Knot on spinning rig-connecting braid to leader

duckbill

Senior Member
Hi all

I've always used two uni knots (multi uni knot) to join braid to leader on my spinning setups.

I browsed Youtube for alternatives and came across quite a few. The ones I find easiest to tie are the Aussie Quicky, the J-knot and the Alberto knot. Of the three I like the Alberto knot the most. It's quite small yet super strong.

Which knots do you gents use on your spinning setups?
 

EugeneC

Sealiner
Here's a video by Le from MB Custom Lures, there are many ways to tie the FG, but this is one of the best in my experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rnZiyRUG9c
 

Limpopoking

Sealiner
FG... Fast enough to re-tie when you start to lose faith in the integrity of your leader. In the 4 years I've been using it, it has never once slipped.

My preferred method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjzUb5QRKuk
 

EugeneC

Sealiner
Regarding knots and knot testing, like every other part of fishing, there are thousands of opinions and plenty debate, often heated, over which knot is best. Personally I find the knot tests like the one in the link curious, but not very useful because it doesn't relate to real life conditions.

There is a certain site hosted by a fishing knot "expert" who maintains that the FG knot is "flawed" based on his tests and he therefore refuses to fish or recommend it, singing the praises of the PR instead....

A few years back when I first arrived in Oman, Ed and the No Boundaries crew swore by the PR knot and used it exclusively. Earlier this year when I went back for a visit I was surprised to discover they have totally dropped the PR and now use only FG knots for braid to leader connections.

I suspected the usual "no tools required" phrase would be the answer, but I was further surprised to learn that in the 5 or 6 years since they started out they had learnt that the FG holds up a lot better than the PR under the stress and strain of fishing for monster GT's in tropical conditions.

Now they had not done any scientific testing or record keeping, so I can't satisfy the statistical minds, but suffice it to say that the guys have seen a significant decrease in busted connections since switching to the FG knot; and this is a highly professional charter operation who regularly host some of the top anglers in the world - so I'm not inclined to argue.

If you have ever experienced the brute force of a large GT in skinny water you will know that it is one of the ultimate tests of tackle. If the FG can withstand that, I'm confident it can withstand whatever I throw at it, regardless of what a certain well regarded knot "expert" has to say about it.
 

willo

Sealiner
I personally use the "bob sands knot"
make the bimini twist about 30 cm long Including the third leg and then follow in the bob sands knot using all three tails .
I have never had the knot slip or fail and don't see my self ever changing the setup.
I have landed enough fish that super seed the weight class of the braid / leader rating and have had to put that much pressure on the tackle that if it was going to break it would of ...

Most of my fishing partners are sponsored anglers and they all seem to differ when it comes to there knot setups .
One swears by the FG knot , but i have been witness to plenty of his knots giving way ... lmao when it happens, he has landed enough big fish on that knot as well to be-leave he is using the best knot. He is a bloody awesome angler , shit just happens sometimes i guess .
A few of them have been around the full circle and have come back to the back to back uni .
All these boys have pulled plenty of trophy fish across all the different species ... there photo album's are something special .

At the end of the day its what you have confidence in , once you have landed a few solid fish and have lived through the fight and know how much pressure you have put through your gear to do so . That"s when you get that full confidence to put the breaks on any fish .
 

QAZA

Senior Member
On heavy tackle (for gt's, skates, rays, guitars, etc) using 50lb braid and 1mm leader, I prefer the back to back uni, with the braid biminiid using all 3 legs. With what I am targeting a 3 meter leader is more than adequate, when casting the braid, bimini goes through the rod's first eye to take the brunt of the force. Never let me down in 15 years. Why change when you have 99.999999999% confidence in your knots? Other knots might be easier and quicker.....each for his own.
 

Haroldg

New member
Interesting comments there EugeneC. I've used the FG "knot" for a few years now and also tried the PR "knot". The mechanics of tying the FG definitely gave me more confidence in it than the PR so your findings come as no surprise. I couldn't find any comparisons on the knot wars site or anywhere else for a definitive answer though. With the FG you have more control over the tightness of the wraps that cross the mainline and bite into it as opposed to just wraps with the PR which tend to slip under pressure (imo).

