too little "give"?

[Chris at Tech]

After years of fishing, I recently treated myself to my first Loomis GLX.  I am enjoying it, but I've had multiple break-offs at the hook knot since I started using it, and I literally cannot remember the last time that happened to me on any other rods (normally fast-action rods with fluoro or braid w/ leader).

 

The rod is the GLX 853c that I'm using for bottom contact presentations.  It's paired with the super-fast Daiwa SV103XSL and 30-lb braid w/ fluoro leader.  The hook knot breaking is happening across several different fluoro brands and sizes, so I think I can safely say it's not a bad batch of fluoro. 

 

I'm thinking that the ridiculous reel speed + extra-fast action + zero-stretch braid is just leaving me with very little "give" anywhere, and is resulting in my break-offs but wanted to get some perspective from this crowd.  Does anyone else combine those three factors?  If so, do you have the same experience, or did you have to adjust your hook-setting style to adapt to a rig set up like this?  I may swap out the braid for straight fluoro just to compare...

 

 

[kickerfish1]

I know there are tons of braid lovers on here but I ain't one of them. I too tried the braid to a flouro leader and had 3 break offs on the hook sets. The rod was a 7'6 MH discontinued BPS Pro Qualifer rod and the reel was Lews Speed Spool. I wasn't a fan of this combination for jigs, plastics, etc and decided that the only place braided line was going to be used was for frog/topwater slop fishing. I have since sold the rod and reel and have moved back to mono and straight flouro for fall plastics and jigs.

 

Just last weekend I was tossing a brush jig on a 12# Sunline Sniper on a new 2016 GLX MBR 844 paired with a TDZ. I had 6 bites that day on the jig and stuck and landed each fish and some were at a pretty good distance (ie long cast and the bite occurred within the first few handle cranks).

 

The good thing about fishing is that we have lots of great gear and line options. For me braid isn't my preferred line for jigs and plastics.

[MassYak85]

What lb test leaders are you using, and which knot? I'm a braid to leader guy and generally like pretty stiff rods for most applications. I use 12 - 20lb fluoro generally with 30 or 40lb braid, and use either an alberto or an FG knot for the connection and I have never broken either. If anything fails it's either the leader to lure knot or somewhere where the line got nicked. Only thing I can think of is maybe try backing off on the drag a little, like you said there needs to be some give in the system, and if you lock down the drag then the lighter lb leader is probably going to give first. 

[WRB]

Don't use the bubba cross their eyes hook set. Use the reel and rod sweep hook set. Your goal is getting the hook point passed the barb and keeping pressure on the bass to control the fight. When you feel a strike quickly reel and as the rod starts to load up, sweep it back firmly.

I have used this hook set for decades and rarely miss a strike, break off or lose a bass.

Greg Hackney has a vedio demonstrating this hook set, if Greg does it you know it works!

Tom

[Poolshark]

If I read correctly...The floro is breaking at the hook and not the leader? 

its not your rod or reel. I just focus on what knot you are using to tie the floro to the hook and make sure by testing its strength before you use it. 

Ive been using the snell and improved clinched knots and have not had any failures yet. Though I have had once or twice when using the improved clinch knot, that I burned the line at the knot by not apply moisture before I cinched the knot tight. 

That will cause it to slip/break. Especially with techniques that require a firm hook set. 

Hope you get it figured out 

[smalljaw67]

Try a different knot, fluorocarbon has poor knot strength compared to other lines and a kink along with a hard hook set will cause break offs. That rod is an extra fast in the JWR series so it is on the stiff side but even that shouldn't be causing the break offs but to make sure try using a mono leader and see if the same thing happens. If you can use mono with the same knot and you don't have the break off issue, then you know without any doubt the knot you are tying is causing a weak spot in the fluorocarbon, and that is one of the reasons I hate fluorocarbon.

[NHBull]

Never heard about knot break offs du to a GLX.....especially on long cast.

i think you have a knot problem.

it could be moisture

it could be the type of knot ( palomar)

it could be tugging on the hook to tighten the knot.

 

try doubling the line and tie a uni, moistened with chap stick.

 

it you want to sell the GLX, I'm your huckleberry!

[Catt]

Switch to a mono leader

[Chris at Tech]

2 hours ago, NHBull said:

it you want to sell the GLX, I'm your huckleberry!

Negative, ghost rider.

 

I guess I will examine the knot, but like I said it's the same knot I've used on straight fluoro.  And the fluoro I'm using on the leader material is multiple weights of both Sniper and Berkley, neither of which gave me any knot problems when I used those lines straight.

 

Regardless, the braid is off at least for now, and was replaced with straight 14 lb Sniper. Let's see what happens

 

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[WIGuide]

A few things come to mind here the first is your knot. I know it hasn't given you a bit of trouble before, but because the rod is extra fast and you're also using braid as the main line everything is stiffer. Your hooksets with a previous rod could have pushed you knot very close to the breaking point without taking it too far. Now that you're using an x-fast action and still setting the hook the same, that extra torque could be what's pushing your knot past the breaking point.

 

The second possibility of the break offs could be your hookset itself. A lot of anglers get over excited when they get bit and don't reel into the fish all the way leaving just a little slack in their line. When you rear back to set the hook this sudden pressure put on the line will cause it to snap at the weakest point. You can think of this like a truck hooked to a tow strap trying to pull a stump out. If the truck gets a bit of a run taking the slack out of the rope and tries to jar the stump free often times the rope will snap, even though the rope is more than capable of handling the force of just pulling the stump out. 

 

Hopefully, your switch to straight fluoro will fix your problem. If not, it might be time to look at what you're doing to see if there's a fix that needs to be done. 

[Jeff H]

Too much "beef"? Naw. I typically use beefier rods than most guys for just about everything and have never had this problem with straight mono. Try that!

[Team9nine]

8 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

Try a different knot, fluorocarbon has poor knot strength compared to other lines and a kink along with a hard hook set will cause break offs.

 

I know this gets repeated a lot in one form or another on this site, but it's simply not the full picture. If you are comparing straight line strength to knotted line strength, it's braids that are lucky to retain 50-60% of their straight line strength, making them the worst line type by far in this category. Fluorocarbons tend to run 70-75% full strength, while nylons and such are usually 80-85% (when wet). Where braids sneak by this fact is their better strength to diameter characteristic.

 

-T9

[Yudo1]

Which knot are you using?  I've been using braid with fluoro leaders for years and have great success with improved clinch knots.