Knots (under construction)

I've mentioned the obsessive knot thing before. This is where I expound upon it.

In general if you have a knot between you and the fish it is (should be) the weakest link in your tackle. There is no such thing as a knot that truly has 100% of the line strength, wet or dry. So it follows that it pays to keep the number of the knots to a minimum and also to ensure you have the best knot for the job, tied correctly.

I work on the basis that 1 knot is the optimum. The one to the hook. For most Stillwater fishing this is fine.

I tend to use a braid trace for a lot of my Stillwater fishing for reasons explained elsewhere. This means I have at least 2 knots in the line and more often 3. This as a consequence of trying to take advantage of the properties of braid, but to compensate I feel you can use stronger line to offset the assembly of knots required.

I would love to reduce this number to 2, by joining the braid directly to the mono, but other than the water knot, described later on, I have yet to find a reliable method, but have high hopes of the 'Slim Beauty', but have not tested it at all.

2008 Update to this: I found one such knot, which I modified a bit. Here is the original version. I've changed this by winding 6 turns up the mono loop and then six down, although I suspect the end result is the same. I've tested this with Krystron Silkworm and Merlin against mono of an equivalent breaking strain and it broke at slightly higher strains than a double uni, but more importantly was much more consistent with no occasional duds. A good pull when tightened is essential though.

I did also test varnished braid water knotted to the mono as well (not cheap testing this) and found compared with the knot described here, it was not as strong and more prone to occasional breaks well under the line's rating.

I'll post these results when I get time as well.

Summing up: you need a knot for tying a hook or swivel on, knots for joining line, one for tying line to the reel spool and lastly a stop knot, for slider float fishing or the like.

Get to know the knots you need and learn to tie them well. Test any knot before using. Sometimes perfectly good looking knots break with a good test pull - mind you fingers on any hooks involved.

Ideally, this would mean one knot for each purpose but with line thickness affecting knot properties and also the type of line, whether monofilament nylon or fluorocarbon or braid, whether 'super braid' or the softer lines designed for hook lengths.

And so to the knots themselves…

Nylon Mono to a hook or swivel

I have used a 5.5 turn half blood for this for (20+) years, with little you might describe as a failure. It seems to work fine up to 15lb b/s line. A few things to consider :

1. This knot needs lubrication before tightening. Careful tightening with a little pressure and a tug or 2 on the tag end helps. I've never gone as far as some who use vegetable oil to lubricate (a cod liver oil capsule would be handy, I carry those). Saliva works for me.
2. The number of turns does affect the knots and in thick mono (15lb +) fewer turns work better. It's to do with bend radius I suspect.
3. I've never tied one without a certain amount of line deformation by the knot, whatever anyone says as long as the knot was carefully tied and lubricated, this does not always indicate a problem, but if it bothers you, you'll need to practise…
4. It's wise to leave a tag end of 3-5mm - I have heard of half bloods slipping a little. If it worries you either tuck the half blood or tie an overhand knot in the tag before tightening. I've tested this in the past and am convinced the tucked knot is weaker and a good half blood is fine with 3-5mm tag. I'm more concerned about the tag end being felt by the fish...

Below are pictures of the knot (well there will be) which are easier than drawings.

A second option is the 'stren' or 'uni' knot. The same cautions apply to this knot and in nylon one turn around the eye seems to work. I use 7 turns through the loop for 6lb mono and 5-6 for 8lb and 5 for anything above that.

It's trickier to tie, but seems as good and I am lately converted to it, as the tag end ends up pointing up the line which to me is better especially with small hooks and baits.

Lastly there is the 'knotless'. I haven't tested the strength in nylon mono, but will as for burying a hook in a bait, it is ideal. The downside is it relies on using a trace and while you can tie it onto mainline it's awkward, but possible. I've tried to show that below.

