Tying Knots On Braided Lines
Dear Reader, I have selected this title to reflect my interest in tying knots on braided lines and to offer some alternative solutions to the challenges that you will face when tackling this most challenging of line materials.
I am hosting this blog not
just because I wish to share with you and the wider angling world some of the
discoveries I have made, but also because I wish to learn some of the ‘nuggets’
that you may have discovered yourselves. Thus, I see myself as both teacher and
apprentice.
Anyone who uses braid will
know that the majority of knots claimed to work well with braid will also work
well with mono-filament, co-polymer, and fluorocarbon lines but that many knots
that work perfectly acceptably with mono, copo, and fluoro don’t exhibit the
same performance when used with braid.
And nowhere is this
more evident than when you wish to form a non-slip loop on a super fine and
super slick braid – the ubiquitous super braid. I found that such stalwarts as
the Bimini Twist, Surgeons Loop Knot, Perfection Loop Knot etc. under performed
by a considerable margin when used with this type of braid.
Three words may be used to describe my two braid lines of choice - slick and slicker:
Why no ‘Of Hooks and Swivels’, you may ask? My answer would be, ‘Why discourse on an area populated by some good-quality braid knots?’
Whether a newcomer to braid or a seasoned hand, finding a good connection knot that will work well with even the slickest braids is not difficult. You need look no further than the following:
Trilene
Tuna Knot
Once suitably fettled, the majority can be taken to the 90% b/s benchmark and beyond. Loop knots, however, afforded a different challenge. Yes, there were many to choose from, but very few delivered the sort of performance I was seeking. In part, I think this is due to the connection knot being reliant on the connector for some of its strength whereas a loop only has its own slickness for support. This explains why the loop is shunned by many in favour of the connector. Try pulling 10 lbs slowly on a pair of digital scales. It's a lot for a loop tied with such slippery line to withstand.
Understandably,
it took a while to find a pattern of loop that could deliver, and an even
longer while to consistently tie it. During this time there was what is
described in the military as ‘Mission Creep’. For now it no longer sufficed to
produce a loop with 90% - 100% capability, it had to be adjustable too …
Well, that’s easy, isn’t it? Well, in fact, it was not. But, against all the
odds, I did it, and not just with one offering, as planned, but two.
With connection knots, and now loop knots, in the bag, that left the challenge of tying a high-performance bend knot to complete. Here, the challenge was slightly different. We already have two high-performance knots in the FGKnot and the PR Bobbin Knot – the former not one of the easiest to tie, the latter requiring a special tool. So, the challenge was to produce a pattern of knot offering the same level of performance but much easier to tie. Unusually for me, it worked at the first time of asking.
Pleased with my work (The Hornet Knot), I sat back on my laurels until I was afflicted once more by the aforementioned Mission Creep. I was reminded that, for all its handsome appearance and tenacity when gripping lines of other diameters and materials, it still could not maintain a worthwhile grip on its own kind, i.e. another braided line.
For all the world, it looked like I would have to settle for using the Double Uni Bend Knot as my go-to knot should the need ever arise. Then, seemingly out of the blue, just as with the Hornet Knot, a flash of insight so quick I was barely able to register it before it was gone. But I gave it a try, and it worked. The Tuna Bend Knot was born.
As previously stated, my motivation for creating this blog is to both enlighten and be enlightened. I want to receive knots that you like to use and share your findings with other readers.
PB
Three words may be used to describe my two braid lines of choice - slick and slicker:
The Matrix brand is the heavier of the two and
matches the specifications on its label. The Daiwa brand was tested to 9 lbs
b/s on my scales, is slightly thinner than the diameter quoted, and even
slicker than the Matrix brand. Mine is in Dark Green.
Before I describe in detail
the solutions I have to offer, I think a few words on some of the tying options
available to us will be illuminating so that you may pick them out as we go
along and think about how you might improve some of your own favourites.
The tying
options are akin to the tricks that an engine tuner might use to get the most
out of an engine. In fact, Knot Tuning shares many similarities with Engine
Tuning. Both are inextricably linked with a quest for maximum performance
mitigated by other considerations such as consistency, durability, driveability
etc. Sound familiar? And as with engine tuning where the tuner can opt to do
less tuning by moving to a bigger capacity engine – ‘no substitute for the
cubes’ – so the angler can opt to use a heavier line of whatever material
confident that they just need to tie a knot ‘well enough’ to have plenty in
hand when that big ‘un comes their way. Nothing wrong with this approach if it
is working for you. Others, perhaps, want to use a fine line to deceive the
fish, but resort to glue to add that extra bit of security. Not so very
different to resorting to forced induction on a smaller engine, is it? Again,
nothing wrong with that if it works for you. If you haven’t already worked it
out, I see knot tying as a skill that can only be mastered by hours of
practice. So, I prefer to use my own ability to make my chosen knot give out at
close to its line’s breaking strain.
