Hollow Spectra III: Commercial Windon Leaders

[pametfisher]

Below is a report I wrote earlier in the year, but have now posted here. I have updated it in a few areas as approriate. There is also a report, Hollow Spectra IV that I will post soon. PF



Hollow Spectra III
I got around to examining three commercial Windon Leaders, Momoi, Shimano and BHP Tackle, purchased from known quality suppliers. My primary goal was to see how the Serve's (the connection in a spliced leader where the mono exits the braid) stood up under load testing. As I noted in Hollow Spectra II: Basics, in order for a Windon Serve to not creep under repetitive load, the glued Serve has to be able to carry the full load and the inserted splice is the backup (editing note: this is not the conventional wisdom, which holds that the Splice carries most of the load).

Brand M: 20' 80# Mono Leader $9.95
Serve Type: Glued Overhand Knots, 32" Splice (very rough serve)
End Loop: Tanaka Splice
Test Results: Serve separated after 10 cycles 60# load, broke after 20 cycles. Leader crept in splice

Brand S: 20' 80# Fluoro Leader $19.95
Serve Type: Glued Bowstring Serve, 20" Splice (un-Served glue on Spectra)
End Loop: Tanaka Splice
Test Results: Serve separated after 5 cycles 60# load, continued separating each cycle till 15. Leader crept in splice

Brand B: 25' 100# Mono Leader $16.00
Serve Type: Glued Bowstring Serve, double layer-both glued, 40" splice
End Loop: Reverse Blind Splice
Test Results: Serve did not move. 30 cycles 80# load, 1 cycle 90#, 1 cycle 100#

Comments
The Brand M and Brand S leaders had Tanaka End Loops, IMO, not as reliable as the reverse blind splice which is costlier to make. Brand S, a Fluoro carbon leader, looked like it had been left out in the sun. The fluoro was yellow and foggy. It also had an unexpected lump under the Spectra. For both products the Serves looked questionable and they each failed under 75%, slowly applied, load cycles.

Brand B looked very well made and performed accordingly. I stopped loading it at 100% of rating but feel it would have gone further.

I know that this was not an exhaustive look at the market, just the three popular ones that I purchased. My recommendation is that it is well worth buying from the best quality supplier and testing any leader that you plan to use for large fish, there are very significant differences in performance based on my random sample of these three.

(Editing Note: The above was written before the Streamline Leader design was completed. I perform the above tests quite often on it. Because the Serve in a Streamline Leader holds 100% of the load without using glue or wrapping thread, it stands up to hours of casting and dozens of load cycles. Some field test results can be seen in Hollow Spectra VI

(Editing Note: Another test, for spinning reel use, that should be performed on leaders that pass the load-cycle test, is an 8 hour casting test. What I have since seen, is that glued/wrapped Serves may deteriorate after several hours of casting. Also, casting distance can be affected significantly by the length of Serve and amount of glue used.)

[Sea Draggin]

You are the Mad Scientist of Spectra.

[pametfisher]

You are the Mad Scientist of Spectra.

Thanks. I realized last year that after you spend hours hunting down Bluefin, the last thing you want is a line system that fails or a reel that doesn't have a strong enough, durable enough drag to stop the fish. While there are many good lines and reel makers, the way they are specified leaves a lot to be desired. In order to know how good this stuff is, it has to be tested.