02 CROCODILE LOOP

TYING THE CROCODILE LOOP KNOT

This is a knot that was never intended to take centre stage, believe it or not. I was using it purely as an adjunct knot to secure the tag end – be it a single line or double line - of the main knot, much as climbers do with their climbing ropes. I knew that I could make a loop using pairs of reversed half hitches commonly called a Cow Hitch to demonstrate how effective this knot could be in its ancillary role. So, to prove to myself that it was only good for this secondary role, I thought I had better test it on my favourite braid in anticipation of a mediocre result.

Wow! I could not have been more wrong! It easily matched the results obtained from my other loop knots and, dare I say it, is the easiest to tie. Having invested so much time and energy in my other loop knots, this was something of a bittersweet moment …

If you want to know what a quirky knot is, then look no further. By all the rules of knot tying, it shouldn’t work, and yet it does – even on super slippery braids like Daiwa’s Tournament 8 Braid Evo (as anyone who has ever used it will be aware …!). I mean, who has ever heard of a knot that can be slid up and down the line during its formative stages yet hold as steady as a conventional knot once fully formed? Apparently, it is a popular suture knot in certain types of surgery, so, given that we already have knots such as the Surgeons Knot and Surgeons Loop Knot, we should not get too sniffy about this offering. And yet … I wouldn’t blame you if you did. It does take a little getting used to. 

Why? 

I think the quirkiness is in large part down to a misunderstanding of how it behaves. This is entirely understandable and my thoughts, such as they are, have only come to me after a lot of testing in different situations. 

To understand what I believe to be happening, I need to quickly return to first principles:

• Braided line has zero or close to zero stretch. Any stretch is afforded by the line it is attached to

• Braided line can be very slick. It’s the reason why so many standard knot patterns fail and why we use the knots we do because they have more grip than most

Unlike all other braid knots which are designed to grip as hard as possible until they can hold on no longer, the Crocodile Knot, whether as a loop or adjunct knot, slowly dissipates the tension it is put under by stretching out along the standing line. The best analogy I can draw is to compare how a tree with a thick solid trunk and a tree with a much thinner but more flexible trunk behave when a storm comes. The tree with the thicker trunk will suddenly let go (if it is going to, of course) with a loud cracking sound whereas the tree with the more supple trunk will bend under the pressure of the gusts before returning to its normal posture.

The Crocodile Knot won’t return to its previous shape (unless you make it, of course) but as the tension is increased, the reversed half hitches slowly stretch out just like pulling a coiled spring apart. Its progression towards destruction at the hands of my scales is, therefore, a lot more progressive than normal. Unusually, once you have extended its half hitches, you can push them back with no apparent loss of performance.

Most knots require some form of cinching to finish them off such that when they are under extreme tension, there is not much give. With this knot, you can choose whether to cinch or not, but this choice should depend on the circumstances.

If your loop is to be clipped to something like a quick-release clip or bead, or perhaps has been formed within the eye of a lure, it seems that you can either leave as is, or choose to pre-tension it a bit. This is because the loop has room to stretch if required. If you are planning to use in a Girth Hitch around something like a swivel or large hook, it will probably be safer to pre-tension it to around 90% of line strength. I say this because when I looped my weaker braid through the loop of the stronger braid, I found that the knot of the weaker line failed well before it should if I had not first pre-tensioned it to 90% of line strength. Obviously, this is not an issue with either of the other loop knots as they come pre-tensioned. As soon as both Crocodile Knots had been pre-tensioned, normal service was resumed. 

I attributed this apparent foible to the fact that my six-turn Loop-to-loop knot which you must use to prevent the loop of the lighter braid being cut on the heavier braid was restricting the ability of the half hitches to expand as they would normally do when the loop was unfettered. Once the loops have been pre-stretched before being placed in the interlocking mode, they are back up to full strength.

I will give you some hard-won tips on how to tie this knot effortlessly, but given its simplicity of construction, consistency is not usually an issue (but see below), and provided you follow the recipe required by the line you are using, you should be rewarded with the same results each and every time.This is not always the case with the more complex knots you may be asked to tie, which is why lots of practice is so important.

I like watching demonstration videos but, sometimes, it is hard to make out what the practitioner is showing. Therefore, I have chosen to adopt a sort of stop-motion technique using still photos combined with explanation so that you can easily see a step at a time what is being described.

