Improved Clinch , Trilene or Uni Knot ?

[ChrisD46]

For a simple , fast , strong & effective FC , mono or co-poly line to lure knot - which of the above do you prefer ?

[Jar11591]

Improved clinch knot. Been tying it my whole life and works perfectly for any line that isn’t braid. 

[A-Jay]

Line to lure with: FC -  San Diego Jam

Line to lure with:  Mono or Braid - Uni knot

Braid to any leader connection - Uni to Uni Knot.

And just because I'm a freak show . . . 

Mono backing to any mainline - Blood Knot.

A-Jay

[MN Fisher]

6 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

And just because I'm a freak show . . . 

I'm the weird one

Line to lure - any line - MK knot

Mainline to leader - FG if I'm pre-rigging before a trip, Alberto when I'm on the water

Backing to mainline - Uni-Uni

 

Here's the MK knot...

[Motoboss]

Which oil is the best to use?

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, ChrisD46 said:

For a simple , fast , strong & effective FC , mono or co-poly line to lure knot - which of the above do you prefer ?

SDJ or Palomar - both are near equals with the listed line types. Sorry, but I never use any of the 3 you listed…but if I did, it would likely be some variation of the Uni ?

[casts_by_fly]

lots of opinions on this one.  For me, I prefer a knot that passes through the eye of the hook twice, especially if the wire of the 'hook' and the line have somewhat or very different diameters.  When the knot is stretched (aka under load) the angle of the line between the hook eye and knot relative to the pull of the mainline makes a big difference in the strength of the knot.  For that reason, the improved clinch is out for bass fishing for me (I still use it for trout and panfish and will even just tie a plain clinch at times).

 

If I'm tying to a smaller bait like a jig, bladed jig, a plain hook, or crankbait I'll tie a palomar.  if its a big bait like a spinnerbait, I'll tie a trilene knot so I'm not taking the loop of line over a big bait (which will invariably tangle on something and throw off a good cinch).  The only exception to these two is that if I'm pitching with a straight shank flippin hook I will snell those.

[Deleted account]

14 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

Which oil is the best to use?

The one with the current Advance Auto coupon...

[warefisher]

1 hour ago, ChrisD46 said:

For a simple , fast , strong & effective FC , mono or co-poly line to lure knot - which of the above do you prefer ?

Of those choices:  Trilene knot.  Never had a problem with it.

[LrgmouthShad]

Palomar

 

I will tie an improved clinch if in a hurry or if my lure has lots of trebles.

 

The palomar was hard for me to learn for some reason but I’ve gotten better. The upside is I have an awfully hard time breaking off while using it on trilene big game

[FishTank]

San Diego jam knot. I never have an issue with it. The Palomar is good but for whatever reason I tend have a hard time getting this knot done to my satisfaction and I end up re-trying it until I get right.  

 

All three mentioned by the original poster have given me issues with various situations and lures.

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, FishTank said:

San Diego jam knot. I never have an issue with it. The Palomar is good but for whatever reason I tend have a hard time getting this knot done to my satisfaction and I end up re-trying it until I get right.  

 

All three mentioned by the original poster have given me issues with various situations and lures.

Never tried a uni, but agree with having problems with the other two. I do not like an improved clinch knot with fluoro and I’ve had some weird problems with the trilene. Phantom slipping, even when I read up on it and took measures to try and prevent it. It’s just not for me

[PBBrandon]

Mono/Fluoro to lure: improved clinch

braid to lure: palomar

braid to leader: alberto

[Jig Man]

Pitzen is the only knot one needs.  It is one step less than SDJ and can be tied while wearing gloves.  It takes just a few seconds to tie.

[Skunkmaster-k]

I started tying the uni years ago thanks to Aaron Martens. It’s consistent, easy to tie and very strong . 

[gulfcaptain]

So tie a San Diego, a San diego, and a San diego. Doesn't slip on braid, if you want you can tie a double San Diego but not needed. I do put 9 wraps with braid though instead of 5 with fc or mono. A Palomar if I'm dropshotting. A snell if I'm punching/flipping, an Alberto, braid to either mono or fc, and a uni to uni  for backing.  

