Best Knot for Fluoro and jigs

[buddy brown]

What is the best knot for fluoro and jigs.

[Oldschool]

No knot will provide you 100% knot strength with fluorocarbon, 80% is about max. What this means is go up in lb test about 2 lbs; 14 lb fluoro (.0135D) is equal to 12 lb Mono (.0135D).
I use the San Diego Knot and the Eugene knot and find the San Diego easier to achieve a good knot under fishing conditions.
The line should match the jig weight; 1/4 & 3/8 oz; use 10 lb fluoro in open water and 1/2 & 5/8 oz use 14 lb fluoro. In heavy cover suggest useing 25 lb green Big Game or low light conditions and fishing heavy wood or reeds; use 65 lb braid, tied directly, no leader.
Tom

[brambo0311]

Palomar for everthing, keep it simple. Unless your joining lines.

[mark poulson]

Palomar for everthing, keep it simple. Unless your joining lines.

+1 Just be sure to wet your Palomar before you pull it tight, and tighten it slowly.

[Sinjin Kim]

Palomar for everthing, keep it simple. Unless your joining lines.

+1 Just be sure to wet your Palomar before you pull it tight, and tighten it slowly.

I guess with anything else in fishing, confidence is key. I personally don't like the palomar knot because if the two strapping lines are criss-crossed, SNAP on the hookset.

Last year, a friend by the name of John Chin said he was breaking off fish left and right using jigs on 15-20# Invis-X. I asked what knot he was using and he said palomar. I wondered what the deal was since I was using 15-20# Invis-X myself and had problems breaking the line when I wanted (stuck in rocks). I mentioned the issue with criss-crossed lines and showed him the SAN DIEGO JAM knot.

The following day, John said, "That knot is STRONG. I couldn't break off a jig when I got stuck."

I even use the SDJ knot when I dropshot. If it is good enough for Aaron Martens, why not me.

[big_limits]

I don't get it I've never had a knot break and I use palomar for everything. Any thime I've had breakage it's due to line fray. Maybe it's how each individual ties and or fishes... or maybe i'm not hookn big enough fish... many 5 to 10lbs and no knot break though on mono, flouro, and braid. the only knot i ever had break is the trilene knot

[buddy brown]

I guess I should clarify that I'm breaking off at the knot on the hookset. I'm used to settting hard after using izorline platnum for years. I use hvy action glx rods with 12lb fluoro. I use the palomar and have busted off on high impact hookset baits like t-rig and jig. The SD jam knot I heard is a good one. What's up Sinjin, how you been.

[Oldschool]

The Palomar knot is a good choice for mono.
Impact strength, the speed in which the line is loaded, becomes critical with high tensil, small diameter filament line like fluoro.
Like nearly everone else, I started using the Palomar knot with fluoro and soon learned it's weakness.
You must tie knots correctly and lubricate the knot before, during and when clinching it down.
The bottom line is; use the best knot for the application.
Tom

[mark poulson]

Take a little extra time to make sure the knot is right when you tie it. Cutting it off and retying is not that big a deal if you're not sure.
I pull it tight and pull both the main line and tag line away from each other to be sure it's good.
Better to have it break right there in the boat, than later, at the boat, with a fish on.
Maybe different flouros are more sensitive to how they're tied than others.
I use Bass Pro Shops flouro, and it works really well for me.

[Scott E.]

I'm with Old School on this one. I learned through time (and bustin' off fish on the hookset) that I will never tie a palomar on fluro again. And I was careful when tying and wet the line good and still, every once in a while it would bust on the hookset when I know my knot was good. San Diego knot hasn't busted once on me in the last year and a half on the fluro and I switched from a heavy to a med. heavy rod too, to fish 3/8 oz jigs or 1/4oz. I think it makes a big difference with the softer rod when fishing in close quarters (I do a lot of pitching to docks) with not much line out to absorb the shock since the fluro don't stretch much.

[mark poulson]

Scott, you made a great point about rod stiffness.
No stretch, or minimal stretch, lines, like braid and heavier flouro, don't act as shock absorbers on short line hook sets. You do need a softer rod to give you some kind of buffer, or you'll be either ripping the hooks out of the fish, or busting the knot, which is always the weakest part of the line.

