Best leader connection

[Sergio_kutz]

The best knot you can tie, is the one you tie the best. Once you're skilled at tying each knot perfectly (which i know myself i'm always needing to do things better) then looking at the type of knot. Like everything, it's about confidence. If you know you tie a good albright knot, and you tie it well everytime, and THEN it breaks, then maybe you should look for a new knot. Most of it is the skill in tying the knot tho in my opinion.

Serge

[alleycat]

I will bet you any money you have a bad spool of braid, i reckon about 25% of some brands of braid just wont tie a knot, i find crystal fireline the most dependable and a uni to uni knot for light line is good, and double the braid if your using very light braid, also i recently had a lot of trouble with 1.5kg braid trying to tie on a 16 lb leader for snapper, every knot broke so i tried tying on a 6 lb leader to braid then attached a 16lb leader to the 6 lb via a uni knot, this worked...it seems the light braids dont behave to well when you use a heavier leader..

[grave41]

Hi, if your having trouble with the improved albright go through the loop twice when finishing and it locks tighter.
A wind on leader is a wind on leader no matter who makes it provided it's done correctly.
Just spend the time learning some different knots and most of all check there breaking strain before setting the drag on your reel or bye bye fish.

Graham

[Paulus]

Hey guys
I have been watching this post on leader connections for a while, the number of knots for braid to leader and more so names of knots that are mentioned is staggering.
I know some of them so I thought i might have a look at some, and do a review but with a little difference, I decided to measure the size of the knot as this seems to be of major concern, Some of the knots just take too long to do, so short cuts are taken with devistating results.
A good knot for a heavy leader is never going to be quick one to do, but should at least be slim.
The end resut may be a knew slim knot, as some new knots I have developed and tying are promising, like 93% of braid test strength.
It's an interesting subject, from what i have seen todate is, that without a double in the braid it's hard to get good strength.
Paulus


Anyway I have reviewed a few, and will do a lot more.
http://www.pcwi.com.au/fishing/index.htm

[NIZ180]

Yeh I agree!! to this day I still struggle tying a slim beauty with confidence & have seen various different ways of tying it. Same with the albright & improved albright, tho I am fairly confident tying it but I'm sure others tie it differently to me. I want to move away from tying doubles as I find this a major cause of knots hanging up during casting. I may even try my hand at making some decent wind on's for offshore.

[trueblue]

I had a tried and previously thought fool proof leader knot let go on me the other day, on a really good fish. p!ssed me off.

I had a double on the braid tied with a spider hitch, and the double was tied to the leader with a double uni knot.

since I have been onto a few good fish lately I started watching my double uni knot......... and got a big surprise.

I have always cut the tail on the mono / fluro leader quite short - big mistake to do that before properly loading up the knot to tighten it.

I previously cut the tail to about 1.5mm. 3 good fish later, and the tail on the knot was about to get pulled inside the knot.

Now I am using a piece of round broom handle to get a good wrap of braid (so I can pull on it) and really loading up the knot before trimming the tail - and I am putting a dob of super glue onto it.

so far - so good, but as always, we'll see down the track

cheers

Mick

[Paulus]

Hi
I take it you are using a so called FC, Braid does tend to not bite in and hold.
You may gain a slight advantage with abrasion resistance but loose out in formability.
Flatten out your braid before starting the knot, will help.
I believe that mid range hardness leaders in the end are a better way to go.
Keep in mind that an albright will impact with use and will let go.
Paulus

[trueblue]

I gave up on the albright knots - lost too many good fish on them and I reckon I was tying them properly

Biggest thing for me recently was to start tying a double in the braid, that fixed many of my problems

[Shnappahead]

Hi guys,
I've just been reading thru this invaluable information & was wondering if you could clear up some things for me.
I would like to know what you suggest as the best knot for 60lb braid to 80lb leader?

List of knots I think might work are:
FG Knot
Slim Beauty
Double grinner knot
Improved albright
Tony Jones Leader
Also, is there somewhere I can find out how to tie the SB & double grinner knots? I have the Geoff Wilson book but Im not sure if either of these knots are featured in it?

Thanks in advance.

[Paulus]

Hey Guys
Seeing that I have just made a bimini twist tool, and with it it, it needs a knot to get the best out of the line system.
The albright knot is a slim knot, but when you start adding bulk like the two legs of a bimini, up and then back is starts to get a little bulky especially with 3 through the eye at the end, then you also have the problem of the tag end facing forward, after doing a lot of testing and little sleeping this is the end result.
This knot has no tag end facing forward as it's covered by the ramp. This is a very slim knot.
I just did a bimini in 30 lb Suffix and this knot on 60 lb black magic trace and got a braid failure of 29.38lb well above the bimini, thats 93.5% of the test value of the braid.

11 hrs work in that little monster.
I have added in a few extra frames to make it a little easier.

Paulus
A lot of info here
http://www.pcwi.com.au/fishing/index.htm

[grave41]

Paulus,
Very interesting an similar to an fg knot through and over a double with a rizuto finish .As im a bit of a knot nut i gotta have a go at it.
Why does any one need a double when you can tie an fg or shout pr knot
. Just a waste of time.
imo Graham

[Paulus]

Hey guys

Well believe me you need that double.
If your playing with 15lb test stuff just use a double blood, but go heavier and the tests proove you need it, no old wives / bs tales told on the tester.

Did a little work on a loop to loop today as i had made a promise to a member here.

One time through is not enough
Hope it helps
Paulus

[grave41]

The shout pr knot is used for gt fishing if it can handle a 50kg gt it's good enough for me.
Graham