Wire leader?

[Captain Michael Buffington]

thoffman,

Do you tie wire alot?

I am just guessing but I would bet your haywire is not a haywire. Your wire pulled tight and broke just like a bad mono knot.

Capt Rick

if you had a centimeter of wire left my guess without seeing it is that it did not have a tight twist before the wrap. When I twist I want the "circle" in the swivel to be small andt tight and when you twist make the two ends between your thumb and forefinger look straight as they cross each other. Hard to describe.

Mike

[Captain Fred Archer]

I come from an era when making good haywire twists by hand was the hallmark of a good fisherman. And yes, part and parcel to that is making both of the knots right. I strongly suggest that those who are using wire get themselves a DuBro Haywire Twist Tool to make their haywires with. The reason being that as soon as you figure out how to use it, you will make perfect haywires every time. And reason #2 is that you won't have to developed "hands of steel" to make them.

A regular haywire to a hook and how we stiff rig ours.

Be back later with a picture of the tool.

[Robja]

Fred,

Do you know anybody that makes the metal ones anymore. I have to be careful with mine because if I ever lose it all I have seen around here is some light composite crap.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Robja,

I don't think they're still making the all-metal ones anymore. Our Chris Jones is checking on that now. We'll advise what we find out.

Like you, we prefer the all-metal models, which last forever if you take good care of them. Between wahoo and shark lures and lures for areas with other toothy critters and other fishermen like us who started using the short wire on everything and fell in love with that rigging, we do a helluva lot of wire rigging. The big battle among the riggers is over the all-metal ones versus the new ones with the plastic part. I've used both and they both work, but it does seem to me that the originals are better. We haven't used enough of the new style to have learned if they last as long.

Here's one from Wahoo Troller's Bible.

[Robja]

Thanks for the info Fred. I have only tried the one with the plastic part on a friends boat and I did not like it. I still hold out hope of finding some old metal ones to have as spares at a widows yard sale. I make all my King Mackerel rigs with wire and I would be upset if I ever lost mine.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Understood, Robja. I feel the same way and so do our riggers. If we find some, I'll save you a couple.

From one of the books, I forget which...

I was lucky to discover the Haywire Tool shortly after it was introduced. The company and market were small, so they couldn't do any advertising. As noted earlier, making good haywires was a big deal, a sign of offshore rigging excellence in the old days and guys were constantly showing off their skill at tying that knot by saying stuff like, "Hey, does this haywire look OK to you?" when they knew that they were perfect.

Well, when I got good with the Tool, I won a lot of money in the waterfront bars that used to more prevalent then than now, I think, with that tool. I'd wait until everybody was properly lubricated and then bring up the subject of haywires sooner or later saying "Ah, you guys make a big deal out of making haywires. Shoot, I can tie a perfect one behind my back with my eyes closed!" And the bait got taken, every time. "Oh, yeah, right! Sure you can!", and so on were the replies. Sooner or later I'd say, "Hey, I'll put my money where my mouth is, ya buncha amateurs! Whose got the balls to bet me?" and I'd come up with a number that I figured most would risk.

Of course, the whole time I had a DuBro in my back pocket. I'd get someone to get a piece of wire, then back up against a wall "Whoo, I'm a little wobbly here. I'm pretty sure I can do it, though. Anybody want to up the ante before I prove how good I am at this?" That usually suckered a few to do just that.

Those of you who have used the tool for many years know that you could do a great haywire with your eyes closed and behind your back, simply by feel. So I backed up against a wall, made sure I wobbled a little ("any more takers?"), slipped the tool out of my back pocket and proceeded to whip up a great haywire, slip the tool back in my back pocket, and collect the money. I made a lot of money for a lot of years with that little trick.

Like a lot of things in fishing, the DuBro tool took a long time for many fishermen to learn about...and oh, man, did I clean house with it using my trick! Of course, I had to do a little runnin' and duckin' after the cat - or should I say tool - got out of the bag!