titanium wire wahoo leaders (photos and video)

[alantani]

you saw the report that i just did for my last 8-day trip on the SOA.  perhaps what you might not have seen was the frustration of learning how to fish for wahoo all over again.  it was very humbling.  for a dozen or more strikes on day one, i only had three fish to show for it, and two came in on the troll.  so yes, i picked up on one fish out of 10 (or 20) for bombs and bait.  one of the big problems was that wahoo were slicing through the 40 and 60 pound sevenstrand.  those same problems continued the morning of the second day, and then mike kang gave me 25 foot leader coil of 40 pound titanium.  i fished the rest of the afternoon at the rocks with titanium and had no problems at all, then even picked up a few the next morning at the ridge.  who says old dogs can't learn new tricks!  anyway, thanks to mike for saving my butt!  i'm still using 90 pound sevenstrand wire for bombs and raiders, and 275 pound 47 strand wire for marauders, but no more 40 or 60 pound for bait.  it's too hard on my blood pressure. 

now, i'm certainly not the world's authority on this, so if anyone see's something that i've missed, please chime in, particularly if you have a line on a crimper that can do the job without all this drilling and filing.  you won't hurt my feelings. what we did worked great, though.  so here goes.....

here's the titanium wire.  it's a little cheaper on amazon than in the shops. 



this is my little box of goodies.  i have my modified $20 crimper, split ring pliers, an assortment of double sleeves for mono, an assortment of single sleeves for wire, loop protectors and boots for the marauders, 100 pound black swivels and lots of rings. 



for the 40 pound titanium wire, we will be using the #2 single sleeve.



either 90 or 100 pound rosco swivels are fine.  just make sure what every you use is black. 



really aggravating.  the only place i found that has these rings is squidco in san diego. 



this is a standard "el cheapo" four position crimper that everyone carries for $20.  if you buy a fancy stainless steel crimper, you might have trouble with the harder steel when you have to drill or file to fine tune this.



one of the first things i did a long time ago was to drill on either side of the crimp "hole" to effectively "narrow" the crimping surface.  the original idea was to get two crimps on a longer mono sleeve and leave a bulge in the middle.  this works for the longer double mono sleeves but not the single wire sleeves.  you need only make sure that the crimped sleeve has a slight flare on either end.



then i had to hand file the mating surfaces to flatten out the crimp surface. 



i realize this seems like a ridiculous amount of work.  you may get lucky and but a crimper that works perfectly.  you will know that it works when you can pull with a scale on 40 pound wire and the leader doesn't break until you get to 40 pounds.  anyway, after all the fiddling, this is what i finally wound up with. 



now you have to decide how long to make your leaders.  you can go 12, 18, or 24 inches, what ever you want.  i opted for 24 inches because there is more wire to work with.  add a #2 sleeve and a swivel.



run the wire back through the sleeve to form a big loop.



keep pulling the wire through and then go back into the sleeve to form a second loop.  the tag end of the wire should now be just perfectly even with the opposite side of the sleeve so that the sleeve will crimp down on three full lengths of wire.



pull back on the first loop to tighten the second loop.



pull back on the main part of the wire to tighten down on the first loop. 



now crimp the sleeve.





one side down.  here's what the crimped sleeve looks like compared to a new one.



now repeat.















now bag up your leaders and you're done!





and for those that are more visual, here's a video!



extra - mike kang just told me that he uses a Nicopress 17-2 & 17-BA.

[handi2]

Very nice Alan. Ive been making leaders like that since i was a kid. All packed up and ready to catch a ride to the local beach pier. I didnt have a drivers license yet!

We used 18lb Sevenstrand for the Spanish Mackerels and Bluefish and 40lb for the larger Mackerals.

Now when trolling out in the Gulf in 600 to 800 feet of water i use 300lb fluorocarbon leader on our YoZuri and Marauders. I haven't been cut off yet! The YFT eat these same lures.

[theswimmer]

Alan,
Klien make a very nice hand held swager for small sizes.
Right about 40 bucks though......
Best
JT

[theswimmer]

I do have a couple of Nicopress swedgers if you want to make some Grander leaders 😎

[conchydong]

 Nice tutorial Alan, I might drill out  the smaller sizes on my cheap crimpers like you did. Makes sense when using short small sleeves.

[Shark Hunter]

The wire I use for my shark rigs is called tooth proof by American Fishing Wire.
A whole different ballgame. Smallest I use is #19. It is rated at 360lb.
I do have some #22 that is titanium and rated at 500lbs.
They do however make it as small as 27lbs.
I only use double barrel crimps and my tool of choice is a cheap Sea Striker Crimper.
It hasn't failed me yet.
http://www.alltackle.com/american_fishing_wire_tooth_proof.htm
I don't crimp my wire, I use a Haywire twist. The crimping is for the mono sliding trace.
I am going to make some for Sid sometime in the near future and will do a tutorial.

That twist isn't mine. It was one from Salty Dog.

[MarkT]

Nice idea to drill the crimper to make the jaws narrower. I just did it to mine! Filed the jaws too. It works much better now!

[Dominick]

I crimp my wire lures but I never knew about the second loop.  I'll try it the next time I rerig.  Dominick

[Ron Jones]

I've never seen the second loop before. Is the idea to fill the sleeve with more wire?
Looks really nice Boss, some day I'd like to be with you fishing them.
Ron

[MarkT]

The biggie with the second loop is it removes a sharp end that can stick you or the deckhand. It probably makes a tighter connection too.

[Ron Jones]

OK,
I can see that.
We use a lot of lanyards that are crimped braided wire in weapons handling and other stuff. I always hit the tag end with a few strokes of a file to dull it off. Maybe I'll start trying the second loop.
Ron

[Bryan Young]

Squidco has those rings?  I've been looking for those in black for a few years now. So I decided to use swivels instead but prefer rings.

[oc1]

The second loop makes it much stronger.  To pull the wire free from the crimp the second loop would have to be pulled back on itself until it makes a sharp 180 degree turn.  Just about impossible to do.
-steve

[otownjoe]

Nicopress makes a small crimper that is perfect for this task without modification.   the model# is 17-ba .it can be used with AFW #1 crimps to make wahoo leaders.I've seen many posts on this subject on bloodydecks. Joe

[alantani]

yes, mike kang just told me that he uses a Nicopress 17-2 & 17-BA.