has  a ball on the  end. Insert  the   plastic  ( Mono  or floro)  into the  braided line    a few  feet- I use   5  feet  for  safety  but  2  will  do.  Tie  the   spectra  to a  door  knob  and pull like the devil.  This  sets  the finger trap  to lock  the plastic in  place   and it  will NOT  slip later. set up the jig  and  clamp  the  spectra/plastic   combo in  it   so that the  join is  about in middle between the clamps.  Tie  a ten  turn uni knot on  combo  and   snug it up  but not  tight.  Gently  slide  the uni   so its  at the  junction of  the  plastic/spectra   then pull  it  tight as  you can. Kitchen  knife handles or  dowels  work well as pulling  tools  hands   get   cut  take your  choice. lol tie   two more  ten turn  uni   slide  till  they  are   1/4  inch apart and  pull  uber tight. Superglue  the unis and let   dry. If  you want to check  for pull out  in action , before  supergluing  mark  the junction on the plastic   with black magic  marker  and   then  glue that too   along  with unis. If you are getting pullout in action  you will see  gap  between  end of black mark  and spectra
it helps  if  you wet the  spectra before   inserting plastic  line  but not necessary.  The more  taper  you polish into the plastic the better-it inserts better   and  does not cause rapid   diameter  decrease which   causes  ultimate   failure of  spectra   at uber high loads ( more  then  we  will  ever  use,

Thats all  folks now back  to my boat  since   the  snow  melted today  so its  lake trout  time soon

[Rivverrat]

The biggest reason I like hollow braid is the ability to change out leader or a longer top shot if it becomes nicked. Doing this using Loop to loop no knots. Or I want to go to a lighter on my leader. Also if the hollow gets nicked or you lose some you just splice it back to the original length or longer. This stuff can go 10 years with out losing any appreciable strength. So in the long run it will pay for itself.

Fishing the river my line is always getting nicked or boogerd up in some way, being able to easily change out my mono leader is a great thing.

[jonnou]

Keep us posted on this Bob. I bought a reel that has 600 yards of JB Hollow that is new. I want to use it as backing and splice it to 130 lb mono, but I am scared because I don't know what I'm doing. I can watch video's all day, but I need to see a serve done right if front of me to know I'm doing it right.

Yeah me too Daron. I was fortunate enough to see it done just recently. Looked fairly straight forward but the jig was key in making the connection. I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks. I NEED to get this down as the season is fast approaching. Sometime I need a fire lit under me to get anything done

I have not mastered the serve yet but am comfortable with a NAIL Knot. This will do the job as will the uni as described earlier. these serves are a way of keeping things in place they are 'not' what holds thing together. Make a few wind ons Home made jig or friend and a few simple tool are all you need. Keta is great at answering questions on technique and method.
Best regards and good luck
Btw has anyone been experiencing pop ups on this site Its been a while since I have logged on and this site has always been free of that sort of rubbish in my experience.

[Shark Hunter]

The pop ups must be on your end Jon. I've never experienced that here.

[Tiddlerbasher]

x2 Daron - Jon you may have 'malware'.
Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from here (don't trust any other site!):

https://www.malwarebytes.org/lp/sem/5/?gclid=CM2DqbuO5MUCFZLLtAod-QQAYw

Run a FULL scan - if you have contracted something nasty it will find it

Back on topic.
Serves - Or how to clamp your line without causing damage.

Obtain 2 or 4 speedclamps like this one



Remove the pin at one end (doesn't matter which end)



You now have a choice 2 or 4 clamps?

Using 2 clamps - Disassemble the clamp (beware of flying springs ). Drill another hole alongside the hole you now have (approx. 1" away).
Re-assemble the clamp.
Screw clamp to a large chunk of wood (or bench? as long as it's sturdy) - Then repeat with second clamp. The reason for 2 holes in each bar is for stability.
You now have 2 clamps fixed either side of a block of wood - The jaws will clamp either end of your serve without any damage because they are rubber covered.

Using 4 clamps - prepare as above, without drilling holes.
Assemble 1 clamp and clamp it to a bench.
Remove the jaws from a 2nd clamp and fit to the assembled clamp as below.
Do the same with another pair of clamps et voila a portable serve clamp.



The clamps can always be re-assembled and used as intended.

