"Tips and guidelines for constructing and fishing wind-on leaders." -  By Chuck Richardson

Tournament Cable was the first company to make Cable Wind-Ons. We have been making them by hand now for over ten years now, in the same manner as our Mono Wind-on Leaders. Some steps are added in the process because of the Cable, but the end result is the same: The Finest Cable Wind-On Leader on the market.

After 20 years Tournament Cable will not be offering Cable Wind-on Leaders. When we first came out with them they became very popular for shark fishing and we sold thousands. But we have found there are just too many negative issues that we felt it best to take them out of our product line.

So what were the issues?

There was nothing wrong with the construction process but the issues were a result of the stainless cable. After a very short time in use rust would form in various parts of the splice, mainly where the hollow core meets the cable and this rusting would eventually cause failures. After continued use you could see the rust bleeding through not only at the serving but in various locations on the entire length of the hollow core.

The cause of this rusting is the stainless cable used. All cable from the major manufacturers is made with 304 or 305 grade stainless. Both have a very high carbon content as opposed to 316 marine grade and rust will occur due to the amount of carbon. This cable is fine for leaders and hook sets etc. but we found not for being inserted into hollow core for wind-on leaders.

What was happening water was migrating between the strands of wire inside the serving and on up the hollow core. Eventually you would notice the rust bleeding though. Regardless of how well the leaders where washed and dried the seepage would still occur.

Regardless of what materials the splice is made with this will happen and weaken any cable leader. With Dacron and Spectra you will be able to see it bleeding through quite easily but with nylon coated cable it’s there but hidden.

Another issue was the rod tip guide. If during the fight if the fish took off in a different direction and if the angler was not paying close attention the cable would slip off the roller and rub against the side frame of the guide. This caused a lot of damage to both the wind-on and the rod tip.