Slider Knot

See this below. I have 2 uses for this - I use it to attach floats, by using 2 knots and one piece of line and for stop knots when slider float fishing. I find it works best tied with braid around mono. For thick braid, 4 turns is fine, for thin braid, 7-8 turns. I find 'super braid' does really work for this, being thinner than the mono it's going around most of the time.

Mono to Braid

I've only had one success with this and that's with polyurethane varnished braid and a 4 turn water knot. It really only works if both lines are about the same diameter and you need to test each knot then. But a good one is really good.

I intend to try the 'Slim Beauty' and also to test a double overhand loop, as in all the line tests I've done, this knot has never broken…

Currently I use 'uni' in braid to a rig ring (1mm), 2 turns of braid through the ring, 7 turns through the loop. I then 'uni' or half blood the mono to the other side of the ring. This works and is small but I keep the hook length as short as it necessary to keep the rig ring on the bottom, as having it dangling in mid water cannot look than natural.

I don't really like this method, but it works and is solid. I would rather have a good knot, but am still working on this.

2008 Update to this: I found one such knot, which I modified a bit. Here is the original version. I've changed this by winding 6 turns up the mono loop and then six down, although I suspect the end result is the same. I've tested this with Krystron Silkworm and Merlin against mono of an equivalent breaking strain and it broke at slightly higher strains than a double uni, but more importantly was much more consistent with no occasional duds. A good pull when tightened is essential though.

17/07/05: Braid Problems

17/07/05: Having had some problems with Drennan braid, I decided to do some research and try another brand for my general hook lengths.

A name that came out well was "Powerpro" so I invested in a 300 yard spool of 15lb b/s, in moss green. I also did some research into knots and found a hook knot to try and also some braid to mainline joining knots.

A little testing was in order. Using scales and some link swivels I first tested the Powerpro using "Palomar" knots at both ends. I stressed the knot to 5lb four times and to 10lb four times and then went to break it. I got results of 20/18/19/19lb break, all at the knots.

A repeat test using the same conditions with the "Uni" hook knot, gave me 21/18/21/21lb. Definitely a bit better, if harder to tie.

I then went for braid to nylon tests. I used an 8lb mono (Damyl) and tried the "J" knot. The mono was tied to a link swivel using a 5-6 turn half blood. I just overhand looped the braid. The knots were stressed to 4lb or so, four times and then to 6lb four times.

The "J" knot gave breaks on the knot 7/7/7/7lb (on scales with a quarter pound resolution). I then tried the "Stren" knots, which broke at 8/8/8.5/7/7. Odd. The 3rd try, broke 3 half bloods before the "Stren" knot went. "Stren" is potentially better than "J", but more work needed on what the reason for the variance is. A theory is that how/when you snug the "Uni" in the mono is the difference. Testing continues...

Observations so far: Superbraid is very thin. It's like cheese wire. I would worry that even short hook lengths may injure fish. When I swapped 11lb Black Spider for Drennan braid 10lb, which is a quarter of the thickness, the catch rate did not change. I don't think braid thickness is such a big deal, form a catching point of view. To be continued...

Hook Knot Tests (watch this space...)

Knot

Line type

Test#1

Test#2

Test#3

Test#4

Test#5

Test#6

Test#7

Test#8

Average

Std. Dev.

Half Blood (5)

6lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Half Blood Tucked (5)

6lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/1 Turn

6lb Stren Original Mono

9.0lb

9.5lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/2 Turn

6lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/1 Turn

6lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/2 Turn

6lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/1 Turn

8lb Stren Original Mono

9.75lb

10.0lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/2 Turn

8lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/1 Turn

8lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/2 Turn

8lb Stren Original Mono

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/2 Turn

6lb Silkworm

9.0lb

8.0lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/2 Turn

6lb Silkworm

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 5/2 Turn

8lb Merlin

11.25lb

9.0lb

11.25lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Uni 6/2 Turn

8lb Merlin

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Knotless 10/2

6lb Silkworm

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Knotless 10/2

8lb Merlin

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 Turn Water Knot, varnished. 6lb Stren Original Mono, 6lb Kryston Silkworm.