Each knot will first be depicted and described using the Bokken lace as your guide. This will then be followed by shots and descriptions using the actual designated braid together with the all-important recipe and tips that I have followed to get that result.

(click on photos to expand)

01 Form a loop leaving a long enough tag length to complete the knot comfortably for the type of line you are using

02 Tuck the tag under the loop and bring through to form an Overhead Knot

03 Pull the tag end back towards the main or standing line. See how the tag line goes over the main line forming the ‘over’ part of the Cow Hitch which comprises a pair of reversed hitches - one hitch ‘over’ followed by one hitch ‘under’

04 Now take the tag line under the main line to begin formation of the ‘under’ hitch and bring it back towards you over the main line and pass it down through the space formed by itself and the main line on the other side

05 Now you have one hitch ‘over’ the main line and one hitch ‘under’ the main line. This pair of hitches is the heart of this knot

06 As you draw the tag line tighter, you should see the first hitch forming

07 The first completed Cow Hitch – first of many to come on the lighter slicker braids

08 Start of the second Cow Hitch – take the tag line over the main line as before

09 Completion of the second Cow Hitch – now take the tag line under the main line as before

10 A pair of Cow Hitches completed – a whole herd to come …

11 And here it is. As fisher folk, we allow ourselves to admire the surroundings we fish in, the fish we catch, the quality of our tackle, but seldom our knots! The habitual fine-braid user like myself sees little more than a black or green blob when the knot has been tied. Not much to admire there, then. However, in Bokken form, we have something to look at. Most knots are nothing special to look at, nor do they need to be. First and foremost, we need our knots to work. Any pleasing aesthetics are a bonus. We are not tying knots for artistic effect as you would with Macramé. Although, apparently, the Half Hitch is a knot favoured by practitioners of this hobby. I digress. If we were scoring fishing knots on their looks, I think this one rates as being at least ‘attractive’ (in another post I will give you a knot with true supermodel looks). Although, I can’t think of any human models, male or female, that would appreciate being likened to a caterpillar – but maybe they would if they saw the type I have in mind …

Anyway, compare the two photos and you will understand what I mean

12 And this side up we have something that resembles the back of a Crocodile, or, if you want a snappier name, Gator:

Hmm, can’t think of too many people appreciating having their looks likened to the wrinkly skin of a croc or gator!

Now, my friends, it’s time to lay aside your training lace and pick up your fishing braid. As night differs from day, as a bokken differs from a katana, so does your training lace differ from your fishing braid, and nowhere more so than in the finer braids.

In time-honoured fashion when cooking, you begin with a recipe which calls for various ingredients in differing quantities. For you and me, the recipe simply describes the category of knot we wish to tie - loop or line to line - and the pattern of knot we have chosen, e.g. San Diego Jam Loop Knot, Tuna Line-to-Line Knot etc. And the ingredients? The number of twists, turns, tucks required to complete the knot. Of course, as with any recipe, these quantities will need to be increased or decreased depending on the thickness and slickness of the line in use. Accordingly, I will give the RECIPE for each knot being described followed by appropriate TIPS as I go along.

So far, so good. In this post, I will continue with how to form the loop being described; in my next post, I wish to draw attention to a no less important part of loop tying – the Loop to Loop Knot. This is necessary because, unknown to me, and possibly to you, there are aspects to tying this knot which go unreported on and yet which, if not addressed, can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of your hook link.

TOP TIP

The more time you take over tying your knot – a rushed knot is seldom good – and the more care you put into it, the greater your chances of maximising your line’s potential. Fairly commonsense advice, for sure, but there is another part to it not so well known but borne out by tying these knots. It is this. Try to test your knots within about 80% of the known breaking strain before use. 

My chosen lines are 11 lbs b/s and 9 lbs b/s respectively. Whether loop or bend, I would seek to pull about 9 lbs b/s on the former and about 7.5 lbs b/s on the latter. When dealing with these super thin braids (0.08 mm and 0.06 mm) I find my fingers can take a while to warm up – just like a car engine. Consequently, it is quite common for the first or second knot I tie to be substandard and for the performance to gradually increase with each successive knot.

