Questions re fluorocarbon...

[Aiala]

Seeking recommendations with regards to fluorocarbon:

1) What's the best/strongest mono-to fluoro knot? From what I gather, the blood knot (my favorite) is definitely frowned upon; most seem to prefer either the surgeon's knot or the double uni...  Thoughts?

2) What's the proper length for the fluoro leader?

3) Is it best to match the lb-test of mono to fluoro, or can it be mismatched (a little) up or down?

All input greatly appreciated... Thanks!   

~A~

[Keta]

1. The surgeons knot works for me and is fast.
2. Yes.....    It is hard to say, 3'-4' seems to work but I prefer to use all fluro topshots.
3. I usual fish 20' fluro wind on topshots but I would use the same pound test is tying fluro to mono.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Forgive the question but why is the blood knot frowned upon? I like it as a braid to mono backing knot. It just takes patience. Always open to learning i was wrong.

[Aiala]

One other thing I forgot: Is it good/bad/optional to put a drop of glue on the knot?   

~A~

[Swami805]

For short top shots I like the leader length as long as I can get it without the knot having to pass thru the tip about 5-8 feet depending on the length of the rod. If it's not for casting for heavy line I'll put the a longer one on, maybe the whole 25 yard spool.
The blood knot isn't very strong compared to other options

[Gfish]

Definetly something for me to test, cause all I got are preferences.
Fluoro., I like as a short leader for stiffness and for the terminal knot strength. If I put a granny knot in the very end of the line, before I tie the lure/hook on and don't torque too much on it, it'll tighten itself when there's enough pressure from a fish/snag. The granny will keep it from untying under pressure. Regular mono. compresses too much, making me THINK the knot is the weak link.

Yeah, what about glue?

[thorhammer]

     I use double uni for everything. That's why its a uni. If I need to have very different diameters, I will double up the braid with a surgeon loop (if you can Bimini, have at it!). The Bimini makes a nicer transition but hard to do that on a bouncing boat, and I have yet to have surgeon's-to-double uni fail despite pulling on pelagics. If you are looking to fish for cows then I'd go Bimini, but for anything under a 100lbs surgeons has worked for me just fine. length of fluoro depends on how I'm fishing- 18" for Spanish, flounder etc., a rod length plus 50% for casting long, 20-100 feet for trolling. You know where I live, so clearly lengths and tests will be different for you on LR trip than us. 80 lb fluoro is about the largest I can make a confident uni with; as you know it's stiffer and slicker than mono and 50 lb may be the more practical limit. In that type of class I would be doubling 65, 80 or 100 braid, depending. I've never used glue but know those that do- I probably should on heavier connections but as stated if I lose fish, it's more likely me than a knot.

J

[Hamachi]

Three turn surgeons knot, best mono to fluro connection. Pro strongest knot, easy and fast to tie. Con it's bulky.

Three feet length or so, long enough to retie once or twice, short enough to stay out of the rod guides when casting. It's just used for abrasion resistance.

Match the size of the diameter, usually means one size up on the fluro, it's for abrasion resistance, why would you do it any other way?

Did I mention it's for abrasion resistance? Using a circle hook also helps to keep line away from sharp abrasive teeth.

Instead of glue, leave the tag end a smidge longer. All knots slip a little when maxed out. Go ahead and use it if you want. Glue is recommended if making leaders with Sato crimps.

[pjstevko]

Leader length: 3-7' or 15-20'
Keep it about the same, can move up or down 1 size

[nelz]

About the blood knot, I use it all the time, usually with same size mono to flouro, works great. It was actually top-rated in a Field and Stream article.

* Link removed due to ridiculous amount of ads all over the page.

[Aiala]

About the blood knot, I use it all the time, usually with same size mono to flouro, works great. It was actually top-rated in this article:

https://www.fieldandstream.com/tie-the-strongest-fishing-knots/

DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK!! I GOT A SCREAMING RED VIRUS ALERT!!!      

~A~

[nelz]

Huh??? I get no such warning and I have pretty tight security on my system.

[nelz]

Oh @#$% I just tried it in another browser and it's got ads all over the place. Still no virus warnings, but more than enough to retract my posting it.

The browser I usually use has an ad blocker, so it came through fine there. No good deed....

[Aiala]

Oh @#$% I just tried it in another browser and it's got ads all over the place. Still no virus warnings, but more than enough to retract my posting it.

Good move, but I'm disappointed, because I would've liked to read a positive slant on the blood knot... oh, well. Meantime, after a couple of practice ties, I'm favoring the double uni, because of its lower profile than the surgeon... but I might have used too many turns on the surgeon, so further testing is warranted.

Really appreciate all the feedback, guys... very helpful!   

~A~

[nelz]

Oh @#$% I just tried it in another browser and it's got ads all over the place. Still no virus warnings, but more than enough to retract my posting it.   The browser I usually use has an ad blocker, so it came through fine there.

I haven't used F&S in a long time, really surprised they would allow their site to get so degraded with garbage, you can barely see the article under all the ads. Anyway, here's the text, FWIW:

RETRACTED