[Big Hands]

I used to be a Trilene and Palomar knot kind of angler. These days I have dropped the Trilene knot in favor of the San Diego Jam knot for line to lure connections, and still the Palomar for hooks and swivels (when I use them for a Carolina rig).

[Fishing_Rod]

Greetings All,

Through the decades of taunting fish I have managed to gather experience using different knots. I concur with those that prefer a doubled line passing through the hook to improve overall strength. Based on use and some casual testing I've settled on the doubled UNI knot. I principally use four pound mono so having a good knot is helpful. It needs to be strong and able to sustain high tension loads but also an occasional high shock load (like in the case when using dynamic lures).

 

Personal preference also includes being able to tie the knot with a minimum of fuss in all angling conditions. Wind can make things interesting when tying knots.

 

The MK knot was intriguing to me as it was pretty easy to tie. Again when I did some casual testing using the four pound mono it just didn't quite compare to the holding power of the doubled UNI. I compared both of them using three to five twists before finishing the cinch. So there you have my $0.02. Be well and cheers!

[newapti5]

Double improved clinch knot for FC lines. It's what pros use (Mark Menendez, Gerald Swindle...), and what Seaguar recommends. 

 

 

[WIGuide]

4 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

For a simple , fast , strong & effective FC , mono or co-poly line to lure knot - which of the above do you prefer ?

None of the above. I use a Palomar knot for all of my line to lure needs. I've never had a reason to switch as I've never had an issue with the strength. Super quick to tie and if you take the 1/2 a second to wet the knot and cinch it down slow and smooth you shouldn't have an issue. 

[volzfan59]

I use the improved clinch/ Trilene knot from time to time, very little. For the most part I like to keep things simple and only use a palomar knot.

[Bankc]

More important than "best" knot, is which knot you tie the best.  

 

I have issues with the Palomar.  Lots of people love it, but I have issues with it breaking on fluoro lines.  I pretty much avoid it now when I can.  But it still has it's uses.

 

I prefer the Berkley Braid Knot for fluoro.  It's easy to tie and holds stronger than the clinch type knots on fluoro.  With mono, I use the Trilene Clinch Knot.  Tried and true.  

 

My go to standard knot is the Fish N Fool, which I primarily use with braid, but will also sometimes use for mono and fluoro.  It's just a reliable all-around knot.  

 

And if I'm tying directly onto a hook, and there's room for it (not all hook designs allow this) I'll use a snell knot and start by pushing the line through the eye on the same side as the hook.  My belief is this gives the hook a tiny bit more leverage on hooksets, as when you pull the line tight, it'll want to kick up the hook just a bit.  

 

And there are a bunch of other knots I use depending on the situations.  

[Darth-Baiter]

5 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Improved clinch knot. Been tying it my whole life and works perfectly for any line that isn’t braid. 

i do this out of muscle memory.

 

i do however think FC line could benefit from going thru the eye twice.  i havent had any "rod slapping water surface"  moments when i lost a fish, YET.  but it could happen. 

[WRB]

FC, Copoly and mono lines the San Diego Jam knot for lures.

Palomar knot for smaller terminal tackle clips and hooks.

Salt water live bait to hooks the Perfection Loop knot.

Salt water hollow braid to top shot leader the Wind On knot, solid braid Bimini twist.

Fresh water braid direct to lures or terminal tackle the original braid knot now called double line clinch knot.

Small diameter braid to leader the Alberto knot.

All types line to reel spool the arbor knot, the blood knot for all line to filler line.

Tom

 

[FrnkNsteen]

1 hour ago, WIGuide said:

None of the above. I use a Palomar knot for all of my line to lure needs. I've never had a reason to switch as I've never had an issue with the strength. Super quick to tie and if you take the 1/2 a second to wet the knot and cinch it down slow and smooth you shouldn't have an issue. 

Same for me. Palomarbfor all my lure connections. Always wet it before setting and havent had issues.

 

Uni to uni for all my leader connections.