I use a double surgeons knot to tie my tippet together. This seems like my weakest spot in my set up. When I get my fly in a tree and have to break the line it mostly breaks at the double surgeon knot. Do you have any knot recommendations/ or technique helps?
freddyg
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try the blood knot on this page…
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
Knots always interests me. Short story, I still tie a double surgeon’s as well. I hate blood knots, they are difficult FOR ME. There is a Dennison Blood knot tool, but bluntly never tried one. The popular nail knot tying tool called a “Tie-Fast” also can do a fairly simple double nail knot which in effect is similar but not a true blood knot.
Your line is going to break somewhere. Probably the best place to break is at the fly. You leave less tippet in the water this way. I still tie the DS because it is quick for me and good enough.
Here is a great article that I have in my favorites: http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/knots/scheck_lastlink_1.aspx
Like Clay, I really struggle with the blood knot and find the DS both strong enough for my fishing and reliable (if I tie it correctly :rolleyes:) ). By the way Scheck’s Fly Fish Better (Clay’s reference) is a terrific book for new folks and old heads as well.
Coughlin
I have the tie fast tool, and absolutely love it…
I’ve switched over to the Orvis tippet knot. You can find a detailed description of it on the web.
Randy
I use the tie fast tool too and like it. The “double nail knot” seems to me to be closer to a double uni knot.
It seems to hold fine for me.
I use either a blood knot or the knot with the tie fast tool depending on where I am. I’ll typically start off with a blood knot but while I’m on the stream or at the lake, I find it faster to use the tie fast tool than tying a “proper” blood knot.
Jeff
I recommend that flyfishers stick with the knots they are comfortable tying under fishing conditions. I use a double surgeon’s loop and then loop-to-loop to attach tippet. I KNOW that my knots are the weak point in the system, and accept that. There has to be SOME weak point, and when I put a fly in a tree twenty feet over my head, SOMETHING has to give. I lose flies because of my knots. Oh well.
I still use a simple clinch knot to attach flies (except for tiny midges, which get the yet-to-be-patented gob knot). REALLY big flies (oh, say a 6 or larger;)) might bring out a different knot since the hook wire is that much bigger.
But I can tie those knots and put on tippet and flies in very little time, in a blizzard, wearing fingerless wool gloves, without thought, and without paying much attention. If I have to stop and THINK about my knots, it takes more time, takes away from the productive fishing time, and makes me have flashbacks to boy scouts. It boils down to my feeling that unless your fly is in the water, you aren’t going to be catching any fish.
I use the blood knot.
It just takes some practice to become proficient with it. I can remember cussing it at the kitchen table a few times.
Once you’ve got it down, it becomes thoughtless and only takes about a minute.
Bob
Unlike spin casting, where the lures can cost up to 7 or 8 bucks, a fly is the cheapest thing on most rigs. I’d rather have my tippet break than the end of my rod. Most of the places I manage to put my fly, I’m not going to get it back without a chainsaw or climbing spurs.:rolleyes: I can’t afford a new rod, and I can’t afford a new fly line more than about once a year. I can buy a whole lot of tippet, and I can tie more flies. I just have to remember what that one looked like.
Kirk
I think the tippet knot or the knot at the fly should be the place the leader breaks. I use a uni knot at the fly and a triple surgeons knot to join the tippet.
I find the triple is much stronger than the double surgeons.
All the best.
Mike.
FreddyG:
Regarding breaking at the tippet knot rather than at the fly…if you fish a dropper this results in two flies lost and the need to tie three knots to get back to fishing. In my opinion it is always best to break off at the second fly and never at the tippet.
To solve broken tippet knots, I suggest the following…
Regards,
KB
I don’t ever have knots come apart, and don’t get extravagant at all…
That’s normal, no knot is 100%. You can tie any knot you want and the result will be the same. With that being said a fly snagged in a tree when being pulled free will never break in the middle of the tippet, ever, (unless the tippet has a wind knot in it) it will always break at a knot. The reason it’s not the knot at the fly is because the line usually gets twisted around the branches and the knot is not exposed to breaking strength.
The only knot I would not ever use is the Chuck Norris knot…
oh please someone ask why…
sure - why???
The Orivis Tippit Knot. Not as quick to tie as a double surgeons, nor as small as blood knot but hands down the strongest I’ve found.
Leo C
Because the Chuck Norris knot is so strong that:
It has pulled out entire groves of willows and it even has been known to fall giant trees that a fly was tangled in and never broke off…
Leo, The Orvis don’t even come close to this one…
Geeze I just kill myself sometimes:p
I use a triple surgeons knot, just an extra pass through after the double surgeons. It’s the easiest knot for me to tie on the water and I don’t even have to think about it. I find it a bit stronger than a double surgeons, but the knot will always be the weak point in the leader.
A couple of years back, one of the mags had a study of tippet knots. The Ligature Knot and the Orvis Tippet Knot were found to be by far the strongest.