[buddy brown]

Thank you all for your insight. I experimented last night with the 12 lb fluoro and jig last night with both the palomar and sdjknot. I stuck a 5 on the palomar but made a concious effort to not swing as hard about 75% of what I would normally do and it still stuck it good. Also stuck a smaller one on the sdj knot and swung for the fence and it did not break.

[Oldschool]

How you hook set make a big difference when fishing jigs or plastic worms. Assuming the knots are equal, Palomar verses SDJ are very different, your goal should be getting the hook point into the basses mouth tissue.
With a T-rigged plastic worm you have a lot more time to get a hook set, then you do with a jig. If you are casting a jig out over 30 feet and retrieving it back, you have very little time to determine a strike and get a hook set, becuase the bass spits the jig out very qwickly a high % of the time. Whereas a soft plastic worm a bass will continue to eat, unless it detects line pressure. The hook set by dropping the rod tip, putting a little slack in the line, reeling in a some line, then snap setting, works OK with plastic worms, poorly with jigs.
With jigs you far better off keeping your rod tip down and reel setting, followed by the rod sweep. The rod is already in position, you don't need to drop it, the line already has a little tension on it. When you feel what appears to be a strike, crank the reel qwickly to start the hook point penetrating tissue, then sweep the rod back to complete the hook set. The bass reacts by fighting back instead of bolting for safety. This puts a lot less stress on the knot and allows you to control the bass.
I have been doing this a very long time and it's difficult to switch between plastic worms and jigs, when using two very different hook sets. You tend to screw both up, so I have settled on the reel set for both.
Tom

[some guy]

How you hook set make a big difference when fishing jigs or plastic worms. Assuming the knots are equal, Palomar verses SDJ are very different, your goal should be getting the hook point into the basses mouth tissue.
With a T-rigged plastic worm you have a lot more time to get a hook set, then you do with a jig. If you are casting a jig out over 30 feet and retrieving it back, you have very little time to determine a strike and get a hook set, becuase the bass spits the jig out very qwickly a high % of the time. Whereas a soft plastic worm a bass will continue to eat, unless it detects line pressure. The hook set by dropping the rod tip, putting a little slack in the line, reeling in a some line, then snap setting, works OK with plastic worms, poorly with jigs.
With jigs you far better off keeping your rod tip down and reel setting, followed by the rod sweep. The rod is already in position, you don't need to drop it, the line already has a little tension on it. When you feel what appears to be a strike, crank the reel qwickly to start the hook point penetrating tissue, then sweep the rod back to complete the hook set. The bass reacts by fighting back instead of bolting for safety. This puts a lot less stress on the knot and allows you to control the bass.
I have been doing this a very long time and it's difficult to switch between plastic worms and jigs, when using two very different hook sets. You tend to screw both up, so I have settled on the reel set for both.
Tom

+ 1

[Old dog]

I was having trouble with floro and the palomar and then Jay Lieu showed me the best knot trick I have ever seen. Tie the palomar as you normally would. Just before you pull the knot tight put your finger in the first loop you made next to the eye of the hook. Pull the knot down to the top of your finger, just snug. Remove your finger and continue to pull the knot down. No wetting, no burning and I can count the number of breakoffs Ive had in the last 3 years on one hand.

[Gumpa]

Just my $.02 on the subject. After respooling before any trip here's tip. I will tie a good tight knot to a wooden spoon??? Then I ask my grandson, who is always ready to help in any manner to take the stick and walk down the street with the line.

When he gets close to the end of the spool I will then engage the reel and have him slowly back up. This takes an enormus ammount of strech out of the line. Now of course theres not always a kid around to help you do this however, with the spoon you can always wedge it on something and strech it yourself.

This works well with mono and floral. I have used the palomar forever with great success. I believe taking out alot of the streach before hand really helps. Of course your not going to get all the streach out but believe me you will be suprised! It works well on any # test. Gumpa

[Ted]

---

I have good luck with the simple Uni Knot.
It pulls down very well and evenly wrapped.

