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[Spawn Sack]

Just wondering what type of knots ya'll are using for your flouro leaders. Seems most people just use a good ol' improved clinch knot with no issues. However if you look at which knots the manufacturers reccomend, it is usually the palomar, trilene, etc. "Knot Wars" is a cool phone app where they test different knots and show you how to tie them. The imp. clinch is not one of their reccomended knots for flouro.

I rarely use flourocarbon learders due to the price and I find it breaks off a lot more easily than mono of the same lb test, and usually breaks at the knot. For example when the water was a bit higher/colored I was using mainly Maxima UG or Berkley XT leader in 10 or 12 lb depending on the current speed and had no issues bringing in several big springs and coho. Didn't snap a single leader except the odd foul hook then it was me who straightened my rod and purposely snapped it off. However the last couple days I've broke my 8-10lb flouro leader on a fish (mainly coho) hooked in the mouth and I KNOW that same lb test mono would not have broke

It's frustrating as I believe I'm getting into more fish because of the flouro (due to either a confidece boost or the fact that it's less visible, or a bit of both), but I'm breaking off more fish and am less confident to put the brakes on a hot fish and haul it in.

Getting back on target to the knots I tied the palomar with flouro with good results, however I can't tie it to a swivel already on the mainline as it has to go over and around what you're tying it to. Works fine if, say, tying onto a swivel from your mainline (on a tangent I use the palomar witrh braid to swivel and find it to be the best braid knot). I tried the trilene knot and a few other knots I found on Knot Wars (Youtube, good stuff) but either found them too hard to tie (esp with cold hands) or they broke off with a fish on.

I've gone back to the imp.clinch as I have the most confidence in it and can tie it in my sleep. I've been trying to make sure the knot is extra wet and really making sure it's coiled up nice and tight. Still I find my flouro is breaking at the knot when mono would knot.

Maybe I need to try a different brand? I've been using Berkley Vanish, only reason I have it is I won it in a draw I've heard Seaguar Blue Label is the best and has better knot strength than the rest. If anyone has tip for flouro to swivel knots and their brand of choice that would be awesome. Also I have not had any issues with the baitloop knot breaking, just the line to swivel knot.

[RalphH]

people who use floro a lot - tournament anglers for example - often state the basic clinch works better than the improved.  My experience with Vanish is that does not have the knot strength of some better floros. Fluorocarbon, even the 100% stuff comes in various grades and qualities. Not all Seagar is the same. I have better success with P-line than Vanish. The various floro leaders aimed at the fly fishing segment seem to be very good but expensive. I am not a big fan of floro and find whatever it's advantages they seldom justify the cost.

[skaha]

--if you don't need the swivel to go though your guides then polimar a small coastlock on to your leader and use it to attach to the swivel on your main line. If you don't want added weight use Aquateko invisaswivel which is also made of fluorocarbon.
--the best fluoro will still break at the knot if not lubricated when tightening... usually surprisingly easy to break so quick tug before casting will usually cause it to break if it is going to.

[wonder]

I just use a standard clinch knot and an egg loop for the hook. Landed 6 coho yesterday with no issues. 12 seaguar fluro is my leader of choice

[Spawn Sack]

people who use floro a lot - tournament anglers for example - often state the basic clinch works better than the improved.  My experience with Vanish is that does not have the knot strength of some better floros. Fluorocarbon, even the 100% stuff comes in various grades and qualities. Not all Seagar is the same. I have better success with P-line than Vanish. The various floro leaders aimed at the fly fishing segment seem to be very good but expensive. I am not a big fan of floro and find whatever it's advantages they seldom justify the cost.

Interesting about the regular clinch outperforming the imp.clinch. I'll tie up a few in my garage and perform a few break tests and see how the knot performs.

I agree the advantages seldom justify the cost. 99% of the time I use mono leaders. However I find when fishing for picky, arrogant, stuck up coho in frog water I like to fish as stealthy as possible so I dig out my clear floats, small split shot, hooks, and swivels, and (groan) flouro leader. Whether it's all in my head or not I do seem to get into more fish with this approach. The rest of the time it's foam floats, pencil lead, mono leaders etc and I have no issues.

[Spawn Sack]

--if you don't need the swivel to go though your guides then polimar a small coastlock on to your leader and use it to attach to the swivel on your main line. If you don't want added weight use Aquateko invisaswivel which is also made of fluorocarbon.
--the best fluoro will still break at the knot if not lubricated when tightening... usually surprisingly easy to break so quick tug before casting will usually cause it to break if it is going to.

