Braid To Fc Knot : Alberto Or Double Uni ?

[Eddie101]

Sorry to revive the dead thread, but I’m experiencing backlash from time to time when my Alberto knot does not go through the guides as it should. I always do seven wraps up and seven back - is that too much? If I do double Uni knots instead, what would be the ideal wraps? Thank you in advance!

[Darth-Baiter]

The Alberto is my best knot, that i can tie.  therefore, i use it most often.  

the double uni, it the opposite.  i am all thumbs.

Ease of going through rod guides ?  i reel it all the way back to the reel sometimes on my spinning rods.  baitcasters, i always use short leader and i keep it out of the guides.  

- Strength ?  crazy strong!

- Long Lasting ?  long long lasting.  i usually change it, when i am running short of length on the leader

- Shock resistance ?  i use Flouro, so i think the shock resistance on the line itself is suspect, and i try to avoid it beyond my awesome hooksets for the camera.

 

[MickD]

If the Alberto is catching on the guides the double uni will catch even worse.  

 

Seven up and seven down is what I do.  Make sure you really set the knot hard.  If you don't it will be bigger and will likely unravel.  I set mine very hard then add two half hitches of the braid tag end which prevents unravelling (ever able to get a knot out of braid after it's set tightly?)  Set the half hitches tightly too.  They will not make the knot larger or more prone to catching on the guides.

 

What you are experiencing may be affected by the length of the leader, so try some changes to that.

 

 

[WRB]

Look at the Lefty Kerh leader knot, oldie buy goodie.

Another standby is the Blood knot tied properly.

Tom

[Pogues2300]

Fg

[tunaman]

On 7/17/2015 at 7:46 PM, aprilbass101 said:

Double Uni....Great knot! Haven't had any issues with it in many years! Practice makes perfect

Yep… used it for more years than many here have been fishing, for all braid to flouro/mono for both fresh and salt, and it just works great for me. I can tie it blindfolded in gale force winds.

[Eddie101]

21 minutes ago, tunaman said:

Yep… used it for more years than many here have been fishing, for all braid to flouro/mono for both fresh and salt, and it just works great for me. I can tie it blindfolded in gale force winds.

How many wraps do you recommend? 

[tunaman]

Depends… I use as few as four, and as many as six typically. I use more wraps for smaller diameters, and usually try to apply some Super Glue gel on the connection when I have the luxury of time.

 

I was fortunate to get paired with Aaron (Martens) in the US Open in 2006, and at that time he was using the uni. For some of his lighter rigs he sometimes used 8 or 9 wraps.

 

I’ve caught two double-digit largemouth on the Delta using 20# PowerPro to 6# Pline flouro, and 100# bluefin on 60# LineOne to 30# Seaguar Blue Label using the connector, so I have the ultimate confidence in it.

[Hammer 4]

uni to uni, 6 wraps each, never had any issues.

[The Bassman]

Alberto is my go to as I'm using leaders more now. Two tips:  1. Make two wraps with your braid in the the leader loop as you finish. Good insurance that the braid won't unravel.  2. Trim the leader tag as close as possible (don't nip the braid, though). This will minimize guide hang ups and make the knot quieter. Also, I don't stress over getting my wraps perfect. As long as you get them to lay neat by not backwrapping over the ones you've done already you'll be fine. A poorly tied knot will look lumpy. A well tied one will be very neat and small. Glue just makes the knot noisy. It'll hold on its own.

[ATA]

I always do Alberto when I want to do connection knot on water, And thats the best choice. But do yourself a favor and do FG knot at home day before and take advantage of it.

[MickD]

Those favoring the double uni may not like how will they work with size 4 running guides and 20 pound leaders.  Too big.  It is easy to tie correctly, very reliable. a fine knot when conditions for it are favorable. 

