Tying a leader to braided line

[The Rooster]

Got some Power Pro 50/12 braided line tonight.  I want to know what's the best knot to attach a leader to it with?? 

I looked at some animated knots online and the uni knot seams pretty easy to tie but I also read on this site that the surgeon's knot is stronger.  Then I remember reading that some also like the blood knot, which looks hard to tie.  Will I be OK with just the uni knot for everything??  I'm thinking I'll be using a 12 or 14 pound fluorocarbon leader.

Also, does anyone here ever use just straight up monofilament for a leader on braid??  Just wondering.

[Jig Man]

Check out this knot.  It is the best I have ever used.  If you do a search a while back a video of it being tied was posted here.

http://www.stripersonline.com/Pages/Articles/article_arby_albertos_knot.shtml

Yes I use mono as much as fluro as a leader for braid because I'm not a big fan of fluro.

[HookSetDon]

i use a uni knot, ive never broken off at the knot itself, just make sure you wrap it enough times, for the braided side i usually wrap 4 times or so and the flouro 7 times, lube the sides with your spit and pull tight, sometimes i use a pair of plyers to pull the knot all the way tight. For me the leader breaks before the knot, say a 1 away from the knot...

[Fat-G]

Albright Special is easy to tie and very small profile.

[BASSclary]

Alberto Knot. Easy to tie, and you'll never know there is a knot when casting.

You can use mono leaders, But I prefer fluoro. There are virtually no cons IMO to fluoro when its solely a leader.

However, when fishing cranks and I want some stretch, i'll tie on a about 5 wraps on the spool and a rod length of mono.

[ww2farmer]

I have been tying and testing the alberto knot all winter, very easy to tie, and I can't break it unless I go to some stupid extremes, which I hope to never encounter on the water. I think I am going to go almost all braid as main line this year thanks to this knot. A couple rods will still be fluorocarbon just in case.

[Hooligan]

Alberto's or blood knot.  Tie a true bloodknot a couple times, and you'll realize it's quite easy.

[BassThumb]

The Alberto knot is little smaller profile than the Double Uni. I'm pretty new to the Alberto and have always used the Uni for joining lines. I've broken off unexpectedly a few times using a Double Uni, but I think that's because I was using heavier lines(50#/15#) and the knot had taken some abuse from the guides and needed to be retied.

Don't forget copoly for leaders. P-line CXX makes an excellent leader material in the 6-17# range when you need abrasion resistance. I choose copoly over fluoro it situations where line abrasion can be an issue, like around metal dock posts or granite chunk rock.

[The Rooster]

Hmm.....seams the majority suggested a knot I hadn't even thought of, the Alberto knot.  Since I'm new to it and have no partiallity then I guess that's what I'm gonna try.  Thanks all.

[The Rooster]

Man, I tried and tried to tie that alberto knot but everytime I got it wrapped and went to pull it down it would just pull all the way out. I don't know what I was doing wrong. I'll keep trying it but for now I just went and tied a double uni knot and it worked great for tying the braid to the mono backing and also to the mono leader.

As a side note, I went to the backyard to try some casts with the braided line. I noticed this stuff is incredibly noisy. Makes a loud zzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzssssssssss sound as it sails off the spool. That's gonna take some getting used to. But it's also incredibly sensitive which is primarily why I bought it for that rod (for jigs and bottom lures). I could feel every little tick and bump as the casting plug came through the grass in the back yard, almost like it was actually tapping the rod instead of feeling it up the line like I'm used to with fluoro or mono. It also seams to cast really easily too, not sure if that's the line, the reel, or what though. I'll have to use it for a while actually fishing to get an idea of how it casts. For now, I was just noticing that it seamed to be effortless to cast while I was out there.

[ww2farmer]

Yes braid is noisey, but as you use it it sort of gets "broken in" and is not very noticable. By about the time it sofetns up though, the color fades, so buy a green or black sharpie to re-darken the line.

IDK what to tell you about tying the Alberto knot, I tied it right on the first try, and it's one of the few braid to leader knots that I can tie right every time. Did you pull evenly on both tag ends? Make sure yor tag ends are semi long too, I usually have at least 10" so they don't pull out.

[steezy]

Yes braid is noisey, but as you use it it sort of gets "broken in" and is not very noticable. By about the time it sofetns up though, the color fades, so buy a green or black sharpie to re-darken the line.

IDK what to tell you about tying the Alberto knot, I tied it right on the first try, and it's one of the few braid to leader knots that I can tie right every time. Did you pull evenly on both tag ends? Make sure yor tag ends are semi long too, I usually have at least 10" so they don't pull out.

