Lee explains everything you need to know about making a trotline using a main line, swivels, stagings, and hooks. By Nets & More (The Fish Net Company LLC)
I did mine like that when I was a teenager back in the late 70's. I just made my first new trotline in 40 yrs. I've learned lot about ropes,& knots after spending 34 yrs in the FD single overhand knots (granny knots) weaken line, therefore I stopped using them >30 yrs ago. Instead I use a double overhand knot, this puts twice as much material in the bight and is much stronger, it really doesn't take that much more time to tie a double overhangs knot. I also took a tip from a young guy in TX and bought a bag of plastic "Pony Beads" from Wally World and put one on either side of the swivel, this keeps the swivel from slipping over the knot and from rubbing and fraying the knot. I also used stainless steel mini trotline clips with swivels on the drops (stages). I used double. #18 white twisted nylon, I snelled the hook on the loop end of the double line (The closed end) and I used a uni-knot on the open end. I used 8/0 Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hooks. I put 5 drops on a section with 6 ft between the drops. I used 450 lb rated snap swivels on either end so I can connect as many sections as I like up to the maximum number of hooks allowed.
yeah,especially if your getting those beefy 280 pound test swivels as the eyes on em tend to be huge.beads are just good security.just gota check em once in a while if your useing these lines year after year,especially if those beads are plastic.sun really chews em up.i also find beads tend to protect the knots from abrasion as well.
I mean,if your getting 280 pound mainline,may as well get equally stout swivels.hell the whole damn rig can stand to be built with overkill in mind.these are made to hold multiple big fish for long periods of time,no point in adding weak points anywhere in the system.use big line,big swivels,big hooks,fuck those trotline clips as they are trash lol.go big or go home.
Almost exactly how my family has been building ours for 3 generations. When built well like this, we’ve had lines last 25+ years if taken care of and properly stored and mended. Thank you for the video!
Would it be better to have the staging removable so if you get a fish on, you can just disconnect staging from the main line and put a new staging on with bait to replace it? Then you can mess with unhooking the fish on shore at your leisure.
That's one I've fought for many years. We decided it's easiest to just cut the staging(we call em drops) and make a new one. We always have plenty extra in the boat
Depends. My state law is they have to be at least 24 inches apart. I prefer four feet, using 10-12" drops(stagings). Get as many hooks in the water as you can and still keep the fish away from each other