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Longline Clips with Multiple Drops

This is an explanation of the risks and solutions of using multiple drops and longline clips. In late 2006, I designed and built leaders with longline clips. Pictured below is one of our early Alternative Deployment Leaders, virtually the same as our original leaders from 2006. I discontinued this all monofilament Longline Clip leader shortly after the IRD (increased radius design) leaders were developed.

In 2009, our IRD (increased radius design) Leaders simply added a length of cable between the weight and the bait. This concept increases the courtship time between the shark and bait before it feels the weight. It also saves material by allowing the use of shorter drops. its a very common design today.

I discontinued the use of Longline Clips on our leaders in 2011 because they have an inherent problem when using multiple drops...

The clips are failing because the drops are being pulled from different directions. Perhaps two sharks on different drops pulling against each other or maybe a dangling drop could get caught on structure. However it happens, it certainly happens. I stopped using longline clips on leaders and began to design them with shackles instead. Today I prefer the shackles, but with the recent increase of Longline Clip Leaders in the community I want to introduce this explanation and a solution to the problem. Longline Clip leaders with multiple drops should always be rigged with a shackle, the rigging is pictured below...

This system prevents the Longline Clip from being pulled from different directions, eliminating the problem. It has the benefits of a Longline Clip with the security of a Shackle. It also makes changing a deployed bait quick and efficient by eliminating the need to address each of the multiple drops individually.

If you prefer longline clips and use multiple drops, this rigging is a good way to go.