I
specialise in using very fine braided lines because there was a time when I
needed great strength married to extreme thinness as it was the only way I was
going to land the bigger fish. Some among you will be looking to braid to
provide hook lengths for your rigs, others will be looking to cast a bait
prodigious distances, and yet others will be trying to land the biggest type of
fish they can for a particular class of line under IGFA Rules. In this latter
group, the angler will look to realize between 90% - 100% of their line class’
breaking strain to stand any chance of landing that leviathan they are hoping
to encounter. No chance of using a heavier line for them!
Although I am no sea angler, the world of sea fishing has much to offer
the keen knot tyer, and at least three of my offerings will be seen to be
derived from this sphere of angling. My lines are super fine, but the knots I
advocate should work just as well on much heavier lines once the recipe has
been adjusted to suit. The main difference will be that knots on lines up to 11
lbs b/s can be tested relatively easily, lines running into the 100’s lbs
cannot! I aim to return to this subject in another post …
I
promised to outline some of the common tying options available to you when
tuning your knots for maximum performance, so that is what I will do.
The
Oliver Twist solution – “Please, Sir, can I have some more?”
When working with braid, additional twists, for example, are always good provided
you can cinch them. If you cannot cinch the knot properly, adding more
twists will simply weaken your knot and give you a worse performance than with
a lesser quantity. Accordingly, you find the braid part of a line-to-line-connection has many of them to furnish the grip required, e.g. the braid Uni Knot as a hook knot and within a Double Uni line-to-line knot.
Ringing
the changes – Wrapping the line several times around the
hook or swivel you are connecting to is never bad policy when using braid. It
can be seen in knots such as the Fish N Fool using either a Uni Knot or San Diego Jam Knot as the knotting agent, or the TrileneKnot. In general, the greater the disparity in diameter between the braid
and the item being connected, the more circling turns you must be prepared to
make. This is fine if you have previously tested the exact combination you are
planning to use. If you have not, you will be better using a loop as the
connecting knot because it is fully self-contained and is a known quantity.
Tucking
in –
Knot patterns such as the King Sling Knot and Tuna Knot terminate
with a double line tag loop being inserted in the gap left closest to the hook
or swivel being connected. By making another tuck or even a third, if
necessary, you will find that you are increasing the tenacity of the knot quite
considerably.
The Palomar Knot is transformed into the Nanofil Knot with an additional tuck added at its start.
The Palomar Knot is transformed into the Nanofil Knot with an additional tuck added at its start.
Locking
up –
Climbers have long recognised the benefits of locking up the tag end of their
knots. By preventing the tag end from slipping out of the knot you have just
tied, you ensure that the knot will hold on for longer. I term it an adjunct
knot. The knot I call the Crocodile was originally used for this
purpose. I find about x20 of its reversed half hitches works well.
Doubling
up –
Some braid knots have innate strength because they are formed using a doubled
line, others, like the Uni Knot and San Diego Jam Knot can
acquire extra strength by being formed with a doubled line. The thicker the
braid you are working with, the easier this will be.
Once
you are using the ‘fine stuff’, I like to think that the strong adjustable
braid loop knots that I am presenting will at least make you stop and consider
whether you should even be using a connection knot – whether in single or
doubled line form. This is pure pragmatism on my part. After a few years of
constant testing to get my proficiency and consistency up, I can tie one of my
loop knots with 90% - 100% efficiency depending on the spec of the recipe.
Give
me a big swivel and ask me to tie a connection knot of the same quality
straight off and I would not be nearly so confident. This is because my loop
knot would be a known quantity and self-reliant, a connection knot is reliant
in some part on how well it can grip the item to which it is being attached. Therefore,
tying a connection knot in these circumstances and taking a chance could lead
to disastrous consequences. The difference is between opting for something known
as opposed to unknown. This happened to me, but I got ‘lucky’ and only caught a
small fish which didn’t strain the knot in a meaningful way. Later, we found that the knot was not as strong as had been thought.