[VTFan]

On 7/17/2015 at 4:58 PM, MickD said:

Check out the long string of posts under "Albright knot fails ?!!"l further down for some good discussion.  To start with , the Alb erto is an improved version of the Albright.  It suffers from the same weakness, if you put the tag end back through the loop wrong it will unravel.  There is a lot of different opinions on this subject, but my conclusion is that you can tie the Alberto correctly and it still can unravel, not by force, but from going through the guides (micros) and getting ticked a lot under essentially no load.  A lot of folks disagree.

 

I have concluded that the knot many are advocating, the FG is the best knot for this.   It takes a little more skill and practice to tie, but I don't think it is as hard to tell if you've done it right.  You can visually inspect it.  If you've screwed up the braiding, it will have bumps where you screwed up.  It is the smallest of the knots, much smaller than the double uni and smaller than the Alberto.  You can view a video on the string of posts I mentioned, but I suggest you do an internet search for "how to tie FG knot video" and you will come to a number of good videos.  The one I like is the one where you don't have to have tension on the braid to tie it.  Maintaining tension on the braid while braiding it is a pain in the butt for me.  Maybe practice will help.  

 

The FG won a contest a group had on the different knots, and it was the strongest.  Until you get good in tying it, you may want to tie it in front of the TV the night before you go onto the water.

 

I believe it is the best for all 4 of the attributes you want to know about.  Not as sure about shock resistance as the other three.  I think shock resistance may have more to do with the braid than the knot.  However, since it will go through the guides, even micros, so smoothly, you won't be tempted to really shorten your leader, and the longer the leader is the more shock resistance you will have.  If you don't believe that, just stretch a length of a foot of FC, then do it again with 3 feet of FC. Good luck!

I was having trouble with keeping tension on the braid too until I saw a couple videos of pros tying a loop in the braid and putting it over the reel handle and loosening the drag to keep a bit of tension on the braid.  I tried it and love it.  Gerald Swindle is one who uses this method.

[T-Billy]

Alberto with two wraps through the loop to finish before cinching. Never had one fail 

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, T-Billy said:

Alberto with two wraps through the loop to finish before cinching. Never had one fail 

THIS !  And can tie it in 30 seconds or less....

[MN Fisher]

FG when I'm pre-tying leaders at home before heading out

Alberto if I have to replace a leader on the water.

 

Haven't had either fail when tied correctly.

[papajoe222]

I rarely run leaders longer than the length of the rod for baitcasters, so I rarely have to deal with the knot going through the guides. For that reason, I use the Albright because I can tie it on the water with ease. 

[BrianMDTX]

@WRB Tom, thank you for mentioning the Lefty Kreh knot. I’ve brought it up many times, but let’s face it- I’m not WRB ? Hopefully your mention of it will convince some to try it. 
 

It’s got to be the easiest leader knot to tie. It takes about 30 seconds from start to finish. It’s brutally strong (I’ve only had one fail and it’s my fault as I twisted the line and should have retied). I’ve had some leaders that are a year old and still serviceable. It’s also relatively small and I’ve had no problems casting it through guides or having it spooled into the reel. I’ll never use anything else. 

[Dan N]

Uni to uni, never had an issue, and can tie it easily with confidence it won’t fail…

the best knot to use, is the knot that you can tie the best. 
I stick with that theory.

[Alex from GA]

For the life of me I can't tie an FG with leader lighter than 12 lb so I tie a 3 wrap surgeons knot or alberto.  I usually use 6 or 8 lb leader with 10-15 lb braid.  

[Maggiesmaster]

I’ve found the Shin knot better than the Alberto.  It seems to be a smaller knot, runs through guides smoother and is easier to tie.

[fin]

7 hours ago, Maggiesmaster said:

I’ve found the Shin knot better

 

Search for "Shin's knot" and you'll get a bunch of links to medical sites about bumps on the shins. You have to search for "Shin Fukae knot"

 

This video has been around for six years but from a quick search it's all I see about the knot, no illustrations or anything. Is there another name for it?