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Monday, 03 September 2007

Rethinking fishing knots

I've been finding that fishing conditions up north are very different to those I'm farmiliar with down south. The most significant difference is the size of the fish that one is likely to hook up to. It wasn't just the Longtail Tuna that I lost (at Bribie Island) due to a failed knot, but I've also noticed that my knots have been slipping out a bit too easily on the odd snag as well. I have been using the full blood knot and down south it was serving me reasonably well. I know it's not the stongest fishing knot going around, but it is quick and easy to tie. I always saw that as an advantage when rigging up on the kayak.

I'm changing my tune now though, because I'm losing confidence in it's holding ability. So I'll be spending part of today practicing a few alternative knots and experimenting with their holding ability. Specificlly I'll be aiming to perfect the Uni knot for terminal tackle, and the Albright knot for leader to main lines. Having looked into it I'm getting the impression that these knots are among the most reliable.

I'll also be spending some time working on the site today, as there's a fair few things I need to update. I plan to spend most of tomorrow on the water and intend to get out much more than I have been, so I'm keen to get a few little chores out the way today.

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Comments (2)

03-09-2007 20:03

I've only just discovered the Albright knot, but now I know it, I ain't going back. A tiny bit fiddly to tie with my meaty fingers, but pulls nice, tight and slim, great for joining braid to mono or leaders.

Written by leftieant

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04-09-2007 21:04

Me too Leftiant. Infact, I just finished rigging each of my rods with albright tied leaders. I got distracted yesterday and only got round to experimenting with the Uni knot, but stuck to my usual main to leader connection with a swivel for todays trip. Big mistake. Ironically, the flaw in doing it that way really showed up today in a couple of ways. One being that swivels mean a shorter leader, and that isn't just clumsy at times, but probably puts off fish as well.

I won't be using swivels of any kind for lure fishing any more. I lost confidence in snap swivels today as well. They're useless to me now. I wonder how much I can get for them on ebay :-)

I'll hold onto standard swivels for running sinker rigs, but the more I fish, the less I'm using bait. In fact, I've only used bait once in the last 20 or so trips (for Blackfish).

Written by 5thofNovember

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