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Dear Amigos and Amigas (Amigas=Ladies in Spanish):
Which knot do you use for adding extra tippet? Surgeon, Blood or some other? By hand or by tool? Incidentally, I looked at both knots side by side on the same tippet and noticed the Surgeon to be a bit thicker, meaning more prone to catch muck. The blood on the other hand more time consuming. Oh, and if by tool... Which one is our choice?
Again regards,
Migs
I prefer a surgeons knot for ease of tying and greater knot strength. You're right, they do catch more junk, but it's worth it to me.
FWIW, I prefer the double surgeon's knot. It's easier, faster and I recall reading that it has more strength(?)
Allan
My current methods are to tie blood knots if I'm at home, and triple surgeon's knots on stream.
A couple of issues ago, American Angler had an article on leader-tippet knots. The author recommended two knots, neither of which I used at the time. They were
(1) The Ligature knot -- otherwise known as the simplified blood knot in the Sosin and Kreh book on fishing knots.
(2) The Orvis tippet knot. That one has an animated demonstration on the Orvis web site. As easy to tie as the surgeon's knot (in my opinion), and stronger.
The ligature is stonger than the Orvis but maybe slightly harder to tie correctly on stream.
Generally a triple surgeons knot for 6X and smaller for trout. A blood knot for larger size tippet material for bigger fish. If you practice your blood knot you will find it ties very easily and you will not need to depend on a tool.
Fish while you can,
FFMachine
Loop to loop, its utility is worth the muck headache to me. Not really much different from other knots in that regard.
Jim
I use a double surgeon's when adding additional tippet.
Triple Surgeons Knot for all applications! Scott
Double surgeons knot.
Mike
I tie a Double Uni Knot. Since no one else picked that one, it may be time to re-evaluate my choice.
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Elliott W.
I tie flies to give the fish something to laugh about.
Double surgeons knot for the smaller stuff.
Sometimes a blood for moderate stuff.
A Bristol Knot attached to a Spider Hitch for most of my light saltwater fishing.
No tools.
double surgeon's for 1-5 wt, triple surgeon's for 6-9 wt.
For trout, loop to loop (Perfection on the leader, Rapala on the tippet).
For bass, blood knots.
I tend to need to add tippet more often when trout fishing. Still gettting used to the trees being so close to the water.
For bass, I want the strength of the blood knots (not an issue for the trout).
Good Luck!
Buddy
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I don't see as well as I used too, and I'm a little shakey. I had used the blood knot until I got the info from Harry Murrays DVD on the sureg. knot. A huge break threw for me...'G" I guess I need to have more fly friends to learn...lol, Wait, I have youngins and have to work... "G" females where do they fit in??? Guess I'm glad I learnd the sure. knot..."G"
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Spelling and Grammar not subject to judgement... ;)
Migs...
I still prefer the blood knot for larger sections of the leader. It is handier to tie when using a tool (like having a third hand) and the best that I have found is the ?Jiffy Blood Knot Tier?. I don?t know where you can get one or if they are still being made but the instructions that come with the tool list the maker as:
John Zolezzi
82 Sycamore Road
Clifton, New Jersey
Double Surgeon's on 5X and lighter & I seldom fish anything heavier anyway just fishing for trout. Even on the San Juan.
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Snow on the roof with fire in the hearth
Another nice thing about the surgeon's is that you can more reliably join differing diameter and suppleness lines.
Friends:
The great thing I get from these responses is that in our diversity we have some things in common, yet some new knots (names I never even heard of) showed up. Thus it behooves me to search them out and try them for comparison to the surgeon and blood knots. Knots are a lot of fun, aren't they?
Migs
I tie a Surgeons Loop on the leader end and a Perfection loop on the tippet. Then I interlock the loops. When the tippet gets whittled down, I grab another piece and tie a loop in it then interlock with the leader loop. You only have to make the loop in the leader once.
Perfection loop on the tippet, same on the end of the leader. Split shot/shape a weight on the tippet loop, so if it gets hung, I only loose the tippet and not portions of my leader.
I use a double surgeon for the traditional tapered leaders. For fishing big streamers, jigs, soft plastics, metal spoons and spinner rigs I use a specialty leader (either sinking of floating) that runs only 4'-5' with a loop connection on the end. My "tippet" to that leader is usually 3' of 6-10 lb test that I tie a surgeon's loop to one end. It will turn over a 1/32 oz jig like a charm.
Mike B
Interesting. Not one single responder uses the Orvis tippet knot (except me). I used to use the triple surgeon's knot because it was easier than the blood knot, but I lost a lot of fish because the tippet broke right at the knot. After several years, it finally dawned on me that there was a problem with the knot. The Orvis tippet knot solves this (see the articke by Art Scheck in a recent American Angler mag to see why.