I use the rizutto finish as per the earlier link as the tag end stays intact a lot longer than half hitches. Now there are many different ways of doing the wraps using tools, arms, legs, teeth etc but the minimalist method in the following link is my preferred method.

I've had guys complain about the FG slipping but never when I've tied one for them and we pulled to the point of dragging each other around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvwgRr-rt9I
 

Haroldg

New member
I do like the Bob Sands knot but only use it for a short leader with the knot outside the guides. For a full length leader going through the guides FG always for smoothness.
 

willo

Sealiner
Should of mentioned that ,when using my spinning outfits i only ever run a short leader outside the guides about 1.5 meters long for land based and boat fishing .
I have microwave guides on a few set ups and my other rods also have have pretty small guides .
 
FG is the way to go!

One tip though, get yourself two short pieces of PVC pipe and wrap electrical tape round them a couple of times. Use these pipes to wrap the braid on one side and leader on the other side and pull on the pipes to set the knot before finishing off. You have to set the FG properly after your first two half hitches.

I had two reef hookups on a recent trip on my 50lb jigging outfit and on both occasions the FG held up just fine and I broke the fig8 on the solid ring.
 
Ja the only the way to know which knot to use is to go, practice till you you have each down, then tie the different ones and attach your trace to a "piece of reef" in your backyard or a tree, lock your drag and pull till something gives. Then work out what gives and what doesn't, use the knots that give on your sinker connections :) and you will quickly work out which other ones work for you and are easy enough to use. I use total 6 knots now or variations thereof, for all fishing, braid, mono, handline (double overhand loop), tuna (rapala-centuari variation) and including for tying of sinkers (uni) and including the occasional stitch, 7 knots if you include the sabiki knot when i tie the coffee packet flies on a sabiki rig and that is about it..process of elimination and convenience. Hell I have been through a lot of knots in my fishing career but for most of my fishing I use variations of a centuari knot, for braid the FG in addition (I hardly even stitch a leader and prefer a long enough mono leader, mainly stitch to seamlessly join braid when spooling new topshot or such) and a weak 3 turn uni for sinkers.

After 20 years of not fishing too seriously I don't knot why it never occured to me to tie the knots and test them against each other..after one afternoon of that I dropped most of the knots I use.

Funny enough, even a double overhand loop to make a loop or double line was stronger than my bimini and others, every single time, even in braid where it was the strongest connection I found to a swivel or such much to my suprise. Never bothered to tie a bimini since haha and my commercial fishing friend had a laugh as he had been telling me the whole time that there is a reason they just use that simple knot. I was like the there was no way that kuk knot would be strong, but it was, it was the strongest simple connection for braid.. The only one stronger was FG to leader to clip/lure direct. Second best was double overhand loop to swivel to leader..just shows one, the only way to know is to go..tie and test. each person will tie their best knot their way so someones best best knot may not be the same as yours, to go is to know.
 

Ant86

Sealiner
Dewald Posthumus wrote:
FG is the way to go!

One tip though, get yourself two short pieces of PVC pipe and wrap electrical tape round them a couple of times. Use these pipes to wrap the braid on one side and leader on the other side and pull on the pipes to set the knot before finishing off. You have to set the FG properly after your first two half hitches.

I had two reef hookups on a recent trip on my 50lb jigging outfit and on both occasions the FG held up just fine and I broke the fig8 on the solid ring.

Great tip, always a mission to pull the knot nice and tight with bare hands
 

Vandit

New member
The answer is the best knot you can tie... It isn’t rocket science really. Sacrifice some line, test some knots and know for sure. A single measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions. If I have the time to prep and the required tool, I tie a PR. My PRs are 10-15% stronger than my FGs. I may be tying a less than ideal FG, I don’t know. The same goes for any knot you tie. Without testing them, there is no real way knowing.
 
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