Leader connections

[johnnybg]

Clever. Thanks a lot!

[James9118]

This might be of interest - some testing I did a while back. I didn't include the needle knot or a direct connection with a nail knot though. For my saltwater outfits I exclusively use a loop formed by bending the fly line back on itself and securing it with three nail knots - I've never had one of these fail even under extreme provocation.

https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/loop-the-loop

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi James

You need to go fish for GT around corals

Cheers
Lasse

[James9118]

Hi James

You need to go fish for GT around corals

Cheers
Lasse

What did you nail-knot that with - an old boot lace?

[Lasse Karlsson]

Nope, loop reinforced with 120 lbs braid over the flyline, nailknots done with mono. But a mushroom coral and a angry GT messed with it

Cheers
Lasse

[Boisker]

Not been on SL for a while.... since I posted on this in 2020 I’ve had a slight change. Having watched a Howard Croston vid on making your own micro core loop, does require a braided core.
Being lazy, I haven’t converted all my lines... but need to finish the rest off this year, but first re-tie the ones I did the season before last

I really like them, easy to do, passes seamlessly through the guides but still gives me the versatility to swap out leaders quickly.

[Graeme H]

Hi James

You need to go fish for GT around corals

Cheers
Lasse

That didn't "fail" in a way I'd worry about. You'd still land that fish, even if you had to redo the knot later ...

If it worried me enough to care, I'd put a couple of nail-knots over the welded loop.

For fishing, I'm happy with the welded loops on my lines when they are there, and I'll make one if it wasn't on the line I bought.

On my instructing lines, nail-knots are easy.

Cheers,
Graeme

[SevenWeight]

I cut the loop off. Then for my salt water #7, 8 and 9 lines I use the snell knot that Flip demonstrates in one of the videos to attach about 5 feet of 25 lb Rio Hard Mono Saltwater Tippet. This material is .024" and quite stiff. The next step up in this material (30 lb) is very unmanageable when trying to tie a snell or nail knot and unnecessarily stiff for 7/8/9 weight outfits. If I were to rig an 11 weight for tarpon I would use a needle knot to the fly line for peace of mind, even though the tarpon leader would only have slightly more break strength my redfish/snook/jack crevalle/ladyfish/cobia outfits. I would Ideally use a needle knot on all my line/leader transitions except for the fact that it is such a PITA to make up, and various fly lines nowadays have different coatings and cores and respond differently to being punctured, heated, stretched, etc.

Anyway I build out my leaders by adding 2' segments of 20# and 16#, then attach a bite tippet of about 18" to complete a 9- or 10 foot leader for casting poppers and 2-4" baitfish imitations. I just replace leader segments when needed and it takes a long time before I have to re-tie and shorten the butt section, fishing two- or three times a week. I'll only have to re-do the snell knot a few times over the life of a line.

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

I don't have access to an Instron anymore (actually I probably do if I asked), but my experience tells me what the results would show and that might be somewhat surprising to most.

I make my own loop at the end of the flyline by doubling the line back and securing it with a nail knot. One nail knot. I do inspect it closely and finish it off with some UV epoxy to smooth it out. I use this on all my saltwater equipment. If the line comes with a factory loop I remove it, as my knot is much less obtrusive.

If you think about the stress on a loop to loop connection you will see that there is little reason for this loop to fail, and it never has for me, even on large tarpon. Does it click through the guides? Of course, but much less when fighting a fish than when not under strain.

The knot will move through the guides quite often during a tarpon fight because a lot of it is right next to the boat. Surprisingly, the main culprit for the clicking is not the loop knot in the flyline, but rather the loop knot in the butt section of the leader. It is very important that the loop in the leader is not small... but rather it must be large! That way the thick mono does not keep the loop proud, but rather thins out to almost like a double line in a Bimini. I like the "legs" of the mono loop to be around 1.5 inches. Once again, under strain, this connection will not be a reason for failure.

One caveat I will mention is that I never fish leaders over 20# tippet even for large tarpon. If I were to fish something like 60# tippet for GTs or Tuna, I might reconsider.