Albright Knot Fails?!!

[icemonkey]

Hi skilled Fisherman,

 

i was fishing just this sat and decided to use a leader and use an albright knot to tie the 2 lines together. only problem is i lost 2 big ones due to the knot failing.

 

is the knot a bad knot  or should i even use a leader?

 

and yes i tied it properly!

[k3bass]

The question is WHY are you using a leader in the first place.

[flyfisher]

I have never heard of a properly tied albright knot failing, until your post.

[ColdSVT]

If it failed there is 99% chance that it was tied incorrectly

[wnspain]

Been using braid w floro leader for quite some time now in ultra clear water. Never had the Albright fail me once ...

[EvanT123]

Never had one fail that wasn't my fault. Time to go back to the drawing board. Remember sane way out as you went in.

[MickD]

Until recently I agreed with all of you who said if it's tied right it won't fail, but I just had one fail that was tied correctly, same way out as in.  Improved Albright, 6 wraps down, 6 back.  

Both the braid and the flouro had curls, no sign of either having broken.

 

I am convinced that this is a good knot for heavy test flouro, but with the lower tests, like s10 pound braid to 15 pound flouro, it just doesn't seem to work reliably.

 

I'm back to the double uni.

[Team9nine]

Until recently I agreed with all of you who said if it's tied right it won't fail, but I just had one fail that was tied correctly, same way out as in.  Improved Albright, 6 wraps down, 6 back.  

Both the braid and the flouro had curls, no sign of either having broken.

 

I am convinced that this is a good knot for heavy test flouro, but with the lower tests, like s10 pound braid to 15 pound flouro, it just doesn't seem to work reliably.

 

I'm back to the double uni.

 

I use that knot all the time (I go 7 down and 6 back) with 3#, 5# and 8# braid going to 6# and 8# fluoro leaders without problems. Always double check the knot good after tying and before using, but otherwise, very rare to have it fail from unraveling/slipping in my experience.

 

-T9

[lectricbassman]

If it failed there is 99% chance that it was tied incorrectly

Yup

I have a lot of confidence in the albright. The only time one has failed on me was because i didnt tie it properly.

[masterbass]

If tied properly, it shouldn't fail.  When I get hung up the line breaks at the hook or up from it.  I still have the knot in tact.

[BobP]

The obvious place an Albright will fail is if you finish the knot by putting the tag end through the loop in the wrong direction.  If you do that, you don't have a knot, you just have a bunch of braid wrapped around a piece of leader.  Been there, done that.  It lasts for a couple of casts then ...

[Master Bait'r]

Until recently I agreed with all of you who said if it's tied right it won't fail, but I just had one fail that was tied correctly, same way out as in. Improved Albright, 6 wraps down, 6 back.

Both the braid and the flouro had curls, no sign of either having broken.

I am convinced that this is a good knot for heavy test flouro, but with the lower tests, like s10 pound braid to 15 pound flouro, it just doesn't seem to work reliably.

I'm back to the double uni.

Wait wait wait... 10# braid to 15# flouro?? I think I found your problem lol

[icemonkey]

The obvious place an Albright will fail is if you finish the knot by putting the tag end through the loop in the wrong direction.  If you do that, you don't have a knot, you just have a bunch of braid wrapped around a piece of leader.  Been there, done that.  It lasts for a couple of casts then ...

 

maybe this happend ? becuse i tied it and then when i pulled hard on both lines it was tight ... the 2nd time the line even digged into my skin a bit cuz i was testing it to make sure it was tight. I even caught a small perch on it 2x but hte moment a big one hit and the fight started it stopped, and at the end of my like was my curled up small ball of braided line.

 

I even followed the diagram on the Animated knot site. so i am sure i did it right.  but after losing 2 big ones i went straight braid with no problem. 

 

question is should i give it anouther try or dont even bother? do i really need a leader?

[SirSnookalot]

Fish 300+ times a year with several rods and knot failure is going to happen.  Even the most perfect looking knots sometimes loosen up, it's happened to me before and it will again.  If I'm not mistaken an Alberto is wraps in both directions, an Albright is straight up and nothing down.  

I use 6-8 wraps up with nothing down, varies on my line and leader diameters.  If I could pull a statistic out of the sky I would say my success is close 98% in saltwater and freshwater I think better.  My SW set up is 15# braid/20# leader and 20# braid/30# leader, fresh 10#/ 10 or 15# leader.