Very strong.

[Flippinjigs]

If you are really interested in knot strength. Check Out this subject on Knot Wars conducted by the North American Fishing Club. It covers some of the most famous knots we tie, and how they stack up to each other.

http://www.fishingclub.com/ExtraContent ... ?id=146070

Good Fishin

[Chaozu]

If you are really interested in knot strength. Check Out this subject on Knot Wars conducted by the North American Fishing Club. It covers some of the most famous knots we tie, and how they stack up to each other.

http://www.fishingclub.com/ExtraContent ... ?id=146070

Good Fishin

No uni knot? I use that knot for everything

[blkdog812]

san diego jam knot for everything including braid

[Cooch]

What is the best knot for fluoro and jigs.

My first question to you would be, what brand Fluoro are you using?

I have been using that Palomar on fluoro since I first started using Fluoro back in 1998. I use mostly 16, 20 & 25 pound test fluoros in my day to day fishing, and I can not remember ever breaking off at the knott. It's really obvious if ya look at the end of yer line when ya break off. You see the line curl and such and will know the line cut itself. This is typically due, to not correctly tying that knott, or inferior fluoro. I've never had to wet my fluoro as I tie my Palomar either. To me, if ya gotta do this, yer not using a very high grade fluoro, or tying that knott incorrectly. Jay's tip to Old School is a great one! The most common mistake that will fail, is in that loop tag, if it is twisted and you shove that bait thru the loop and pull it snug, yer done, it's gonna break. The other thing that will cause you problems if after ya pull that bait/hook through the loop, if ya since down too fast, you will create friction and degrade the line just above the knot.

[buddy brown]

What's up Cooch,

I'm using 12lb 100% fluoro and sunline sniper. More breaks on the 100%. I've lightened up on the swing as I generate alot of power This has helped. Also I've also been trying the Shooter line which seems more dense and strong. The SD jamknot is a good one and it seems to take the imapct better. You guys in the north are lucky to have the jig bite you do. It is tough to find one in the clear water ponds down here. Most of the time night time is the only time for the jig down here!

[StockOption]

This knot was highlighted in a recent issue of Bassmaster by Gary Klein after he went looking for a new flurocarbon knot after popping too many palomar knots......

http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/lkknots/index15.html

I haven't tried it yet myself.

I have been using the uni-knot for flurocarbon and it has worked extremely well for me:

http://www.animatedknots.com/uniknot/in ... dknots.com

(I'll also use the uni-knot for braid too.....)

[Bill K]

Palomar for everthing, keep it simple. Unless your joining lines.

Good advice, palomar know for all, except two lines together, then learn the double uni. With these two knots and possible the double clinch knot you could tie any lure, etc onto a line. Bill K k.i.s.s. good advice

[elfish16]

truly its so hard for me to understand knots breaking...I DON'T break fish off on hooksets or lose fish due to knots failing. I swing for the fences all the time, whether it be Sugoi or Seaguar Invisix and regular Maxima Ultra Green. Ask my old man...when I set the whole boat rocks to one side...

I use the palomar on all lines and makes and I've never had issues. the ONLY line i ever broke the knot on was Stren back about 10 years ago...when I was getting started.

I agree with the palomar users...its strong and I for one NEVER break fish off due to knot failure.

Eric

[Cooch]

What's up Cooch,

I'm using 12lb 100% fluoro and sunline sniper. More breaks on the 100%. I've lightened up on the swing as I generate alot of power This has helped.

Yeah, I feel yer pain now, I never have liked, nor do I ever use, any Fluoro below 16# test. I think in the lighter tests, all fluoro's are subject to failure on heavy duty hook sets and the shock generated. With so little stretch, something is gonna give, and that typically tends to be at the knot.

Ps. Only good jig bite here is at night right now! As I dream of it in my sleep! HAR! HAR !HAR!

[Sinjin Kim]

Ps. Only good jig bite here is at night right now! As I dream of it in my sleep! HAR! HAR !HAR!

Now that is funny! How is Delta doing? Hope she is well.