what knots are you using?

[davefishmad]

Just curious..

I now use a palamor knot for the hook and plastics, and a (2 1/2inch)surgeons loop for lures.

Albright 10up 10 back for mono to braid.

I found the uni snapped too easily.

dave

[dan25]

just a simple blood knot for hooks and uni knot for joining mono to braid

[Terry H]

Some of the knots I use:

Double loop clinch knot

Uni

Bimini Twist (to create double) When I use a double, I usually go for a double loop clinch knot to help secure things.

[tomca]

Dan,

I find the albright knot stronger than what you are using, when joining your leader with fireline

[dan25]

tomca wrote:

Dan,

I find the albright knot stronger than what you are using, when joining your leader with fireline

ok mate, i might try it next time i head out. Not sure on how to do it, but im sure ill find some instructions somewhere on the net.

Thanks mate

[tomca]

heres a link Dan, best to practice at home, in front of the telly

/>http://www.animatedknots.com/albright/index.php

[dan25]

awesome, thanks for that mate

[Travis]

cant tie nots.... tie lots

[werewolf]

I might have to give the albright a crack. Using 6lb fireline to 10 lb vanish, I find the fireline slices through the vanish Maybe I am just tightening it too much!

[hairyweasel]

I snell all bait hooks.

Perfection loop to HB's.

Clinched blood knot to swivels.

Braid to leader for casting lures, I tie a 20 wrap bimini in the braid then use the doubled braid to tie a 12 wrap down and 10 wrap up albright. (the 10 wrap up allows me to put a slight taper on the casting end of the knot).

When attaching braid to leader for offshore pelagics, I also braid a double in the leader before attaching the doubled braid with an albright.

[bootyinblue]

I use rapala loop for tying on jig heads and to join braid to mono I use some sort of overhanded yum yum knot.

(Sorry Keechie, I know you showed me, but I have forgotten the name and also how to tie it!)

[nadders]

i tie 4 knots,

surfcasters knot/slim beauty for braid to leader,

uni knot for jig heads or lures with clips/rings on the tow point

rapala loop for lures without rings

i snell bait hooks where possible

and dropper loops if i'm making a paternoster without a 3way or running swivel

if aanyone is having trouble with braid to leaders using albrights or uni knots, try the slim beauty. i find it heaps easier to tie properly and its a strong bastard of a knot

[dhess]

Got to agree with you on the slim beauty Nadders.

Great knot for braid/leader connections. Particularly with lightish leaders (<30lbs.)

Anything heavier and bimini to albright is far stronger and more reliable in my opninion anyway.

[davefishmad]

geez,I dont know half those knots, doesn't anyone use the ol palomar?

I thought it was one of the strongest?

I will have to look up some of those knots you guys have mentioned too.

and yes werewolf I have have that problem with 6lb. I think the finer braids tend to cut into the leader more with the albright,try more loops maybe or a different knot all together.

dave

[dhess]

Palomar is great. Used to use it a lot and it never failed me.

I don't know why but these days I only seem to use it for attaching hooks to droppers on patternosters.

Do you use a single palomar or multiple wraps?

[noname]

for offshore i will bimini twist the braid, then albright to trace, a simple blood to hook, never failed me yet.

for this fun stuff, just a albright to leader, and simple blood again. line has broken at the knot though, but not sure if it was the split ring causing this? hopefully i have fixed the problem now. put rings on all my lures.

[davefishmad]

just a single mate

[Rocket75]

related question...

would tying a bimini to create a double in the braid help with the fine braid + heavier flurocarbon failure issues?

I often find myself joining 4lb braid to 8lb leader or 10lb to 16lb and wonder if that approach is worth a go?

Opinions?

Oh yeah, to answer the original post :blush:

I use uni/uni or allbright for joining leader to braid

+ 1/2 locked blood knot on swivels and hooks

+ lefty's loop knot on lures that do not have split rings.

[hairyweasel]

Rocket75 wrote:

related question...

would tying a bimini to create a double in the braid help with the fine braid + heavier flurocarbon failure issues?

Its a fairly well documented fact that the thinner braids are savage on leaders. The very thin diameter of the braid has a cutting effect on the mono just like the old wire cheesecutters. By tying a bimini in the braid before attaching it to the leader, you effectively double the surface area of the braid and halve the cutting effect.

Some people only fold the braid back to form the double thickness, but I don't agree with this practice. Even though you have a double thickness of braid in the knot, you still only have one strand of the braid tightening on the leader.

Whenever I try a new knot, I always tie it several times and test the whole rig to destruction. I wrap the mainline several times around one of the beams of my back pergola, suspend a 20 litre bucket from the hook and start filling it with water until something breaks.

