Knot Strength

[roadwarrior]

Can anyone reference a website with actual knot ratings?

I have often read that a Palomar Knot, Trilene and Uni are all 100% knots (100% of the breaking strength of the line), but I would like to see this in print.

[smallieking]

man i would like to see that website too   the polymor and clinch knot are my favorites  but that would be a cool website to look at

[Crestliner2008]

Hope you find it! I was at a fishing seminar a few years back and this guy had one of "those" devices to test knot breaking. He challenged all watching to tie "their" knots and test them. The demonstrator showed that both the Trilene and Palomar came out best at about 95% - BUT - audience folks tying these same knots could only get about 80%!? All he said was that you MUST be VERY careful when tying any knot; and you have to do it slowly....increasing the tension gradually until the knot is "set". Very informative seminar.

[senile1]

I'm still looking for something better than this, but these guys tested the bimini, the bristol, and the palomar knots for breaking strength.  The tests are performed on about every brand you can think of.  I only use the palomar of these three.  

Click on the links down in the page for the individual knot tests.

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/techniques/tips/staying-power-53427.html

[Guest muddy]

Heres some stuff I found on Google: MONFILIMENT LINE; KNOT STRENGTH DATA

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6725596-description.html

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/techniques/tips/20--line-test-23589.html

http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbontestpg4.html

http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/9/3/065/njp7_3_065.pdf?request-id=YpVTzvXQ3BGK1tvi2wi7Kg

BOTTOM ONE IS PRETTY COOL!

Some of this is pretty technical, but it's the closest I could find to answer your question

[dave]

http://www.fishingclub.com/ExtraContent/ExtraContentDetail.aspx?id=132344&bcpid=1344599930&

[roadwarrior]

So, it appears that the specific line determines the applicability of the knot.

Now what?  :-/

[Guest muddy]

WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO PET ONE OF YOUR SHIMANOS!

[senile1]

So, it appears that the specific line determines the applicability of the knot.

Now what?  :-/

Yeah, that really shocked me.  On that link I posted, in the monofilament/fluoro tests,  the palomar went from 108% all the way down to 43% for Vanish Transition.  These are some pretty wide variations.  Also, at least from this test, the palomar doesn't look like a good knot for braids with the range running from 44% to 72% of breaking strength.  

[JKLOCK]

Here's a website that shows the approximate knot strength for various knots with monofilament line.

http://www.steelheader.net/knots/knots.htm

                            SeniorBasser

[eyedabassman]

Can anyone reference a website with actual knot ratings?

I have often read that a Palomar Knot, Trilene and Uni are all 100% knots (100% of the breaking strength of the line), but I would like to see this in print.

RR, Go to northamericanfisherman, they have what they call there knot wars! Cool site, they test all the knots to see at what lb. they break. :'(

[alger319]

i know i may be a young fella but i've learned some interesting things about theese knots. although they may be rated for breaking strength and all, what most knots fail at is 'shock'. the reason why the polamar knot reduces so much in floro is because it kinda cuts into itself, and when set- it breaks cause of a kink in the floro. the knot i've learned to use for all applications is the uni..it's the knot that is specified for tying with floro and also the double uni is for superlines. so i also tie my mono with it just varing the amounts of loops i make. it is by far the best knot i've tried because when you set the hook it actually just gets tighter and doesn't dig into itself.

[OldGuyAl]

good reading!

I've been trying different knots but without any "scientific" testing.

I've noticed on a lot of fishing shows and TV tournaments, you'll see some of the pros re-tying a bait and using some kind of twirling motion technique while they're tying.  They do this without looking and they do it really fast.   So, what kind of knot are they tying when they do that?

I just need to practice tying knots a lot faster.  Sometimes I don't change baits just because it takes me too long to tie a decent knot.  My aging vision isn't helping me with that, either.  ;-)

[.ghoti.]

Hey Al, that "twirling" knot is probably the San Diego jam knot. Easy to tie, once you get the hang of it.

I did my own pseudo-scientific testing last year and I can't find my tabulated results. I intended to put it in a spreadsheet, and can't find the notebook I wrote all the results in.

Anyway, the basic results for me were as follows.

The palomar was the best for mono.

the SD jam knot was best for flouro

the standard clinch knot was better tied with four turns instead of five

And the loop knot and trilene knot were by far the weakest, and I've stopped using them.

The main conclusion I came to was knots are very inconsistent. Minor variations in technique seems to caused major variations in results. The main lesson for me was to slow down, and try to do it exactly the same every time. Getting in a hurry really does not do the trick.

The other result was I now use the palomar for plastics rigs using mono, the for jam knot plastics and flouro, and the four turn clinch for all treble hook baits.

These were all tested using my Rapala lok-n-weigh.

I did not do a shock test. I have no way to do that. alger319 makes a valid point about that.

[Garnet]

Your result are what I've found from fishing to much..............have you studied leader knots Allbright,Surgeon ect.

And I'm truly not happy with any dropshot knot with flouro.

Garnet

[Tpayneful]

Last week at the Richmond fishing expo Shaw Grigsby said that you should use the palomar knot for mono.  He showed us how to tie his fluorocarbon knot but didn't know the name.  

I also talked to Christiana Bradley who is on the women's tour and she mentioned watching "knot wars" on http://www.fishingclub.com/Main/default.aspx.  

Register and look up the "knot wars" video clips.  They compare the knots using mono, fluorocarbon and braid.  

She also mentioned that she was going to try the San Diego jam knot as well.

[eyedabassman]

How do you do this SD jam knot? Is there any pictures of this knot anywhere? :-/ :-/ :-/ :-/

[Tpayneful]

Christiana gave me this link to the San Diego Jam knot:

http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.html

Click on the F for a picture of how to tie it.

[OldGuyAl]

I used Google and found this:

http://www.marlinnut.com/knots/sandiego.shtml

another great resource I use is:

http://www.animatedknots.com

this site has knots for all kinds of applications with animation!

[eyedabassman]

Thanks for that site. But I still don't get how you spin the lure around . Maybe I am alittle slow or I missed something. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(

[Garnet]

Take the line threw the eye, pinch both lines about 4 inches above the eye. Let the tag drop below the bait. Hold that tag and spin your bair around, put the tag threw the 'V" above the eye and up threw the loop at the top. Giver a spit and cinch.

Garnet

[eyedabassman]

Thanks Garnet, I think I got it now! I will give it a test run tonight. : :-?

[eyedabassman]

How many times do you spin the lure? I would think 4b to 6 times , not sure if that is wright.