[Normslanding]

I used loop to loop with serves for many years. Switched to Nub/ nail knots. Splicing hollow to solid, etc. There are a couple of things I have learned in the evolution:
           1. Simplicity is best, it saves time and makes things more fun.
           2. My reels are filled by diameter, not stated pound test. There is to much market hype. IMO diameter is a better indicator of actual breaking
                 strength. don't think you can test it properly, see Paluses site.
           3. I now have a source in China that I purchase hollow, and 8 weave/strand solid. The weave of the hollow is not as tight as some brands
                 this means you don't get as much on a reel. But the quality is great, it splices as good as any brand, and the price makes it expendable
                 like mono. The line volume on the reel (in most cases) is not a issue.
           4. After reading about Tacglue (I am not a promoter of the product) my testing went in that direction. The method is insert the leader material
                 6" into hollow and glue it, that's it. Some very big Tuna have been landed this way. Other types of Superglue will not work. So I found
                 for MOST applications a 2", YA 2" insertion is all you need. My Grouper fishing here in Florida has shown that getting hung on the bottom
                 over and over just breaks the leader material, without connection failure.
           5. If I am fishing big Tuna, etc. then the Tacglue connection gets longer, and a nail knot to help the connection go thru the guides.
           6. Back to the simplicity..... I have a couple of 500M spools of hollow in my bag, that's enough fill most reels. Gone are the stacks of
                 wind-on leaders, splicing needles, dowels to pull with, serving material, crimping tools, etc. I do use a small piece of wire to insert
                 into hollow, and a bottle of glue.
           7. Also a Albright knot and glue is simple and fast. The glue helps keep back wrap from cumming un dun. And that minimizes failure.
                 That is my connection of choice when connecting other peoples stuff.
           8. I now use all hollow AGAIN for ease of splicing, and connections.
I hope this helps.

[jonnou]

The pop ups must be on your end Jon. I've never experienced that here.

Good to know.  need to clean my machine. anyone have a schematic link for a toshiba sattilite. Blue grease is sure to fix it

[JGB]

Most everyone here seems to be thinking correctly on the braided line and connections.

Recap:
Loop to Loop offer reliability, easy changeability and very small diameters for the knots, and relatively easy to build.
Choose line by diameter rather than stated strength. Manufactures do not post accurate line strength - Paulus web site gives tested strength.
Hollow offers versatility, easy reliable splicing, easier on the hands (does not cut you up as much as solid can) but has high initial cost.
Solid is thinner for a give strength allowing more line capacity, better for finesse fishing but is difficult to tie good knots and if directly splice will loose 30-50% of it's strength.

Well tied serves work very well but have a long stiff section and require special fixtures to tie.
Tac Glue works very well for leader tests of 35# and larger but does not work with solid braid.

We do a lot of 'finesse' fishing for YFT and YT and we use a hybrid line setup for finesse and straight Hollow for 50# and up.
The Hybrid system uses solid braid (we use 30# Power Pro Super Slick Yellow, 40# Ultracast, 50# ultracast, 65# Power Pro Super Slick yellow, Ultracast 65# yellow in that order). We then attach a 6'-15' section of Hollow Ace (40# for the 30# and 40# solid, 60# or 80# for the 50# and 65# solid) using a 100% strength connection and terminate in a loop. If there is interest I can post a DYI on how to do the solid to hollow splice. Using this system we achieve very high strength to line diameter performance.

Examples of what can be achieved with a hybrid line system listed below. For total strength to the hook without failure with fresh connections and line as well as reformed crimping or Bimini twist to the hook. These ratings assume the leader is stronger than the listed strength. Values are tested and based on my current inventory.

30# Power Pro SS   47#
40# Ultracast         66#
50# Ultracast         83#
65# Power Pro SS   87#
65# Ultracast        105#

Comments on Tac Glue.
Tac Glue seems to perform as advertized ( tested it on the bench and on the water last July). It works well for fluorocarbon leaders of 35# and larger (tested to 125# on200#+ cows last January - no failures). If you try to use it on Fluoro less than 35# expect to see delamination to occur partially or complete failure depending on how hard you pull on the line.
Tac Glue ONLY bonds to the Fouro and no to the braid. The connection is formed when the Glue solidifies in the weave of the braid ( meaning the braid must be saturated when applied) and bonds to the flouro.

Served Connections, We seem to always see a couple of served connections slip out on our trips. These seem to be limited to home served windons . I have not seen any BPH serves fail (but then they use a pre-tensioned serve that has all it's holding power in the serve rather than the finger trap). Any way several of the more serious players are using nubs to increase reliability.

Casting leaders like those made by SteamLined use a direct connection that maintains 100% holding strength at the knot with a very low profile connection designed to pass thru the guided easily. I use this type of connection for all my leaders.

We have just barely touched the surface of this topic,
Jim N.

[fIsHsTiiCkS]

Tacglue seems to the way that I am going to need to go, I plan to be using a 80lb hollow to 50lb floro top shot. The tacglue seems easy to do and does not require any further equipment. For 30lb and under I find that I have no issue using solid braid.

[Tiddlerbasher]

Jim which tack glue are you using?
Chris.

[Normslanding]

Do not use the gel. The thin one works. The stuff dries in about 5 seconds. The cost is not great, so on long trips I take small a squeeze bottle with a little glue in it. The bottles can get plugged up so after they start to plug up I trash it. Tacglue keeps very well in the refrigerator.