When to Replace Trolling Wire

[pioneercmt]

Was just wondering how you know when it's time to replace the wire? If you see some rust on the wire when you pull it out from off season storage, would you change it? Or do you wait until one of the strands breaks during service? Or just replace all the wire$ at the beginning of each season to be safe?

[F/VNightingale]

Replacing the wire every year is the best idea, because its stainless, and stainless gets brittle in sea water even after one year of use. If you're the thrifty type, you can swap ends so that you're using the end of the wire that was never used during the first year. You'll be able to get another solid year out of it, but be prepared to splice a bit even then. Speaking of splices, I tie a square knot, unbraid each end, and then spin each strand back around the wire for a very nice and clean splice that is very strong. Learned it from my Dad. Hope I helped!

[pioneercmt]

Thank you, I think you're right on the every year thing. After a little consideration, though money is tight at the start of my salmon season, it would also be a lot of money lost if a wire snapped. Ugh, another "boat unit".

[Salty]

Since I use different marks for the summer and winter I replace or recycle wire by reversing or replacing it every June and October. Wire is cheap comparatively to losing leads, splices slowing down your rhythm hauling or setting, or needing to be re-spliced during the bite. I try to refresh my wire often enough that i have no or very few splices. More than one a wire in the depth I am using and I replace it.
Here is a huge tip from my perspective, hand marked wire, which we used to think was the cat's meow, is obsolete in my opinion.

[lone eagle]

I replaced my old wire with brand new hand marked, at great expense. Over winter shows corrosion, thought I bought a 'bad batch' ...ridiculous

[Salty]

There are bad batches, bring it in and show your supplier.

[k.bates]

this might be " one of the many ways to kill stainless trolling wire" , causing next seasons replacement . 5 of us went in on a large wire order { 5/64 }, and fished it most of the season. i stuck out salmon trolling while one of us switched to albacore . this friend covered his wire with layers of duct tape to keep off albacore blood which if left on metal seems corrosive . at the end of fishing he stored his gurdies in the shed . i took mine off and left them where i have for years - on the pier out in the weather and rain . at the start of next season my pal peeled off the tape to find all the wire completely rusted into a nearly solid mass right down to the core . my wire was bright rust free and i managed a second season on it without any major disasters. now-- i have been told that stainless stays shiny because it surface oxidizes almost instantly ,but requires constant exposure to oxygen to do so . my friend created a salt rich anoxic enviroment by covering his wire then giving it all winter to cook. my wire was exposed to clean oxygenated rain water and air and fared o.k. what kills my wire is stuff like kinks, and mostly me---not paying attention. oh well .

[rachel93]

A junk removal service will be able to assess your junk or debris removal. You can even go green and start a recycling business.
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