Crimping Steel Leaders

[bobber_down_1979]

Ok, I don't want to open a can of worms here as I know people can be very strongly opinionated on this topic (crimp vs. tie). I have begun making my own leaders. Most will be used for pike fishing, but plan to make a few bigger ones for Musky fishing which I do on occasion. I have read many posts and articles online, and spoke to folks in person, including Thorne Bros. employees and seem to get many different answers. The guy that works at Thornes and makes the pre-made leaders says that for steel leaders, he simply uses the round sleeve of appropriate size, and basicly uses table vice to smash it down. His leaders they sell there look good, but I am leary of this technique. Looking for tips on ways to crimp. What kind of sleeves and what kind of pliers are key pieces of info to include. I know many will say tie leaders only, but thornes seems to only make them with crimps, and they are supposed to be the Musky place, so I have to beleive the done correclty they should be strong. I have made some crimped Flouro Leaders with double barrel sleeves and upon testing in my garage, they sleeves hold true.

[Esox_Magnum]

My preference is tied on wire crinp and tied on Flouro, again only my preference after having a couple crimped only leader pull apart. FYI there were TB leaders...

[propster]

With 7 strand wire use the single barrel, and with flouro use the double barrel sleeves. Best is to get a crimping or swaging tool, and use the opening that is slightly smaller than the sleeve. Never had a crimped one give that I've made.

[bobber_down_1979]

With 7 strand wire use the single barrel, and with flouro use the double barrel sleeves. Best is to get a crimping or swaging tool, and use the opening that is slightly smaller than the sleeve. Never had a crimped one give that I've made.

Do the crimps on your steel leaders look as if they were squished flat, or does it look more like the wire is on the outside edges, with the middle pinched down (as using a cup to point crimp would create). If you buy a sleeve that is slightly oversized you can use point to cup, and create that flat spot in the middle. If you buy the perfect fit size, you can't really do that. It seems you just need to flatten it out the best you can. Does that make sense? That is what I am driving at.

[propster]

Point to cup, using slightly larger sleeve than the two pieces of wire would normally fit thru

[guideman]

Just so you know there is another option. I don't crimp of tie my leaders, I wrap them 6 times and put a drop of super glue on them. Then I cover the wrap with a piece of shrink wrap. It doesn't leave any sharp edge and I have never had a leader fail in over 10 years using this method. It's also much cheaper than buying all those crimps.

"Ace"