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns thorugh hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 2lb four times and then 4lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

Mono knot

Mono knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

-

-

-

-

-

-

Broke at the...

6.25lb

8lb

8.25lb

7.00lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 Turn Water Knot, varnished, 10lb Stren Original Mono, 8lb Kryston Silkworm

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns thorugh hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Bit of a pest this, as I was trying to test 8lb mono, but the spool was incorrectly labelled and when I checked it with a micrometer, it was 10lb b/s. Still, it explains why the braid was always the first to go.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

10.5lb

11.5lb

11.8lb

11.0lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

Broke at the...

Braid knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 Turn Water Knot, not varnished, 10lb Stren Original Mono, Milward Black Spider 11lb Braid

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns thorugh hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 6lb four times and then 8lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Gave up at this point. Worth noting that the braid is around 0.35mm against the mono's 0.31.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

8lb

8lb

8lb

8.5lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

Broke at the...

Braid knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

-

-

-

-

-

-

4 Turn Water Knot, no varnish. 8lb Stren Mono, 8lb Kryston Merlin.

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn uni, braid two turns thorugh hook, mono one turn.

Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

11.75lb

8.75

11lb

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Broke @ the...

Mono knot

Mono knot

Mono Knot

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Double 5 turn Uni. 6lb Stren Mono, 6lb Kryston Silkworm. October 2007

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns through hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

6.5lb

6.5lb

6.75lb

6.5lb

6.75lb

7.25lb

-

-

6.7lb

0.29

Broke at the...

Mono link

Braid knot

Mono knot

Braid knot

Mono Knot

Braid knot

-

-

-

-

Double 5 turn Uni. 6lb Stren Mono, 6lb Kryston Silkworm, doubled before tying knot. October 2007

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, two turns through hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

-

-

-

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

8.0lb

6.0lb

8.0lb

8.5lb

7.0lb

-

-

-

-

-

Broke at the...

Braid link

Mono knot

Briad knot

Mono link

Braid knot

-

-

-

-

-

Double 5 turn Uni. 8lb Stren Mono, 8lb Kryston Merlin.

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns through hook, mono one turn.

Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

9.75lb

7.75lb

10lb

9.5lb

10lb

10.5lb

9.75lb

-

-

-

Broke at the...

Mono knot

Mono knot

Mono knot

Mono link

Mono

Mono

Mono

-

-

-

Double 5 turn Uni. 8lb Stren Mono, 8lb Kryston Merlin. OCtober 2007

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, braid two turns through hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 4lb four times and then 6lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

7.75lb

10lb

9.5lb

10lb

10.5lb

9.75lb

-

-

9.58lb

0.96

Broke at the...

Mono knot

Mono knot

Mono link

Mono

Mono

Mono

-

-

-

-

5 turn Loop. 6lb Stren Mono, 6lb Kryston Silkworm. October 2007

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, two turns through hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 2lb four times and then 4lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

-

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

9.0lb

8.5lb

8.5lb

8.5lb

8.25lb

7.75lb

8.0lb

-

8.36lb

0.40

Broke at the...

Braid link

Braid link

Braid knot

Braid knot

Braid knot

Mono Link

Braid Link

-

-

-

5 turn Loop. 8lb Stren Mono, 8lb Kryston Merlin. October 2007

Both ends of line tied with 5 turn Uni, two turns through hook, mono one turn. Line stressed to 2lb four times and then 4lb 4 times and then stressed at 4oz intervals until breaking.

Test No. #

Test #1

Test #2

Test #3

Test #4

Test #5

Test #6

Test #7

Test #8

Average

Std. Dev.

Broke at...

10.25lb

10.5lb

10.25lb

10.0lb

10.25lb

-

-

-

-

-

Broke at the...

Mono knot

Mono knot

Braid knot

Mono Link

Mono link

-

-

-

-

-