Dacron wind on leaders, any tips

[Floating Rib]

Ive just made up my first batch of Dacron to mono wind ons, found a few vids on youtube to get the gist, bought some 50lb and 20lb dacron to try, the 20 was no good as it has fewer filaments and i couldnt thread anything through it(didnt know any better before hand, was hoping for some light wind ons to chase flatties on lures) the 50 seems fine and as my heaviest mainline is 50lb braid i didnt think id need to go heavier. Ive made up this 50 with several sizes of mono leader, being 30,50 and 80lb Fluoro(all fed into the dacron a good 2.5 feet) they all seem to hold pretty well in the garage but havent fished them yet, finished off with dental floss half hitched 2 directions for about 1 cm.
Also experimented with light Fluoro(8 and 12lb) doubled into the dacron so it will grip, some twisted and some just laid flat, flossed off and then snip the extra length flush so the leader is once again single fluoro.
Questions:
how small do you guys go with your dacron and what mono can you go down to?.
What do you finish off with? do you glue the tie off?
Is anyone using dacron windons in the estuary?
Anything ive obviously got wrong or any tips you can provide?
Suggest vids or resources for wind-ons/

Cheers

Rib

[jeffo]

Hi mate,

First bit of advice I will give would be the same rule I use with all my fishing....if you are suss on something- change it.

If wind ons are made properly you shouldnt need a long length of dacron as it works on the same principal as the old chinese finger trap....the harder you pull on the leader material and your main line at the other end the tighter the dacron will pull closed on the leader. BUT you must use the correct size dacrom for the leader you are using. The 50lb dacron with 50lb mono sounds a bit light to me, but might depend on how tight the dacron weave is. We use cortland green spot dacron (can buy from wellsys tackle in Kawana).

Have you had a play around with your materials just shooting the mono say 50mm up the dacron and seeing how well it holds? That will give you some idea of the holding power of what you are using.

I dont use wind ons in the creek (improved albright for that) but we use them all the time offshore, mainly in 80-400lb mono leader. For 80-120lb leaders we use 50lb dacron. I made some 40lb leaders a while back with 30lb dacron and they work nice too.

My dacron usually ends up about 250-300mm long, but that is double spliced so holds a bit tighter. There is a few methods to making them but the one I have found most successful is the way "top shot" make their leaders- double spliced with a tanaka loop at the end. Whipped with flat waxed thread in a bobbin and finished with "knot sense" glue (also available from wellsys tackle).

Never had one fail.