shop?homemade traces?

what do tou guys prefere?shop made or do you prefere your own?i make my own up.do you crimp with normal pliers or use something like et crimping pliers?

I always use home made ones now.

Don't know about now, but years ago had a couple of shop bought ones that let go (on the odd time I actually targeted pike, a lot more of my fishing is for pike now).

I always use the twist method but have read a few times just lately that multi strand trace wire is more suited to crimps so have asked my local tackle shop to get me some crimps and proper crimp pliers.

Gonna give spinning traces a go too.

hi nick. i also make all my own rigs, and have done for years. i have never used crimps as i was first shown how to make a trace by twisting, and to be honest i have never had a twisted trace fail on me at the twist, so have never felt the need to use crimps. to me it just seems a little fiddly, and just one more thing to fork money out on. all the best MBA

I make my own but have always crimped. Most of my fishing is done on the rivers so I use 40lb wire and owner hooks to cope with the snags which are plenty and constantly moving with the floods.
The thinner gauge wire of the hooks means they normally straighten out on the snag when totally stuck fast the idea being not to leave a baited trace.
I think you get more satisfaction out of catching fish on something you have made rather than shop bought, plus you can adapt to your own style of fishing and bait you use.



All the best
John

always have and always will be a twister been making traces thisway for 30 yrs if its not broke dont fix it

homemade far better,you can make size to suit.as for crimps.did one using them got caught up, bottom treble came off.so i always twist now far more secure.plus have that many thicknesses of wire not gonna waste money buying crimps to fit each width.

Homemade everytime! twist and looped on most traces only crimp when using titanium(you have to).

Homemades every time. I prefer to know how mine are constructed and when you consider you can make more than 30 traces with a 20 metre spool, for 4 quid and reuse the trebles and swivels, it makes complete sense. Shop-bought traces are usually very short too.

thanks for replys fellas i allways crimp mine,allways av.i thead trace threw crimp then threw eye of hook ,back threw crimp,fold back an threw crimp again.three times threw crimp in total.never ad no problem.downside when on bank knocking one up when cold can be a pain them who twisted do yiu put strick tube to cover twist for extra sercuite?

never felt the need to add silicon over a twist but saying that i always add a dab of superglue to my live baits traces (made with middy techcore )

in response to the original question....

i would never and that is never use shop bought traces as i think that tackle suppliers of shop bought traces need to
have a look into fish care. they are that bothered about profit they are getting shorter and shorter. If you get a good size fish the odds are it will bite you off as the traces are way to short.

i make all my own but prefer to crimp rather than twist, and the minimum length trace i would use is 2ft. might go down to 18" for a wobbles bait but never any shorter..

i always use home made traces no matter what i'm fishing for because i do not trust shop bought traces as far as i can throw a 5oz lead on the beach, i also prefer to use 20lb 7 strand wire rather than multi strand as i find it to be more reliable for twisting (i never crimp traces) and i always use size 6 semi barbed trebles.
with deadbait traces i set the trebles around 4 inches apart and the overall trace length is 22 inches... even if you manage to deep hook a really large fish its unlikely it will be able to bite the mainline above the swivel.
as for livebait traces i use the same set up except i shorten the length between the trebles to around 2 1/2 inches but still keep the trace length around 12 inches with an uptrace of 18 inches above the lead to prevent a bite off in the event of the bait swimming above the lead

what trace wire do you fellas use for twisting?do you use them twiddle sticks to?

nickcarpy wrote:what trace wire do you fellas use for twisting?do you use them twiddle sticks to?

personally i use drennan 7 strand 20lb for live/deadbait traces and fox easy twist 30lb for plug traces.... i'd steer clear of multi strand wires for twisting as they tend to slip far more easily under pressure, and i dont use twiddle sticks, just 2 pairs of forceps to ensure the coils are tight

20lb drennen 7 strand for everything. does kink a bit after a fish or two, but not expensive so you can afford to change your trace all the time.

Thats what i use, the spool is years old & still in pristine condition. I use crimps & the proper Fox pliers.

fox easi twist for all traces apartr from my live bait traces which id middy tech core i have a couple of twiddling sticks but when making traces it depends on what i grab hold of first either forceps or twiddler

rob why 2 pairs of forceps ?

small set to twist the wire, the other to keep the tension on the treble/swivel.... cant hold trebles properly for that cos my hands are way too large
i also dont chop the wire til i have the lead treble twisted in place (i trap the spool of wire inbetween my knees to keep the tension as i twist)

hmmm just had a look online and cant find a good step by step guide which mimics the way i make traces so i will try and do one myself for you in the next week just to explain it a bit better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS1IpyBQUpQ

look here... bit old and i wouldnt tie the second trebble on like that but worth a look for a twisting demo

cheers pal,allsways crimp but might try some twisted

Im also a crimper

nickcarpy wrote:cheers pal,allsways crimp but might try some twisted

Yeah, so will I

I crimp as well. I can twist but I'm not happy with the results really. They're probably fine for fishing with but I'm far too fussy about my end tackle to sit comfortably knowing that something isn't 'right'.

i'd be worried about the twists slipping due to the lack of tension on the wire during twisting the way its done in that vid.... i'll get a set of pics or a vid together of the way i do it a.s.a.p. ( if i can manage to upload a vid lol).... i know i seem finicky but i'd rather you guys didnt lose a fish and even worse leave a treble or even worse a full trace in a fish