Braid knots

[Brett]

Yes they should be able to re use the braid.

A lot of old reels, don't suit braid, for one reason or another. They are fine with mono, but braid not so.

[GTurvs]

Thanks for that Brett.

Today wasn't a complete disaster. I was impressed with the uni to uni knot. Sailed through the guides nicely and handled some small pinkys without breaking. It was easy to tie at home but I was hopeless at it in the wind and under pressure. More practice needed.

I ended up using a leader of 6lb about 1 metre or so which sat nicely before the spool between casts.

I really want to give SPs a good go so I'm a bit devastated that I need to upgrade the reel first or switch back to mono, no braid. Sloth's regular updates have me hooked.

[Larksy88]

Thanks for that Brett.

Today wasn't a complete disaster. I was impressed with the uni to uni knot. Sailed through the guides nicely and handled some small pinkys without breaking. It was easy to tie at home but I was hopeless at it in the wind and under pressure. More practice needed.

I ended up using a leader of 6lb about 1 metre or so which sat nicely before the spool between casts.

I really want to give SPs a good go so I'm a bit devastated that I need to upgrade the reel first or switch back to mono, no braid. Sloth's regular updates have me hooked.

mate if youre worried about having to replace a reel grab yourself a 2500 sienna. Could pick one up brand new for about $40 they are great for the price

[frozenpod]

Doubt the reel is the problem.

Too much slack/not enough pressure when retrieving the line is the most likely cause.

RE knots uni is one of the worst for knot strength whilst it is easy to tie I suggest you try learning the following.

Terminal tackle ie hooks, half blood knot these days called improved clinch knot, easy to tie and equal strongest in many knot tests.
http://www.animatedknots.com/improvedcl ... eg=fishing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Braid to leader slim knot for light gear, modified albright, sometimes also called improved Bristol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_2xautA1U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sloth]

If you can afford to I'd recommend having a combo which you just use for lure fishing. The casting weights and technique between bait and lure fishing is very different and using the same rod and reel for both will always be a compromise.

I do see some potential problem areas that could be causing your issues. Firstly 6lb sunline is fairly thin to start learning with. If your line management isn't good you may have issues. As said above, as you start a retrieve pinch the line between fingers so the first wraps go on tight. Loose loops on the reel cause windknots. Always close the bail by hand - don't wind the reel to close the bail over.

Second - the reel. The lip is either pitted and corroded or quite dirty. Spool irregularities risk your braid. It can catch on those pitted areas/nicks and abrade and weaken or it can catch and hold the braid, allowing the loop behind it to go over the top .... creating wind knots.

The line lay on the spool doesn't look great either in that it's not uniform and tapered. Again this may allow following loops to overtake leading loops on the cast.

As someone said above I'd consider getting a new spinning reel (just for lure fishing ideally). You can re-use the 6lb braid or take the opportunity to go for a thicker braid. Thicker braid reduces casting distance but makes line management easier - it's a trade-off between the two. A shimano sienna or sedona would be fine. 2500 would be fine or a 1000 if you want to just target smaller estuary fish.

Having a maintained/new, clean reel will make lure fishing a hundred times more pleasurable than using your current one. If you're lure fishing your casting 100s of times a session. You don't need expensive gear but you need fit-for-purpose and maintained gear if at all possible.

Lastly on the knots. I only use four. An arbor knot to tie mono backing to the spool. A double-uni to tie the backing to the braid. A seaguar knot to tie braid to fluorocarbon leader. A fish-n-fool knot to tie to lure clip/jighead eye.

The fish-n-fool is easy to tie and a "knot wars" winner. I use a daiwa knot tool to tie the seaguar knot which joins the braid and leader. It cost me $25 but it ties a neat, small, strong knot in about 15seconds - I've been using it over a year and love it!

Having said that - I know competition/tournament Breamers who just use a double-uni and they win plenty of titles .... So don't be afraid to stick with that if it works for you.

Over time you'll find your personal "style" evolves and you'll naturally find your rhythm and what setup, techniques and lures work for you personally.