All Braids are NOT noisey, just some of them.

Daiwa Samurai Braid is almost slient.

PowerPro and several others sound like a saw moving through the guides, I can only imagine what its doing to the guides.

[bassin is addicting]

on the alberto slipping..

make sure you put the tag end back through in the same direction as when you did at first (moisten) and then gently pull the tag ends to snug it up then pull the main lines tight... 

i just learned this knot and really like it. 

[J Francho]

If your Alberto slips, you're not going back through the loop the way you came in.

[J Francho]

PowerPro and several others sound like a saw moving through the guides, I can only imagine what its doing to the guides.

In the past 7 years using Power Pro, nothing. Not one issue with braid and guides. From $40 All Stars or Shimano Convergence, on up to Legends, GLX, and IMX.

[steezy]

If your Alberto slips, you're not going back through the loop the way you came in.

I was also having that problem, thanks for the tip !

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Advances in braid and guide ring materials has made grooving pretty much a non-issue except fot the very lowest quality guides, and even then...

[The Rooster]

What I was doing was making a loop with the braid, then insert the tag end of the 12# mono into the loop, wrap it around both the main braid line and its tag end, about 6 times, then an equal number of wraps back down again to the loop, and then putting the mono tag end back through the loop the same direction it came out so that they both go through the loop the same way. Then I'd pull it down and it would just come unraveled and fall out.

The one thing I can say I didn't do that I saw to do here since then is to leave the tag ends long. I didn't have more than a couple of inches to pull with by time I did all the wrapping and looping. I'll have to try that. Meanwhile the double uni knot was great, I tied it with no problems. I'd like to do the alberto though, it does look like it would be a bit slimmer once tied correctly.

**EDIT**  I just watched that video posted above.  The one I saw before just said to make the loop with the heavier line, so I thought that was the braid.  The video J Francho posted says to make the loop with the mono and put the braid through it instead, and then do the wrapping.  Would that make the difference there making the loop with the mono instead of the braid??  I gotta go try it.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

What I was doing was making a loop with the braid, then insert the tag end of the 12# mono into the loop, wrap it around both the main braid line and its tag end, about 6 times, then an equal number of wraps back down again to the loop, and then putting the mono tag end back through the loop the same direction it came out so that they both go through the loop the same way. Then I'd pull it down and it would just come unraveled and fall out.

The one thing I can say I didn't do that I saw to do here since then is to leave the tag ends long. I didn't have more than a couple of inches to pull with by time I did all the wrapping and looping. I'll have to try that. Meanwhile the double uni knot was great, I tied it with no problems. I'd like to do the alberto though, it does look like it would be a bit slimmer once tied correctly.

It will be slimmer.  It will also be much stronger of a knot.  Another advantage of the Alberto and Albright knots is that the fluorocarbon portion of the knot gets encapsulated by the braid.  Makes for a little more secure of a connection.

[J Francho]

Rooster, look at the link and the video.  You're tying it all wrong.  You loop the LEADER, and wrap the braid around that.

[The Rooster]

You guys posted as I was editing my post.  I saw the video.  I know to loop the mono now, not the braid.  Thanks.

[SirSnookalot]

The alberto is a good knot and easy to tie, that said I have only used it one time as I see no need tying my leaders onto my main line, I prefer tying my leader to a  swivel for all my fishing.  The one exception is targeting fish that will hit the swivel as quick as a lure, in my case that's spanish mackeral.

[TxBuddha]

One more set of pics on how to tie the Modified Albright / Alberto Knot:

http://www.bloodydecks.com/forums/fishing-tutorials-members/155715-spectra-mono-connection-modified-albright.html

This is the page I learned to tie it from and I'm kinda' slooow on some things

[Fat-G]

Yes braid is noisey, but as you use it it sort of gets "broken in" and is not very noticable. By about the time it sofetns up though, the color fades, so buy a green or black sharpie to re-darken the line.

IDK what to tell you about tying the Alberto knot, I tied it right on the first try, and it's one of the few braid to leader knots that I can tie right every time. Did you pull evenly on both tag ends? Make sure yor tag ends are semi long too, I usually have at least 10" so they don't pull out.

All Braids are NOT noisey, just some of them.

Daiwa Samurai Braid is almost slient.

PowerPro and several others sound like a saw moving through the guides, I can only imagine what its doing to the guides.

Nothing.

I bought a Curado from David P and it came with Samurai. I took it off yeasterday and put 50# PowerPro on instead. The Samurai was just too soft and felt like fabric.

[A-Rob]

J knot