[junyer357]

Ive not had a problem with it but i also am not set in stone on a set number up or down. For larger lines i may only use 4 or 5 wraps. Smaller lines i increase the wraps. I do this with any knot though wether its a albright leader or a hook knot. Only exception is my shaw grigsby knot i use for floro on hooks. Its always 3 wraps. Every knot also gets slobbered on good too before i begin to pull. Gotta wet those knots beforehand especially on floro

[Darren.]

I tie 10 lb Power Pro to 15 lb line often, no failures.

 

Like it's been said, test the knot after tying several

times before throwing your bait.

 

If you need to, drop a dab of superglue on the knot.

[EmersonFish]

If a knot works it works. You cannot come to the conclusion that you thought the knot worked, but after having worked for a while, it failed once, therefore the knot does not work. I have tied the Alberto (Modified Albright) knot poorly on many occasions. The beauty of that knot, is that when it is tied improperly, it will come undone when you test it. There is no ambiguity. As had been pointed out, running the line back through the wrong way is the common error. I never actually use the regular Albright knot, but it's been around forever, so I assume it works as well.

[MickD]

Wait wait wait... 10# braid to 15# flouro?? I think I found your problem lol

Yup.  Clue me in, I need help.

 

I've been thinking about this incident I had and I think that the passing of the knot repeatedly through micros may be a problem for it.  I KNOW I passed the tag end properly.

[MickD]

Emerson, with all due respect, the knot was tied properly, tested fine, and was used for a couple days on the water before it failed.  Fortunately I was using a surface lure so got both lines back and noticed both were curled.

 

I have had this happen before, but assumed I had not tied it correctly.  This one was tied correctly.  I'll be interested in the post about 15 # flouro tied to 10 pound braid being the problem.  More to come.

[OkobojiEagle]

Just a suggestion... leave 1/2" (or more) of tag end on the braid line.

 

 

oe

[Master Bait'r]

Yup. Clue me in, I need help.

I've been thinking about this incident I had and I think that the passing of the knot repeatedly through micros may be a problem for it. I KNOW I passed the tag end properly.

Well if you have a 10# braid mainline that's a TINY diameter line. Using a higher breaking strength line AND much larger diameter as a leader is counterproductive. Usually it's the other way around and you'd use 20-30# braid (or at least a higher breaking strength mainline so when you break off it's only the leader that goes) and a lighter leader material.

See what I mean? It's backwards. It may hold but it's not going to help you with calculated break offs. If you're going to use 10# braid I'd use an 8# or 6# leader. The only time you would really stray from that is if you're going for northerns or muskies and want a 100# flouro leader for the tooth factor.

[MickD]

If 1/2 inch of tag end makes a difference it means that the knot is moving/slipping.  If it moves at all what's to stop it at 12?  Not trying to be smart aleck, just trying ask a logical question.

[MickD]

MasterBait'r, keep in mind that neither line broke, so it wasn't that the leader was a higher test than the line that caused the failure.  Where this know first was used, in salt water, the leader is always the higher diameter of the two lines.  I've thought in the past that maybe the smaller dia flouros couldn't take the super tight bend induced by this knot, but getting both parts back and seeing that neither broke confirms that the knot came apart, didn't break either line.  The knot came apart not with a hook set or a fight, but just jerking a surface lure.  I'm still convinced that the knot doesn't like going through micros.  With that knot, the tag end of the flouro, which was trimmed at about 1/16 inch, goes through the guides in the direction that would tend to snag it on the guides.  So every cast the tag end of the flouro gets tweaked a few times.

 

Without a conclusive answer to why this knot failed, I'll just go back to the double uni, shorter leader so it doesn't have to go through the guides, and I'll be confident that the knot won't unravel.  Thanks for all your opinions.

[BassinLou]

I tie the alberto often. I have had breakoffs but it wasn't because of bad knot. It was because I failed to inspect the line. The cover I was fishing frayed the knot over time. I don't leave an alberto tied for too long. I will cut and retie either every other outing or on the same outing depending on how much fish and cover I have been fishing in. 

[OkobojiEagle]

If 1/2 inch of tag end makes a difference it means that the knot is moving/slipping.  If it moves at all what's to stop it at 12?  Not trying to be smart aleck, just trying ask a logical question.

 

Yup...  PE lines don't stretch and their knots will loosen slightly when not under tension.  A longer tag will give you a chance to see this before the tag slips through and the knot fails.

 

 

oe