[vanislealoha]

Trying to tie my own leaders so I had to learn the Blood Knot and man I'm wishing I bought the commercial tapered leaders. The knot looks simple but it is awkward to tie.

I was wondering if you could just tie the two parts of the leader together using two clinch knots or improved cinch knots. Anybody tried this?

You could tie one clinch knot on the first piece of leader and tigthen it down enough so that it leaves a loop but does not fall apart if you let go. Then with the second piece of leader you would thread the end through the loop of the first knot and then tie another clinch knot. You would tighten the knot by pulling on both leaders and voila!.

 

[Guest]

When I use my Sink tip i just run a 4 ft peice of straight mono off the loop on my fly line
When I use my Floating line i make my own tapered leader with the Blood Knott

Keep practising the blood knott, it took me a bit to get that one done properly...

 

[Junebug]

I was wondering if you could just tie the two parts of the leader together using two clinch knots or improved cinch knots. Anybody tried this?

Doable

 

[GOFISH]

I believe you could also use a "Surgeons Knot" ........... easier to tie when you are tying tapered leaders yourself.


GOFISH 8)

 

[professori]

I used to use blood knots on my leaders (and got pretty good at them), but I started using double surgeons knots and haven't looked back. I only use knotted leaders, and make fairly complex ones, so i have typically 4 to 8 sections and ease of construction is important. I use a small dab of Knot-sense (a Loon product) on each knot. It smooths the knot a bit and reduces hang ups on the knots, and helps the knots glide through the guides.

 

[Jack Straw]

Big mono, I like the blood knot 15lb +, its a fairly easy knot no? But for strength nothing beats the double surgeons & its great for smaller mono, a bit of practise & it can be done riverside with your eyes closed...good luck.

 

[boatswamper]

One more for the double surgeons. Can't be beat IMO.

 

[HOOK]

i use the double surgeons knot or sometimes the albright knot they both havent let me down even on big fish ;D

 

[coop]

is there a good resource to all these nots? was a boy scout but memory has faded ha! thanks

 

[Barba]

I H
hope this will help:

http://www.animatedknots.com/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

:beerchug:

B.

 

[professori]

is there a good resource to all these nots? was a boy scout but memory has faded ha! thanks

http://www.animatedknots.com/bloodknot/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=
http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/jb4knots/index.html

 

[ditto]

For tying on leader, I have always been using the nail knot. Is the blood knot supposed to be easier or stronger, or is it just preference.

 

[professori]

The blood knot is used to tie two pieces of mono of similar diameter (e.g. tippet to leader). It isn't used for tying leader to fly line (it would be way too bulky.) I tie a short piece of 25 lb mono to my fly line with a nail knot and tie a loop in the other end. Then I tie a loop i the butt end of my leader and use a simple loop-to-loop connection for leaders. this avoids the snipping off of the fly line every time you want to change leaders.

 

[ditto]

I will have to try that the next time I am out. I normally tie a single nail knot from fly line to leader. I started off using a tapered tippet, then tying on new tippet material onto the end of it when it started getting short with a doubled nail knot. Now I don't waste the money on tapered leaders, I just tie on two different weights of mono/tippet.

 

[olive wulff]

Also used to buy tapered leaders and add tippet as I retie flies. (I used to use those clips but didn't notice line nicks) - now have a loop to join leader to fly line and add sections of taper and tippet - When I join leader material I use the Double Surgeons however when I go from something like 15 pound to 6 pound which usually means a larger diameter change I add a knot - triple surgeons - you can just massage it a bit to get a nice looking and strong knot - easy to do on the shore sitting on a rock

I really like Maxima Chameleon for leaders and discovered it before I read the following article which likes it. It really describes leaders

http://www.flyfishusa.com/tackle-tips/leaders/about-leaders.html

Olive Wulff

 

[finseeker]

Surgeons knot gets my vote. The nice thing about that knot is the tags are parallel to the line. Runs thru the guides better too.
My :2cents: