Knot secret

[Tony U]

I've never really liked the palomar although I do use it for flourocarbon as it seems to be the best knot for that stuff. Grinner/uni for me, once through the eye with mono, twice through with braid (I would go through twice with mono but it then has a tentency to curl up).

 

Anderoo

How do you tie a drop shot rig without using a Palomar not or do you always use fluorocarbon when dropshotting?

[Anderoo]

Always use flouro when dropshotting Tony - so palomar for the hook, albright to connect to the braid. (Not that I do much dropshotting these days!)

[yendis]

I have always used pre-tied hooks with a loop, tie a loop in my main line then just slip the loops into each other. Never had a reason to use a swivel, as it just seems an extra component that is unnecessary, may fail and if using a short hook trace may scare off the fish? But I will consider that so thanks for the tip.

 

Now being a 'senior' fisherman, manual dexterity and eyesight is not quite so sharp, and although patience is a virtue, it seems to be in short supply when trying to tie intricate knots. Anything that makes hook attachement easier is a bonus, but only if it is strong and reliable. I am on a steep learning curve but at least I am now 'into the fish' which is a good start, and a confidence booster.

 

When using pre-tied hooks, if I use a swivel do I just loop the hook through the swivel?

[Tigger]

Put your swivel through the hoop first and then put your hook through the swivel eye. That's how you should attatch two loops also.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Tigger

[lutra]

I have always used pre-tied hooks with a loop, tie a loop in my main line then just slip the loops into each other. Never had a reason to use a swivel, as it just seems an extra component that is unnecessary, may fail and if using a short hook trace may scare off the fish? But I will consider that so thanks for the tip.

 

Now being a 'senior' fisherman, manual dexterity and eyesight is not quite so sharp, and although patience is a virtue, it seems to be in short supply when trying to tie intricate knots. Anything that makes hook attachement easier is a bonus, but only if it is strong and reliable. I am on a steep learning curve but at least I am now 'into the fish' which is a good start, and a confidence booster.

 

When using pre-tied hooks, if I use a swivel do I just loop the hook through the swivel?

You could do it that way or if you put the swivel on the hooklength loop first you can just poke the main line loop through the swivel and drop your hooklength through the loop. So no need to try and get your hook through the swivel.

 

For lighter rigs and float fishing, most of the time I don't bother with loops or swivels. Just one neat and quick water knot does for me.

[yendis]

OK, thanks for the tips. I now seem to have overcome the breaking line problem but on my last outing I still lost a good fish within a few seconds of hooking it. On inspecting the hook trace I found that the hook had deformed quite badly. I was not quite straight but certainly out of shape, enough to cause it to slip out.

 

I never had these kinds of probems when I was a lad, so I am on a steep learning curve here. Maybe it is happening because I now have access to a fishery with some bigger fish, and I have a much stronger rod than the old cane ones I used to manage with. Also the lake is small with lots of lilies close by, and need to try to head off the fish before they snag me up.

 

The hooks to nylon I used were of Preston make. I now need to find a better brand with stronger (pre-tied) hooks. Any suggestions please?

[Andy_1984]

figure of eight loop for me. seems less damaging.

[ayjay]

Fishing for larger fish requires a different approach than tiddler bashing.

 

You have to eliminate any weakness in your tackle.

 

There is no need to use commercially made pre-tied hooklengths: learn some simple rigs and tie your own, this way you get to use the exact hooklength that you want and the exact hook that you want.

 

Any carp fishing I do is very simple, 90% of it will be floater fishing with just a hook tied to the mainline, the other 10% will be using a simple leger rig with either a home-made braid hooklength (and a swivel as a leger stop) or as before, a hook tied direct to the mainline.

[Vagabond]

Now being a 'senior' fisherman, manual dexterity and eyesight is not quite so sharp, and although patience is a virtue, it seems to be in short supply when trying to tie intricate knots. Anything that makes hook attachement easier is a bonus, but only if it is strong and reliable.

I understand that, being over 80 myself

 

However, it is well worth learning the grinner, as once learnt, it is easy to tie (practice at home with large hook, thickish line, warm hands, and sitting in a chair with a glass of malt at your elbow) Once learnt you can still tie it with cold hands, on the river bank, in a howling gale with sleet coming down.

 

Why the grinner ? It is versatile - can be used for any size eyed hook from #22 upwards, and you can use it for just hook to main line - or a rig requiring lots of joining knots.

 

It meets the "strong and reliable" requirement if properly tied and the line (if monofilament) is moistened before tightening

 

As Poledark once said, he could tie a hook to his line and be ready to fish whilst others were still struggling to get a ready-tied out of a packet and uncoil it - and he is only a few years off 80 himself. ....and that was in the context of a spade-end knot, which is harder to tie than a grinner.

[yendis]

OK I use ready tied hooks historically from habit, but I have also gone over to using banded hair rigs, which is working very well for me now. So tying my own hooks whilst adding a band is a bit daunting, but Vagabond, who is clearly a very senor gentleman, has shamed me into at least trying, whilst, maybe sipping some merlot.

 

Yesterday I had my best day so far, 4 carp, 1 tench (first for 50 years!), and few roach to boot. Looking forward to my next outing now.

 

Thanks for all the replies on this topic.