I don't need my swivel to go through the guides. With this rig I'm fishing float to weight + swivel, then leader to hook. I've tried a simiar idea to the coast lock by tying a palomar to a duo-lock swivel, then attaching the duo-lock to the barrel swivel on my mainline. I found the leader seemed to get wrapped up more often than fishing just a barrel swivel, so I stoped doing that. I also find that the palomar is hard to tie with flouro. The knot needs to sit a certain way and flouro seems to give me a lot of issues, esp with cold hands. With braid I have no issues it slides together perfectly. It's a small knot and doesn't look strong...oh but it it is! This summer we were jigging for some massive hailbut in Prince Rupert and my Dad gave me a hard time about my wimpy looking palomar connecting our braided mainline to the rig. He prefers to tie this massive Berkley Braid knot that ends up with 2 tags ends. He bet me $5 my knot would break with a big fish on but never did even hauling up a beast halibut in the 150lb range (released by the way).

Also I'll check out that invisiswivel and good tip to give the leader a good tug before casting to check knot strength. Nerver had to do this with mono but with flouro not a bad idea.

[Spawn Sack]

I just use a standard clinch knot and an egg loop for the hook. Landed 6 coho yesterday with no issues. 12 seaguar fluro is my leader of choice

So you don't pass it through one more time like the improved clinch? Just a regular clinch hey? You're the second person to mention this so I'm going to try it out.

Are you using the SeaGuar Blue label? Apparently that's their best leader line but gawd it's expensive

[mvelasco]

used regular clinch my whole time fishing and rarely does it break at the knot unless I manipulate my rod too (ie snags) even then the leader will snap at the mid. using 8lb blue label seaguar  and I've landed plenty of springs and ho's

[zap brannigan]

vanish is garbage, buy a qualty 100% flouro or you'll be turned off the stuff forever, i use the seagaur stuff in 10lb and havnt had a break off on a coho this year yet, ive also used the stren stuff with good results in the steel season be sure to lube your knots well and tighten slowly or you'll get friction burn and it will break every time, good flouro costs a bit but its worth it under the right conditions.

[Spawn Sack]

used regular clinch my whole time fishing and rarely does it break at the knot unless I manipulate my rod too (ie snags) even then the leader will snap at the mid. using 8lb blue label seaguar  and I've landed plenty of springs and ho's

Can you or anyone speculate why the regular clinch would be better than the improved clinch for flouro? Not doubting just curious why this may be.

Just to make sure it's not the improved clinch you're doing here is a link to it.

http://www.netknots.com/fishing_knots/improved-clinch-knot/

I've heard some people refer to an improved clinch as a clinch knot, when in fact a clinch knot does not have the extra step at the end of passing the line through twice before tightening.

[zap brannigan]

less friction when tightening down the knot.

[Spawn Sack]

less friction when tightening down the knot.

I'll try the Seaguard Blue label. No wonder I won the Berkley Vanish it sounds like crap and the shop probably didn't want to sell it to customers, haha! "Here, put this in the draw, getting too many complaints from ppl buying it...let's get rid of it..."

[Sandman]

I used the trilene instead of the clinch or improved clinch for years and never had it break at the knot (I flyfish, though I am not sure that would make much of a difference). It is as easy to tie as the clinch and much stronger due to the double wrap through the hook eye.  That is it's one downfall as it may be tough getting it through the eye of the hook if you are using a large line diameter to  hook eye size ratio.  I now use the non slip loop knot 90% of the time while fly fishing (imparts more action to the fly) and never have any issues with it, but you have to make sure you are lubricating whatever knot you tie prior to tightening.

[Spawn Sack]

I used the trilene instead of the clinch or improved clinch for years and never had it break at the knot (I flyfish, though I am not sure that would make much of a difference). It is as easy to tie as the clinch and much stronger due to the double wrap through the hook eye.  That is it's one downfall as it may be tough getting it through the eye of the hook if you are using a large line diameter to  hook eye size ratio.  I now use the non slip loop knot 90% of the time while fly fishing (imparts more action to the fly) and never have any issues with it, but you have to make sure you are lubricating whatever knot you tie prior to tightening.

I've tried the trilene knot but didn't like it. Could have been operator error but I found the knot busted a lot. For me it's improved clinch all the way whenver using mono. Same as you for all my flies I use a non-slip loop knot and have never had that knot bust.

I always lube the crap out of my knots before tightening, tighten slowly, and make sure the knot is sitting snug. I'm starting to think this Berkley Vanish is just crappy flouro. I'm kind of surprised as I've used Berkley XL on my spinning reels for decades with no issues, Berkley XL for leaders on springs/chum etc with no issues, and Big Game as a main line on baitcasters with good results (although I've converted to P-line CXX-Xtra strong. However googling "berkley vanish flourocarbon reviews" it seems that it mainly gets poor reviews.

If the water stays this low/clear I'll try the Seagar Blue Lable. Whadathink...8lb? I've used 8lb mono in low/clear water tons on my lighter rod with good results.

[zap brannigan]

I feel better using 10 lb, flouro has a smaller diameter than mono and you can go up a few lbs on it with no difference really.