Knot Strength – Updated with Fly Rod & Reel Video
- This topic has 31 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated Mar 4, 2015 at 6:53 pm by
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Great article Zach, I will have to pick up one of those hair irons next time I’m in Target.
I plan on living forever, so far so good.
Zach,
I tried your method of using the hair straightener on the back end of a SA GPX line. I seemed to float between two extremes: not getting the PVC hot enough to bond or getting it too hot and melting the coating away from the core. I may have been applying too much pressure in the latter case. Any tips?
The Castwell is the same as a sheet bend which was used for attaching two lines of different diameter, it is also essentially the same as a bowline. The only differences are what’s a tag and and what’s not.
JCZach,
Thanks for the tips. I’m going to see if I can find some of the heat shrink tubing. I have some old line that I can play around with this. I think I was overcooking the line.
Scott
I know this post is getting a bit older, but thought I would report back on some results. I couldn’t find any clear heat shrink tubing locally so I ordered some with a friend online. That was the ticket. I put the folded loop inside the tubing and use a lighter (from a distance) to shrink it up over the line. Then I used a hair straightener to melt the line inside and would roll it. The tubing provides a nice mold for the bonding and protects the line from overcooking. After I was done, I just cut the tubing off with some tying scissors.
I figured out the other problem I was having was using an old hair straightener. It kept turning on and off and wasn’t providing the heat I needed. I switched to my wife’s Chi and the heating issues went away. My friend that I ordered the tubing with is getting a heat gun and we’re going to give that a try.
I don’t have a boga, but did put the scissors through the loop and pulled pretty hard against it. It held. The angled, cut end of the flyline where I started the weld did separate just a bit. I probably just didn’t melt this part well enough. It was just an old line that I was testing on so I left it alone, but if I had been doing it on a line I was using I would have put a little more tubing over it and re-welded it. It is quite surprising how well the loop holds.
We ordered the heat shrink tubing through Amazon from https://www.ties4less.com/ties/index.asp.
Has anyone ever tested the strength of Al Caucci’s Krazy Glue splice? Supposedly, Al uses it for every type of fish, including tarpon.
The Castwell is the same as a sheet bend which was used for attaching two lines of different diameter, it is also essentially the same as a bowline. The only differences are what’s a tag and and what’s not.
JCThe castwell knot and the sheet bend are very similar but there is a difference.
http://www.pechetruite.com/Noeuds/Albright-Castwell%20knots.htm
This came up recently in the context of Phil Monahan’s article on Midcurrent, and I wanted to bump this post back to the top.
The moral of the story is that heat shrink tubing and a heat gun can form a welded loop stronger than any knot you can tie to a fly line.
Zach
I was shocked. Flat out shocked, by lots of these results. Firstly, I have been using 20 lb. mono nail-knotted to the end of my fly line for years. I have never, ever broken a trout or any near-shore saltwater fish off at the nail knot. That just goes to show how much pull 10 lbs. actually is; in fact, that’s about where tarpon anglers set their drags.
Zach- This is quite interesting because my “pound the banks with big flies rig” is a 7wt. I use a 3-5 foot leader that is always half 30 pound, half 15. Sometimes 20/10 or 25/10. Whenever I get hung up on a log, branch, etc and pull really hard the fail point was always the nail knot. Not the 10 or 15 pound test which always surprised me. I would prefer the leader broke, not the nail knot so it is easier to get going.
Good tips all.
George
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