So, don’t go expecting that, just because I have said that the following knot is the simplest of all my knots, that you will be able to follow my recipe and end up with a loop knot of 90%+ b/s performance at your first attempt! Obviously, I hope you will, but it’s what we may call the ‘X-factor’ or, more precisely, the ‘Human Factor’. You will not be surprised to know that it afflicts me also, and it can be extremely frustrating! You know that you are doing everything right (or so you think) yet the results are just not there.

In fact, when I was preparing this posting and had not tied this knot for a while, I seemed to tie the heavier braid without an issue, but when I tested my efforts with the thinner braid, it was breaking at a paltry 4-5 lbs b/s. Clearly, I was doing something wrong. I traced the problem to applying too much tension to the half hitches. This lighter braid is a lot more delicate than the heavier braid and even slicker which seems to magnify any deficiencies in technique. This knot benefits from laying down the hitches in as uniform a way as possible which is not as easy as it sounds when there are so many …

Going back to the ‘Human Factor’, for a moment, none of us are machines. Maintaining that consistency of tying style comes with practice and, as importantly, constant use...

Imagine that it is your dear Auntie Flo’s 80th birthday and you have been asked to bake you signature Victoria Sandwich. Owing to other distractions (fishing perhaps?) you haven’t baked one of these for a while, but you feel confident. You know the recipe. You empty the necessary ingredients into the mixing bowl. All you need to do is to mix them together and place in the pre-heated oven. The two halves are nicely browning in their tins, but, to your horror, they are barely rising! Something has gone wrong in the mix causing them to become flat and stolid. Your Old Self would have beaten the mix just enough to retain the air in the mixture, but it seems that this unpractised You has lost the touch.

Thus, can it be with tying these knots! When you are ‘in the groove’, it seems effortless. When you are not, persevere. It will come back to you. This we call 'Being Human …'.

RECIPE

• For braids as thin as 0.06 mm – 0.07 mm use x50 hitches

• For braids as thin as 0.08 mm – use x40 – x46 hitches

• As the braid becomes thicker – you can use less hitches depending on your own findings

(click on photos to expand)

01 First step will be to tension the braid being used to make the knot. If the line has already been spooled onto a reel, the weight of the reel will suffice to tension against. Because line still on the manufacturer’s spool has no such weight, I find it easier to grip between my legs and pull off the amount that I will need to comfortably complete the knot TIP As It can be quite difficult to judge how much line to draw off, it is worth keeping a note of the lengths of the initial drawing offs so that you know for future what is the optimal length for your style

02 A length of line is drawn off and formed into a long loop – you must allow yourself enough tag length to form the hitches. If you leave it too short, it becomes more difficult to complete the requisite number of hitches, and especially so if the line is very thin and supple

03 The first hitch is made over the main line with the tag end being drawn under the loop so formed TIP Not only do you need to keep count of how many hitches you have made, but also in which direction. The hitches must be in reversed order pairs.To do this, keep the following type of count: 'over is 1, under is 2, over is 3, under is 4, over is 5, under is 6 …’ At some point, if you get distracted or lose concentration, you will remember the number of the count and forget whether it was 'over' or 'under' you were supposed to do next. But then you will recall that odd numbers are always 'over' and even numbers are always 'under', and make the correct decision according to whether the next number is odd or even. Also, if you are at home, some chill-out music is highly recommended …

04 Here we see the 'under' hitch of the pair being formed – the tag line has been taken under the main line and back over it towards you passing as it does so down through the gap between main line and tag line

05 Here you can see the Cow Hitch from the previous frame has been completed and the next 'over' hitch has just been started

06 And here is the corresponding 'under' hitch – not easy to make out at first glance. The tag line can be seen being taken under the main line coming down from the top of the picture and being steered back over the main line and under itself in the gap between itself and the main line

07 And here is the finished product comprising about x46 hitches on the heavier of the two braids

08 Here we have ‘two crocs’ – one on the heavier braid, the other on the lighter – preparing to battle it out in the arena of the loop-to-loop connection …

09 Before the connection is made, each knot should be pre-stretched to 85%-90% of its line strength just like athletes doing their warm-up stretches

We'll catch up with them again when I highlight some points about the Loop-to-Loop Knot that may not have occurred to you.

PB