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HILST I was demonstrating some knots at the SKI-BOAT magazine stand at the National Boat Show, a gentleman who was more familiar with freshwater flyfishing asked if he could show me the strongest knot to connect any mono line to hooks. Always curious to see someone else’s ideas, I gave him a length of 80 lb line and an 8/0 hook. He commenced making a knot that somehow resembled a cross between a Palomar knot and the Rebeck knot, as illustrated in Geoff Wilson’s Complete Book of Fishing Knots and Rigs. Once he was done I examined the knot which looked fairly neat and well seated. I then hooked the bend around a solid object to do a strength test. Once pressure was exerted on the knot, the tag end started to slip through the knot, ultimately leading to failure. The gentleman in question was completely dumbfounded as he really had believed this was the ultimate knot for all mono and super lines (braid). Not so, as there are various factors that will influence the strength of the knot. Let’s be clear — it is not necessary to know each and every knot out there as it is virtually impossible to master them all. The more proficient recreational anglers only know a few knots, and commercial anglers who fish for a living know even fewer. This is because the commercial anglers only use a few different hooks and, most likely, only two different diameter lines on the boat. For the man who needs to feed his family, the consequences of knot failure are far worse than they are for the sport angler on a fishing trip testing a popper that is connected with some or other knot to braid. My point is that you should never claim that your knot is the strongest knot possible, as there are many factors that come into play that will ultimately determine knot strength. I was reminded of this again recently after I spent a bit of time experimenting with different lines and testing knot strengths using a certified line-testing machine. The results clearly showed that a number of different factors will influence the outcome. These factors included the type of line, whether it’s mono or braid, the wire diameter on the swivel or hook’s eye and, most importantly, the angler’s proficiency at making a perfect knot every time. In the next article I will show you some of the results. Some of these will be no surprise, but on others you may be taken aback. In part four of this series I am deviating a bit from the pattern to keep the articles interesting. This time we will concentrate on hard wire (piano wire) connections. THE HAYWIRE TWIST AND BARREL ROLLS Despite searching for information about the origins of the
by Paul Borcherds
haywire twist with barrel rolls, I could not find anything that proved who invented it or its place of origin. When exactly we in South Africa started using hard wire traces is also not clear, but it seems that the early pioneering shark anglers were much in favour of using hard wire as opposed to multistrand wire, and they used these twists. It was probably also one of the first twists I learned as a laaity in Natal when twisting neat shad traces as oppposed to the rather shabby terminal traces that my mates used. I later refined it somewhat when I progressed to ’cuda fishing. There is, however, only one way to correctly twist the hard piano wire that will not fail. Many years ago this point was shown to me by the late Anthony Defillipi from Hibberdene. At that time, back in the late ’80s, I was already fishing for ’cuda and had caught a few average sized ones, but I also lost a few bigger fish when the wire came back in a pigtail at the end with no hook. I showed Anthony the trace and he asked me to show him my way of making the trace — wrapping only one strand around the other. He took the trace, hooked it around a window frame and gave it a hard jerk. The twists ended up right up against the treble hook. Ultimately the wire would have snapped should I have hooked up to a big fish which only had to shake its head break off and go free. Anthony then showed me the correct way of twisting both legs together, and since then I have never lost a fish due to improper haywire twists. The first twists are called haywire wraps or twists, and the second twists are considered barrel wraps or rolls. It is the combination of the two that makes the haywire twist so dependable. When taxed to near its rated breaking strength, the haywire twist will be the least likely part of a terminal system to fail — if it’s done properly. The connection is thus stronger than the wire itself — thanks to the double-wraps. There are only a few more things to think of before one can make good, neat connections using piano wire to make the loop, twists and wraps. Firstly, limit the use of long- or bent-nose pliers and side cutters. These days I only use electrical circlip pliers to make a perfectly round loop and only use my side cutters to cut the wire lengths. Secondly, remember than the round loop is much stronger than the oval loop that is usually formed by pinching the wire back and holding it with pliers or between thumb and fore finger. Lastly, don’t be lazy and use the commercially available wire twisters that are rated in different wire test strengths. You will limit your ability to make twists in most of the wire strengths and it will end up far too long. Take a bit of time to practise using your fingers. They will soon be able to make perfect twists and rolls in anything from a number 3 to a number 14 wire.
Part 4: Hard wire connections SKI-BOAT November/December 2014 • 37