Wetting knots

[jgrossing]

I see many anglers wetting their knots before tightening them, but it seems to me that I remember reading an article that demonstrated that this practice is not of value. Does anyone remember an article that tested knot strength with/without wetting the knot? Also does this practice work with fluoro as well as regular nylon tippet material?

While opinions and anecdotes would be of interest, what would be of most use is a reference to experimental data that looks critically at wet/dry knot strength.

Thanks

Addendum: Experiment performed during Christmas Holiday. Data described in post of 1/1/11.

[sagefisher]

Always wet your knots before you pull for the final time, it keeps the material from burning itself which weakens the knot. Some say you should not use spit when you tighten a fluorocarbon knot because the chemicals in your spit will work on the fluoro and weaken it. I suppose if you were going to pre-tie knots on leaders then set them aside to use at a later date that would be a concern to me, so I would use water or Gink's Whale Spit. However, when I tie my knots on flourocarbon the leader and tippet are going directly into the water so I think the spit aspect would not really be a concern when doing that.

About the 'burning' when pulling a knot tight. If you place a piece of leader in your palm and grab it then pull, depending upon how hard you are grabbing the leader and how fast you pull you will burn yourself, really fast. If on the other hand you have a wet hand, and you pull the same, you will not create as much heat because there will be less friction so there is less of a chance of burning yourself. The same holds true within a knot. A dry knot will create friction really fast which produces heat which weakens the knot. Wet it and it has less friction, hence far less heat so no burning.

By the way, to straighten a leader the same idea applies. Don't use the various items they sell to place the leader in and pull thru, you will burn your leader and with fluorocarbon you may cause shredding. Use your palm to run along the leader. If you feel your skin starting to burn then so is the leader so slow down and use less pressure and stroke the leader a few more times that way to take out the coils. No burning of the palm means no weakening of the leader.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[Normand]

never have done it - never had a knot fail

what temperature does the knot material need to get up to for it to "burn" the material??

[Cold]

I agree with pretty much everything sagefisher said. Great points all around.

Also, I'd have to express some skepticism for the "saliva eats fluoro" argument. I know sage didnt specifically endorse it, but it seems to me, for a material that won't degrade in nature for hundreds of years, getting some saliva on it (then rinsing it off moments later) isn't going to affect it to any measurable degree.

[Chuck441]

Several years ago Ted Leeson had an article in "Fly Rod and Reel" about leaders and knots. He recommended using mineral oil to lube the knots before tightening. Practical at home, not so much astream.

Chuck

[bonefishwhisperer]

I have struggled with that problem myself... since I fish for drag burning fish I must have total faith in the knots...permit have given me the most trouble...the best thing I have found so far is chapstik...it will seat the knot but not burn the line...if the knot is milky it is burned...also dont just pull fast but slow and steady when seating the knot...this has held up to tarpon, bonefish, permit, snook, sharks and redfish under the most extreme conditions for me...since I have been doing this I havent lost a single fish due to burned line...I use different leader material and tippets constantly from hard mason to flourocarbon without problems

[Mato Kuwapi]

Just through my own experience, I noticed when you don't wet the knot, the mono will curl or get wavy when you pull the knot tight, especially fine tippets. If you look closely enough, you can actually see that the line has thinned or has damage. I've also had it break if I didn't take the time to correct it. So with that...I'm with Sagefisher on this one. I wet all of my knots. It only takes a second. To loose a shot at a trophy photo because of knot failure is a real head banger. I've seen it happen all to often.

[quivira kid]

A little spit never hurt anything!

[jeremy.badgett]

North American Fishing club does a series called knot wars where they test different knots for different types of line materials and rate them. I remember reading about why you should and should not wet lines while tying a knot. I have read several different places also about this theory and they all state that each of the types of materials differ in the amount of lubrication required to achieve good knot quality. I know that mono lines have to heat up to cause the line to hold on to itself to form a strong knot but if they rub together without some lubrication they will overheat and become frail and the knot strength will decrease. Normand mentions that he does not wet his knots and has never had any issues with them, I have always wet them and have never had issues. So who is right, who knows. this question is fun for me because I like the science of life and this brings science to our past time

[Steve Molcsan]

I always wet prior to final tighten up , it make them close nicer and tighter when they are lubed...

Just make sense to me anyway... Heck do whatever floats your boat....