aquaholik

50 LBS Braid diameter is too close to 20 lbs fluro to get a good grip on FG knot. 30 or 40 lbs braid max to 20 lb Fluro. What I wonder is why 50 lbs? To prevent braid dig in? It can't be for strength because 20 lbs fluro will break before 20 lbs braid will with FG knot.

Your felt drag washers might be shredded. Remove drag knob and look inside the spool and spool shaft for shredded "cotton".

Personally I've never seen any bumps in Nanofil and I probably went thru a mile of it over the years. But I would do a simple strength test to ease your worries. Curious about your use of 14 lbs Nanofil. Is it on a baitcaster or spinning gear? I love the 14 lbs on a baitcaster. Cast and act like 8 lb mono but without the stretch and phenomenal strength and sensitivity.

Oh and yes, both line does fray and is super slick when new and knots are a pain in the ass. Even FG knot. So it's a no no if your leader choice is less than 15 lbs. All other line to line knot besides FG, PR knot and Bimini are relatively weak..50% with Nanofil. I normally use 25-30 leader with Nanofil 10-12 and Fireline 8-10 lbs. I can hand off the spinning reel to my kids and he'll never bother me with windknot and tip wraps when jigging artificials. Unlike braid, it does fray and loses 20-30% strength but guess what, worn out Power Pro, Pro Spec, J braid, Stren Superbraid, Suffix 832, Samurai braid....every single braid loses 20-30% of its true ABS once the coating wears off and it starts to get fuzzy. Your 14 lbs actually breaks at 26 lbs. Your FG knot strength should be at least 20 lbs. Tie a 25 lbs leader for testing and attach that to a 15 lbs dumbbell. You should be able to easily lift that dumbbell off the ground. Wear a safety goggle when testing. It will be hard to tie 14 lbs Nanofil to leader less than 15 lbs using FG knot. Scrape the coating off first.

Nanofil is still smoother and rounder than Ultra 8. Ultra 8 has great strength to diameter ratio. Slightly better than Nanofil but the FG knot strength is poor. Example Ultra 8 in 10 lbs unknotted strength is 27 lbs but FG knot strength is about 17-18 lbs compare to original Crystal fused (4 strand) which comes in at 29 lbs and FG knot strength of 24-25 lbs. If you're using FG knot with a leader and need distance, go with Nanofil. You want something that last longer without getting fuzzy and fraying real quick then go with Ultra 8. I actually love Nanofil 14 lbs on my Alpha SV 105. It behaves like 6-8 lbs mono on the cast but of course no stretch and phenomenal slack line sensitivity. I use it for Sheepshead and Pompano jigging. I use Fireline Crystal on my 4000 Stradic FK for structure fishing since it's so strong.

It's confusing because Berkley did make Fireline Braid 5 or 6 years ago. The original Fireline Black and later Fireline Crystal are advertised as "fused" but you can easily cut it with a nail clipper and separate it into 4 strands that are "braided" together and then fused with some sort of waxy coating. Nanofil is a unifilament. I can't separate it into strands.

The original "fused" Fireline crystal or black or fluorescent is made using 4 strands. They're very easy to separate. The ultra 8 is made of 8 strands. Also fused but harder to separate into 8 strands but it's 8 strands. More durable and longer lasting. Just poor FG knot strength for some reason.

The ultra 8 is smoother than the 4 strand original crystal. Same strength to diameter ratio but weaker FG knot strength. Your 6 lbs Fireline Crystal true unknotted breaking strength is around 16 lbs.

Very common. Doesn't matter if it's braided line or fused line or unifilament line. Normal wear and tear after about 100 hours. The coating wears off and it gets fuzzy hampering distance on spinning gear. Not so much on baitcasting gear.

Yes you do need a conversion shaft. Same thing with my Stella 4000 FB

Normal. Great line but it gets fuzzy near the lure and you do have to cut it off often to maintain full strength.

Even the old TDX was a very capable "light bait" reel.

For those applications, it will be only 10 % weaker than an FG knot. We're talking 55-60% vs 65-70% for the FG knot in 30 lbs and above braid. I would still recommend a quick 5 turn surgeons to form the double braid. Cheap insurance against slippage. That will give you an overall knot strength of 25 lbs in 30 lbs braid(ABS around 50 lbs). Prior to FG knot 8 years ago, all I used was Bimini to Bristol(similar to no name and Yucatan).

I ran some test. 10lbs Spiderwire Stealth to 30 lbs mono leader. 12 wraps of the braid around the mono then cinch tight with a wooden dowel. I left a LONG braid tag end to see if it will slip. It did not slip and broke at 16.29 lbs using my line/knot tester. That's more than enough strength for any drag setting with 10 lbs line. The picture above is AFTER the failure test. The main 10 lbs line broke somewhere inside the barrel wrap. You won't win a knot strength contest with an FG knot but it's a 30 secs knot compare to the FG knot.

Typically, what size braid and leader do you use for your application when you tie this knot?