Best soft plastic lure knot that is snag-free

[livemusic]

An extensive search did not reveal an answer, but I recall a thread maybe a year ago about a knot that is much better for this problem...

When you fish a soft plastic lure like a worm or fluke in waters with moss or gunk, if you use a knot that has the tag end pointing forward, that tag end will pick up moss/debris and get a bit fouled with gunk. Somebody mentioned either a knot, or a technique to use so that the tag end is not pointing forward, or is less so, to reduce the chance of fouling. Any idea what knot and how to do it? I mostly fish braid, but I'm all ears. Thanks.

EDITS:  

I think it was a loop knot. I see that Kreh's loop knot, for instance, has the feature of the tag end pointing backwards. Now, I gotta figure out which loop knot for sure I was using. I haven't fished in over six months and with my CRS disease, I forgot which knot I had settled on, lots of vegetation around here!

I also recall I had settled on a small knot. The Canoe Man Loop Knot is interesting but I don't recall that being it. It may have been a Davy knot or a Double Davy knot. But, the Davy knot tag end does not lie backwards like I recall. But it is small.

I am mostly talking about fishing weightless, so, the knot is the first thing coming through the water, not a weight.

After finding a page showing completed knots, these have tag ends that do not point forward:

Double Davy, Davy, Kreh Loop (Non-slip Mono Loop), Snell, Trilene. I think it was one of the first three.

[Tim Kelly]

(K)Not easy. A half blood knot is sort of right, but not the best knot. Putting a bobber stop on the line before you tie the knot helps deflect the snot a bit.

[WIGuide]

The knot shouldn't matter with a soft plastic. What you need to do is change how you rig your bait slightly, so when you start your texas rig you go a little deeper in with the hook, so the hook eye (and knot) are buried within the body of the bait. 

[livemusic]

1 hour ago, WIGuide said:

The knot shouldn't matter with a soft plastic. What you need to do is change how you rig your bait slightly, so when you start your texas rig you go a little deeper in with the hook, so the hook eye (and knot) are buried within the body of the bait. 

If I got free lures, that would be the case. But after casting for awhile, the hook will come out of the plastic and be exposed upon retrieve. But, like most, I have to stretch out the life of the lure.

This is not the worst problem, but it is a problem. I could use a Palomar knot or many other knots, but not picking up debris saves time from not having to clean it off, plus, the retrieve looks more natural without any debris on the lure.

[Mike L]

I use a palomar if useing braid or a SDJ for eveything else. And do as WiGuide does and its never a problem no mater where I fish. 

If the plastic slides down exposing the knot, retie useing a rubber bobber stop above the knot. 

 

 

Mike 

[Fishes in trees]

snug the line tight and clip the tag end tight - flush to the body of the knot . .. ..  Once upon a time, I don't remember where, but I saw small plastic cones which were designed to slip on the line prior to the knot being tied.  This protected the knot somewhat.   At the time it seemed like a 50 cent solution to a 5 cent problem.   Can't remember where I saw this product - BPS or Cabelas or maybe the Tackle Warehouse catalog.

[Raul]

1 hour ago, livemusic said:

If I got free lures, that would be the case. But after casting for awhile, the hook will come out of the plastic and be exposed upon retrieve. But, like most, I have to stretch out the life of the lure.

This is not the worst problem, but it is a problem. I could use a Palomar knot or many other knots, but not picking up debris saves time from not having to clean it off, plus, the retrieve looks more natural without any debris on the lure.

You can always try this:

The red line = toothpick, of course, in my neck of the woods we don´t need to carry toothpicks, the Lord All mighty in his infinite wisdom provided us with plenty of purty darn thorny vegetation so when you need to do that the closest huizache is only a couple of yards away.

[fishindad]

Raul has the right idea though I would suggest something a bit better. This trick is from Don Iovino, a West Coast pioneer who helped promote and develop many finesse techniques with hand poured plastics. Instead of a toothpick, use a short section of 60 lb. test mono and push it through the hook eye then clip off the protruding ends. You can vary the thickness of the mono (can fluoro too) depending on the hook size. This holds the hook in place and doesn't interfere with hooksets and more importantly, doesn't tear up the nose of the plastic like the toothpick after the hookset. There's a good video Don has that has many more details for finesse fishing with soft plastics:

http://www.iovino.com/index.php/videos/finesse-fishing-for-bass.html

Not sure if there's a DVD version but you can contact him directly - he's a great guy.

 

[A-Jay]

I have two recommendations that both work to eliminate anything getting to the knot and will also assist a bait to fish through cover effectively.

Use the Cobra Black Heads.  This are constructed from durable hard plastic, and designed to be rigged in front of your weightless soft plastic baits. Perfect for those time when you are fishing heavy cover with a Texas- or Carolina-rig, they screw into your baits and keep them from slipping down the hook shank when it encounters a snag.

I also use them without the screw in spring.  By simply pulling off the spring and snapping off the small plastic stem it sits on, I end up with a neat little virtually weightless cone that protects the front of the bait.  Just slip it on the line in front of your presentation, add a bobber stop to hold it in place - and you're set.  I use this in a few different applications.  Works well.

See below.

A-Jay

[WIGuide]

1 hour ago, livemusic said:

If I got free lures, that would be the case. But after casting for awhile, the hook will come out of the plastic and be exposed upon retrieve. But, like most, I have to stretch out the life of the lure.

This is not the worst problem, but it is a problem. I could use a Palomar knot or many other knots, but not picking up debris saves time from not having to clean it off, plus, the retrieve looks more natural without any debris on the lure.

So to stretch the use of your soft plastics AFTER your hook tears the plastic some, un-rig the bait. Rotate it anywhere from 90-180* and re-rig. It will be rigged on the opposite side on unbroken plastic. After you wear out that hole out too, take the bait off the hook, and bite the torn up section off. You only loose about 1/4" and you're free to do it all over again.

[Raul]

41 minutes ago, WIGuide said:

So to stretch the use of your soft plastics AFTER your hook tears the plastic some, un-rig the bait. Rotate it anywhere from 90-180* and re-rig. It will be rigged on the opposite side on unbroken plastic. After you wear out that hole out too, take the bait off the hook, and bite the torn up section off. You only loose about 1/4" and you're free to do it all over again.

Or fix the torn head with Mend It.

[WIGuide]

13 minutes ago, Raul said:

Or fix the torn head with Mend It.

That works too, I forgot to add that option.

[Dwight Hottle]

Snell the hook, problem solved. 

[aprestonSEK]

Look up the miller knot or worlds fair. Both have the tag end facing down.

[livemusic]

7 hours ago, aprestonSEK said:

Look up the miller knot or worlds fair. Both have the tag end facing down.

Thanks to you, I discovered two new knots, was not familiar with either! You said the tag end 'faces down,' and I am not sure what you mean from that. From what I see, both knots definitely do NOT have the tag end facing backwards to the direction of pull.