Not very scientific, but I know where my rigs will fail.

Try it with your fav knots, it can be an eye opener.

[Rocket75]

thanks hairy. I will have to give the bimini a try.

I hope the weakest link in your knot testing rig is not the beam! hard to write up on the insurance claim:blush:

[Little Grey Men]

Allbright...leader to braid.

Slim Beauty....sometimes used for leader to braid for something different.

Palomar.....jigheads, spinnerbaits and metal slugs(STRONG KNOT )

Lefty's loop.... for hard bods

Clinch knot......hooks, swivels.

[hairyweasel]

Rocket75 wrote:

thanks hairy. I will have to give the bimini a try.

I hope the weakest link in your knot testing rig is not the beam! hard to write up on the insurance claim:blush:

Yeh that'd be a bit embarrassing....:blush:

When tying biminis in braid, there is a bit of divided opinion on the best number of twists. I always thought the more the better, so I used to do 40. Then I read a report on the net where some fairly exhaustive testing was done on different braids and differing numbers of twists. Seems that 20 turned out to be the best all round number...

[dhess]

From what I read 20-30 twists is fine in heavy braid 50lbs +. 40-50 twists is better in lighter braids.

The bimini twist is more than just a convenient way of making a double, it adds a lot to the strength of a line connection through its shock absorbing abilities.

[noname]

myself, it's 75 turns, no matter what lb age line.

[nadders]

dhess wrote:

From what I read 20-30 twists is fine in heavy braid 50lbs +. 40-50 twists is better in lighter braids.

The bimini twist is more than just a convenient way of making a double, it adds a lot to the strength of a line connection through its shock absorbing abilities.

do you always tie biminis? or only when chasing biguns offshore etc?

i've never tied a double before i just double the line back on itself into a slim beauty, and i've never had one of these pop, chasing good sized sharks etc so im not really sure what situation is getting close to needing a bimini. i assume scooting after big spaniards etc?

[werewolf]

davefishmad wrote:

geez,I dont know half those knots, doesn't anyone use the ol palomar?

I thought it was one of the strongest?

I will have to look up some of those knots you guys have mentioned too.

and yes werewolf I have have that problem with 6lb. I think the finer braids tend to cut into the leader more with the albright,try more loops maybe or a different knot all together.

I use a palomar in braid going to terminal tackle (swivels etc). Strong easy to tie. I read somewhere that is one of the best knots for the purpose, I'll see if I can find that bookmark when I am back home...

I'm going to try experiment with Slim Beauty and albright for braid to mono after all the rave reviews.

Dhess: how do you do a palomar with multiple wraps? I've only ever seen it done with the one loop?

[nadders]

when you do the overhand knot in the doubled line, you can keep going and do a double or triple o/h knot. i use a double palomar (double overhand at the first bit) for braid to terminal but i very rarely tie braid to termi tackle and i find it easier to tie uni's than palomars in mono

[dhess]

nadders wrote:

do you always tie biminis? or only when chasing biguns offshore etc?

i've never tied a double before i just double the line back on itself into a slim beauty, and i've never had one of these pop, chasing good sized sharks etc so im not really sure what situation is getting close to needing a bimini. i assume scooting after big spaniards etc?

It not the spaniards that really test your rigging out. They usually tire pretty quickly and don't try to rub you off on structure. I find big AJ's to be the test because you have to apply maximum pressure to stop them quick smart or its all over in seconds.

Used to always tie biminis in all braid line outfits regardless of where I fished and then usually connected leader with an albright.

Just recently I have switched to using the slim beauty without a bimini but only for 20 or 30lb plastics outfits. Feel more comfortable with it in this line class as I think I had some braid cutting into mono issues with the albright.

In heavy braid the albright is still king. Have had many prolonged fights with big sharks without it letting go. Have also straightened many 7/0 or 8/0 Gamakatsu octopus cirlces on AJ's without the knot failing. In fact I can't remember it ever failing on heavy braid.

[nadders]

have you had slim beauties fail in the same circumstances?

sorry for the flurry of Q's but the biggest ive fished for is bullies in the river and i'm going to be hitting up some pelagics soon enough since i got my boat, wanna be prepared ;D

[hairyweasel]

dhess wrote:

From what I read 20-30 twists is fine in heavy braid 50lbs +. 40-50 twists is better in lighter braids.

The bimini twist is more than just a convenient way of making a double, it adds a lot to the strength of a line connection through its shock absorbing abilities.

With all the divided opinion on the number of wraps I decided to revisit the testing pergola.

