A wind on leader system is simply a way of joining leader to your main line, without having a swivel jam in your rod tip.
This can be particularly useful if you want to use a longer leader – which will reduce line breakage around snags as the leader is a far more durable and thicker material. Instead of using a swivel and a short 2 foot leader, you can use any length of leader really, as the knots are small and will easily wind though the guides.
And if you’re serious about catching a better class of fish, you’ll want to avoid damaging or scratching your guides either by hanging your hooks on them or by jamming a swivel into them – as these small scratches can chaff your line and lose you a once in a life time fish!
So a good wind on leader system is the go. We use the bimini twist double down to the albright knot leader.
… and this combination has caught me over 2000 metre plus barra plus tens of thousands of smaller ones plus untold other trophy fish. It is tried and proven!
One of the newer knots that people seem to be using these days is the FG knot. It’s certainly a good one, but if you don’t tie it properly it can let go on you. If that’s your favourite, go ahead and keep using it. But for people that are still using a swivel, I recommend giving the wind on system a go.
Now if you’ve tried a wind on leader system before and the bimini twist is awkward and just takes too long because you seem to need three hands, don’t despair. In this video I’m going to show you a neat trick that avoids that trouble completely and I demonstrate tying a bimini twist in 20 seconds.
Hopefully this helps you tie the bimini and albright with more confidence! Practice a few times a home so that if you need to tie it on the boat, it becomes second nature.
Click the following links for a few more tips you might find useful;
How to get your lures off snags without a lure retriever
Anchoring your boat with the twin anchor technique
