I always use Palomar for everything, including braid. Never have had a problem.
If I'd practice more with the snell I would use it for flipping with tubes, creature baits, etc. The snell flips the hook point into the roof of the mouth on the hook-set and has a much better hookup ratio. I'm just too lazy to practice it.
Improved Clinch is good. I use it for smaller lines with some finesse or panfish stuff.
I always use Palomar for everything, including braid. Never have had a problem.
If I'd practice more with the snell I would use it for flipping with tubes, creature baits, etc. The snell flips the hook point into the roof of the mouth on the hook-set and has a much better hookup ratio. I'm just too lazy to practice it.
I've not had any problems with the Palomar while flipping, mainly because fish fear me, but I suspect learning the snell would help with the one or two badass bass that aren't poopin' on their anal fin when I come around.
The only knot I've ever used is the Improved Clinch.The one my Grandpa said use and have for last 35 yrs.
my grandfather was a fishing guide in the Florida keys for over 45 years and that's all he used. At a young age I tried to rebel and find a better knot and he said look here, I've caught tarpon up to 200 lbs with that knot on 20 lb test, i supported our family with that knot, I don't see why you would think there is a better knot than that. You can guess which knot I have always used, the improved clinch. The palomar is a very strong knot but it is hard to tie with a large bait with treble hooks and you have to cut the knot off with a knife instead of pulling it off with your teeth. That being said the only other knot I use is a snell when cat fishing because they spin when they fight and with a regular knot they always get the line caught in the gap where the eye of the hook meets the shank and the rough edge there will cut your line sometimes if you aren't snelling your hooks.
Hey Cornholio, depends on the type of line I'm using. I've recently been shown a knot that I've never seen before. I'm having some very good results. I'm going to try to find a video to post .
I use the palomar for most everything but I use an arbor knot for tying line to a spool on a baitcaster. The improved Albright is my favorite knot for using a leader on braid and all 3 knots are strong and simple as can be
Uni-knot for everything. Blue marlin, flyfishing for everything in fresh and saltwater, tournament bass fishing, and this weekend on red snapper. Uni-knot splice takes practice though.
I do a lot of tarpon and cobia fishing and knot strength can vary greatly according to the knot you tie. (Especially braid)I developed my own knot for braid and it faired better than all the above mentioned knots in a strength test. Also remember that some knots are very strong but do not have good shock value, (shock value is how the knot holds up during an aggressive hook set - which is not needed for circle hooks) Knot: Double your braid and run it through the eye of the hook and bring it back around through the eye of the hook again. Then tie an improved overhand clinch knot and cinch carefully keeping all tags tight at the same time. Note: Do not use an overhand clinch knot for braid without doing the above. It will break if setting the hook on a large fish. I've used this knot to catch countless tarpon, cobia, and in saltwater tournaments and it has never failed me.
The palomar knot is fine but with flurocarbon it can pinch the line causes breaks, I used to only use palomar knots with an occasional break but i switched to the Grigsby knot which you can see on youtube have broke a tie yet.
I use this one for my crappie jigs - makes them little Bobby Garlands dance.
I really don't understand what to do at stage 3 on this not... A simple hitch after coming back thru the square doesn't hold for me. I lost half a pack of BG's yesterday using it.
At an Elite series event, I tied my knot and had it tested on a Berkley machine and won a free hat because it exceeded their 20 pound mark (on their supplied 10 lb test). When it broke, around 22 or 23 lbs, the line broke several inches from the knot. I watched others for a while and not one person tying the Palomar won a hat. Most of those knots broke around the 17 lb mark.
It's a clinch knot, but with the line doubled. It's very similar to the braid knot and looks like the braid knot when it is finished. It's very fast and easy to tie and easy to take off the eye of the lure. It's my go to knot, for sure.
I double the line and run it through the eye, make 5 full twists of the lure/hook, and then run it back through the gap in the line close to the eye, wet it, then cinch it down, cut the tag ends.
The number of twists that I use depends on the thickness of the line. I like to put at least 5 full twists, except for very heavy line. With light line, I may use 7 or so twists.
How would you know if you actually broke a knot? There is really no way.
If the line is very curly, you can sometimes know if it broke at the knot. If the line is straight, then you can guess it was somewhere on the line and not the knot.
For going braid to leader an FG is hard to beat. Top water gets a Rapala Loop. Everything else an improved clinch. I like the Palomar a lot but my blind ass has trouble tying it. When I go to pass the loop over the bait I always hang up in the trebles.