I tied a 20 wrap bimini with some 20lb berkley gorilla braid I had lying around. Instead of tying a full rig I just tested the bimini for slippage by inserting a smooth iron rod in the loop and applying steady pressure until I got a result.

It slipped!!!

Retied with 30 wraps and it broke just above the knot.

Went to some 20lb Bionic braid (I think).

20 wraps.....slipped

30 wraps.....slipped (required a lot of force)

40 wraps.....broke in an unrelated place.

Disregard previous advice on 20 wraps...........

[dhess]

nadders wrote:

have you had slim beauties fail in the same circumstances?

sorry for the flurry of Q's but the biggest ive fished for is bullies in the river and i'm going to be hitting up some pelagics soon enough since i got my boat, wanna be prepared ;D

Not yet but haven't really caught any big fish or had any prolonged fights using it yet. From everything I have read its meant to be pretty good though. I think its power lies in the fact that its easier to tie perfectly in real world fishing conditions. i.e. Tieing a bimini then an albright on a small boat in choppy conditions is a pain in the arse and its not as easy to get it spot on.

[davefishmad]

Little Grey Men wrote:

Allbright...leader to braid.

Slim Beauty....sometimes used for leader to braid for something different.

Palomar.....jigheads, spinnerbaits and metal slugs(STRONG KNOT )

Lefty's loop.... for hard bods

Clinch knot......hooks, swivels.

I heard it was recomended by the American fishing association as the standard knot to use for the best strength,thats why I use it now.

alsoI have been tying my surgeons knot with only one pass (not two),and it works well for the flattie and breams and other fish.

Mind you I might test it but one pass/loop looks pretty strong to me.

dave

[jeff f]

bimini twist for heavy doubles

6 turn overhand loop knot for light doubles

catspaw for double to swivel

tony jones knot for mono to mono

improved allbright special for braid to mono

locked half blood for mono to hook or swivel with large eyes

clinched half blood for mono to hook or swivel with small eyes

rapalla loop knot for lures

blood dropper loop for paternosters or dropshot rigs

hangmans knot for snelling hooks

nail knot for leaders to fly line

i have a hatred of uni knots they are just wrong

[dhess]

jeff f wrote:

.........

i have a hatred of uni knots they are just wrong

Please explain. Just wan't to know why you hate them so much.

I'm not a fan either but find them easier than locked half blood in some situations. e.g. easier to get a nice neat knot with heavy mono.

Also forgot to mention two hook snelled rigs. IMO they are an awesome way of getting a really nice bait presentation and have unbeatable hook up rates. Its to do with the way they hold the hook in relation to the bait. Only problem is in my experience they don't hold up too well with constant extreme pressure in long fights.

[jeff f]

i just dont like them i learned to tie a locked half blood knot when i was about 5yo

and used it for 15 years before someone showed me a uni knot and it just felt wrong like tying a bloodknot upside down and inside out

then one broke on a good jew and that was it for me, back to the original and the best

locked or clinched half blood

or a locked and clinched half blood if you wand a bigger knot to hold a strip bait up

[nadders]

i guess that just highlights individuality jeff cause i hate blood knots haha

i tie a pretty crap blood knot, cant get it nearly as neat as my uni knots and my bloods always fail before my unis when i put them to the load test

i can tie a very neat uni in a very short amount of time and definately cant say the same thing about blood knots

[jeff f]

yeah mate to each his own

[werewolf]

nadders I find the uni ties a neat knot in heavy mono too. I tend to use it in light mono too and dirt easy to tie

[Little Grey Men]

davefishmad wrote:

Little Grey Men wrote:

Allbright...leader to braid.

Slim Beauty....sometimes used for leader to braid for something different.

Palomar.....jigheads, spinnerbaits and metal slugs(STRONG KNOT )

Lefty's loop.... for hard bods

Clinch knot......hooks, swivels.

I heard it was recomended by the American fishing association as the standard knot to use for the best strength,thats why I use it now.

alsoI have been tying my surgeons knot with only one pass (not two),and it works well for the flattie and breams and other fish.

Mind you I might test it but one pass/loop looks pretty strong to me.

dave

I tested the Palomar last winter on deepwater bass. They lodge themselves in the snags and you lose heaps of metal slugs. When I started using the palomar I really noticed that I was getting to keep a lot more of my slugs. Beats the old clinch or blood knot hands down.

[werewolf]

This old article is very topical to this discussion!

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/article.jsp?ID=43557

Flick through the results. I was pleased to see Fireline scored very highly and the good old Palomar knot broke at 272% of the spool strength for 20 lb!

Also interestingly, the 40 and 60 turn biminis were the worst double knot tested (although the best with fewer turns and two locks)

wwolfB)