[frozenpod]

The fish-n-fool is easy to tie and a "knot wars" winner.

You may want to check that, it may have won an episode but being it is a uni knot with double through the eye I doubt it will hold up against improved clinch, San Diego Jam ect which can also be tied with a double through the eye.

[ducky]

Beginners braid knot = slim beauty
Advanced braid knot = FG knot.

Only need to know 2 as far as I'm concerned.

[sloth]

The fish-n-fool is easy to tie and a "knot wars" winner.

You may want to check that, it may have won an episode but being it is a uni knot with double through the eye I doubt it will hold up against improved clinch, San Diego Jam ect which can also be tied with a double through the eye.

Hi mate, I usually do check my info if I have any doubt about it before I post up, but thanks, if things weren't questioned nothing would improve.

You had me worried that it wasn't a knots war winner .....

But google found me this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQ3-pJCdO4

Where "Berkley Braid knot versus the Fish-n-Fool. Episode 7 of Knot Wars, from the 2010 season of North American Fisherman. Berkley Braid takes on the champion from Knot Wars 2009."

and there's the press stuff around it:

http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/spo ... dabb6.html

I'm fairly certain Fish-n-fool won Knot Wars 2009.

[DougieK]

The fish-n-fool is easy to tie and a "knot wars" winner.

You may want to check that, it may have won an episode but being it is a uni knot with double through the eye I doubt it will hold up against improved clinch, San Diego Jam ect which can also be tied with a double through the eye.

Hi mate, I usually do check my info if I have any doubt about it before I post up, but thanks, if things weren't questioned nothing would improve.

You had me worried that it wasn't a knots war winner .....

But google found me this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQ3-pJCdO4

Where "Berkley Braid knot versus the Fish-n-Fool. Episode 7 of Knot Wars, from the 2010 season of North American Fisherman. Berkley Braid takes on the champion from Knot Wars 2009."

and there's the press stuff around it:

http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/spo ... dabb6.html

I'm fairly certain Fish-n-fool won Knot Wars 2009.

I've never seen the BBN before. Will give it a try out tomorrow. If the claim is true i'm a convert.

Braid - leader i'll keep using the slim beauty unless i need a shock leader then it's FG allt he way.

[GTurvs]

I'm loving the debate on knot strength etc and the different examples shown. Gives me plenty to learn and I keep coming back to this thread to try new knots. I'll be reviewing this thread for quite a while yet while I get the hang of a few styles. I just want to be confident with a 2-3 that will serve me well, that I can tie while fishing without thinking too much. At the moment I'm practicing the uni to uni most of all. I wasn't too impressed with the Albright as the knot slipped a couple of times (probably due to poor skills) but I haven't looked at the 'Improved' Albright yet. That may be okay. I tried the Slim Beauty but struggled with it - I couldn't get the loops happening correctly.. I wonder if my line is a bit light perhaps?

Based on the helpful replies above, I bought a new Sienna today and had the tackle shop load the braid on this time. They were able to take it from my old reel which was handy. I think they laid it on pretty tightly compared to my effort, so hopefully no more wind-knots. I'll give it a road test tonight. The tackle store didn't have much to say about the wind-knots issue except that the reel might not be suitable as Brett mentioned. I rattled off some of the potential issues raised in this thread and they agreed that these also might be factors, but it's hard to say I guess.



A shot of the new reel for the equipment nerds (I'm quickly becoming one too). Cost me about $50 retail.



Sloth, I'm keeping this reel as lure only as you recommended. I'll use my old beaten up reel for bait fishing. I'm stuck with the 6lb Sunline for now so I'll just have to learn how to use it properly, being careful about line management etc. I was really impressed with the added casting distance of the fine braid. Flicking 1/6 jigheads for flathead felt really comfortable and I didn't need to put any effort into the cast, just flicked it. It's very smooth through the guides. I'm keen to see how I go with some of the bream size jigheads though, might be a bit trickier.