Troubleshooting knot problems

[loudcherokee]

Been having some trouble lately with the knots I'm using for my leader, which is Yo Zuri Hybrid. I use an Alberto knot to tie my leader on to my main line, which is 15lb powerpro.

The knot I'm using for the hook, and the one that keeps breaking, is a clinch knot I think. It's the one where you twist the hook 10 times, put the tag through the loop near the eye and then back through the loop you just created with the tag end.

Today I lost a bass that was at least 4 pounds when I was bending down to lip the fish. The fish didn't flop around or anything and after looking at the line it broke at the knot. Same thing later got hung up and twitched at nowhere near enough strength to break the 10lb test leader and it snapped again, at the knot.

Could my leader be bad? It's about 2 years old and I always tie on a fresh one. I use the clinch knot instead of Palomar because I heard that was bad for fleuro.

 

LC

[.ghoti.]

Too many twists in the clinch knot. Try five, and then four. The standard version is five twists. Four twists sometimes works better with larger diameter line.

[loudcherokee]

Cool I'll give that a go and see if it helps out. Thanks!

 

LC

[MickD]

I think the Palomar works for anything.  All knots should be wet when drawn down, especially with anything that contains flourocarbon.  .  Agree you don't need 10 twists.  I doubt if your leader is the problem.  If it was Vanish, I would be suspicious of it.  If your leader to line Alberto starts to fail it's most likely tied wrong.  Put the tag end back through in the wrong direction, it will fail.  

It is very easy to do some testing on your own for your own tied knots to troubleshoot what is going wrong.  Take the time to do it.  In your kitchen or shop so you're not stressed to have your lure in the water.  Try different techiques, wet vs dry, 10 vs fewer twists.  Your knot has to work for you, and someone else's knot, tied your way, may have problems that are better found off the water.

[buzzed bait]

another very easy knot to tie that works well for fluoro is the uni knot, you might give that one a shot.  it has worked very well for me.  i usually connect leaders with a double uni and that works just as well.