This
next vignette you might find instructive:
A
few years back, I was planning to use a Drennan quick-change bead in a rig I
had thought up. I tied my Fish N Fool Knot to the little post inside
taking the line around the tethering point several times. Upon being tested on the scales, the knot
only managed 7 lbs (on an 11 lbs b/s line). So, not very good. No problem. Just
double the line. I did and was rewarded with 8 lbs. As hard as I tried to increase the performance after that, nothing seemed to work. Out of
frustration, I roughly tied my Tuna Loop Knot and straight away was
rewarded with 9 lbs which, with a bit more care, I was sure I could
increase.
I concluded that the post in question was an awkward shape making it
hard for such fine line to find grip via the connection knot. The loop knot
worked better because it is free of this grip requirement. It simply needs to
grip the main line from which it has been made.
One last
thing to note about using doubled lines with fine braid. An open-style knot
such as a San Diego Jam Knot or a Tuna Knot is a lot more
accommodating than a closed-style like a Uni Knot or my San Diego
Jam Loop Knot where there is an overarching piece of line to negotiate for each wrap you make.
Bokken
Lace
Bokken
is
the term used to refer to the wooden swords used by apprentice Samurai in
Feudal Japan to enable them to master their deadly skills without risk of injury.
I may be wrong, but I believe they are still in use up to the current day.
I
have chosen to use this term because of its association with the idea of
training and preparation. Of course, it is not uncommon for an ‘artist with the
sword’ to be an artist in other areas, for once an artist, always an artist.
A few bokken links you may find interesting:
A few bokken links you may find interesting:
We too can use a bokken of our own as we prepare ‘to do battle’ with our latest purchase of braided line.
I am,
of course, referring to the use of shoelaces. Unlike fishing line, they are
designed to be tied and untied numerous times. Get yourself two different
colours in the longest thinnest sort you can. Now you can practice without
wasting your costly braid until you feel ready to make that ‘leap of faith’
onto the real thing like those Japanese swordsmen all those centuries ago:
Of Loops and Bends (Line to
Line)
Why no ‘Of Hooks and Swivels’, you may ask? My answer would be, ‘Why discourse on an area populated by some good-quality braid knots?’
Whether a newcomer to braid or a seasoned hand, finding a good connection knot that will work well with even the slickest braids is not difficult. You need look no further than the following:
Trilene
Tuna Knot
Once suitably fettled, the majority can be taken to the 90% b/s benchmark and beyond. Loop knots, however, afforded a different challenge. Yes, there were many to choose from, but very few delivered the sort of performance I was seeking. In part, I think this is due to the connection knot being reliant on the connector for some of its strength whereas a loop only has its own slickness for support. This explains why the loop is shunned by many in favour of the connector. Try pulling 10 lbs slowly on a pair of digital scales. It's a lot for a loop tied with such slippery line to withstand.
With connection knots, and now loop knots, in the bag, that left the challenge of tying a high-performance bend knot to complete. Here, the challenge was slightly different. We already have two high-performance knots in the FGKnot and the PR Bobbin Knot – the former not one of the easiest to tie, the latter requiring a special tool. So, the challenge was to produce a pattern of knot offering the same level of performance but much easier to tie. Unusually for me, it worked at the first time of asking.
Pleased with my work (The Hornet Knot), I sat back on my laurels until I was afflicted once more by the aforementioned Mission Creep. I was reminded that, for all its handsome appearance and tenacity when gripping lines of other diameters and materials, it still could not maintain a worthwhile grip on its own kind, i.e. another braided line.
For all the world, it looked like I would have to settle for using the Double Uni Bend Knot as my go-to knot should the need ever arise. Then, seemingly out of the blue, just as with the Hornet Knot, a flash of insight so quick I was barely able to register it before it was gone. But I gave it a try, and it worked. The Tuna Bend Knot was born.
The
Famous Five
With a nod to a certain well-known children’s author whose Noddy books were a favourite of mine when growing up, I give you five knots – three loop knots and two line-to-line knots:
Loop
Line to Line
As previously stated, my motivation for creating this blog is to both enlighten and be enlightened. I want to receive knots that you like to use and share your findings with other readers.
This leads me to mention a long-cherished dream I have held whereby manufacturers' lines can be searched on a website and readers' recommended knots, videos, and comments etc. can be accessed for the line in question. For those interested to know more, I have created a working model to discover some of the possibilities such a Site could offer.
But one step at a time. It is going to take quite a while to write up each of the above knots I wish to set before you and, hopefully, comment on all your postings too ...
Since I will be giving examples in both Lace and Braid forms, I have provided number links to enable you to switch back and forth between a particular stage of a knot in Lace and its equivalent in Braid.
I think I have kept you in suspense for long enough. Time to get to it.
See you again, I hope.
PB
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