Joining braid to monofilament leaders

[belairfishing]

Just saw a video of the GT knot - looks strong, with a figure 8 loop on the mono, which I would assume makes it strong. Has anyone tied this one?

Btw, I love when YouTube sends me down a fishing knot rabbit hole!

[ronaultmtd]

It looks strong, but nothing is thinner, less likely to snag an eyelet casting than the FG knot...it has earned my loyalty...one sharing...last trip I hung up on some bottom structure and could not free the lure, tried everything circled the hang, gave it slack popped the rod from heavy strain to completely loose line- nada...so got right over the top and pushed rod under water as far as I could, reeled up tight and broke off the jig...Figured it would have broken at the FG knot...nope, it broke at the Palomar knot on the mono leader...still had 26 inches of mono leader...

[J. Rentch]

Ron,
After reading this post and talking with a friend, Injust retired all my spinning rods with the NG knot. Took several tries to tie correctly. Used it today and the line went through the eyelets smoothly. None of the fish today gave a lots of strain, so will see went I hook some larger fish. Previously used both a Double Surgeon or a Double Uni knot. Both of these are strong, but are very bulky and gets hung up in the eyelet.

[Mark]

Ron,
After reading this post and talking with a friend, Injust retired all my spinning rods with the NG knot. Took several tries to tie correctly. Used it today and the line went through the eyelets smoothly. None of the fish today gave a lots of strain, so will see went I hook some larger fish. Previously used both a Double Surgeon or a Double Uni knot. Both of these are strong, but are very bulky and gets hung up in the eyelet.

Another old dog that learned a new trick. Welcome to the kennel, John.

[Tim Elliott]

I stumbled across this video the other day by Salt Strong (https://youtu.be/ZPTzkep9xlI) that demonstrates an easier way to tie the FG knot. I tied the knot successfully for the first time yesterday and caught some perch to see for myself how the knot may perform. As for my thoughts, I am quite pleased with how effortlessly the knot slides through the guides. I almost always use either the surgeon loop knot or double uni knot and they always tick through the guides, decreasing casting distance and slowly damaging the strength of the knot with each cast.

[Mark]

Tim,

Many thanks for sharing.

That's a much easier method to keep tension on the line while tying the FG knot.

I'm sold.

[ronaultmtd]

Another testimonial..last trip I snagged a really large Cow Nose Ray...on my “heavy outfit“...Shimano 3000 Sustain HG with 20#KastKing braid joined to 20# Trielene XT mono with the FG knot on a 7’ Penn Regiment Extra fast rod...The break off was at the Palomar knot on the Jighead...got all of my leader back...

[Mark]

Another illustration of the smooth connection of an FG knot:

This morning I tied a new leader to one of the rods I use primarily when fishing weedless paddletails. I used the method highlighted in the video that Tim shared with us. Indeed it was much easier using my little finger to hold the line than creating the needed tension with my teeth.

Here's the leader (40# mono) after I tied on the paddletail:

Fluke2 (2).jpg

You'll see I also threaded two small plastic craft beads to the leader in front of the paddletail. The beads have a very small opening, not much larger than the diameter of the mono that I used for a leader.

The beads help to deflect vegetation as I retrieve the paddletail through heavy cover like pads, spatterdock and hydrilla. I can retrieve the lure slowly without it getting hung up.

As I was tying the paddletail onto the leader, the beads slid down the mono. In fact, they slid right over the FG knot onto the braid:

Fluke3 (2).jpg

That surprised me. The beads are light plastic. They're not heavy and the diameter of hole though the beads is very small. But it shows how thin the connection of the leader is to the braid. If the FG knot slips that easily through the beads, rod guides clearly offer minimal friction.

[Tim Elliott]

You are very welcome Mark. One suggestion for the beads is to use a bobber stop. That is if you want the beads to stay in place so they won’t slide up and down the leader and over the FG knot.

[summersoff]

A uni to uni has never failed me, but that’s what I’m comfortable tying properly. For kayaking, my leaders are less than three feet, so the only time it touches the guides is when I get sloppy and forget to stop reeling.
If my knots fail, it’s because I hastily tied it and crossed main and the tag, or I didn’t check for abrasions.

[Marygk46]

Before trusting the GT knot you may want to watch this Salt Strong video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHT44EdJ2Fg

Note that in the comment section there are several people that swear by the GT knot, so perhaps it is more about how you tie it. I like tying the knot, as it is easy to tie, but use the FG knot myself.

[DuffDynasty]

I used to use the uni knot for braid to mono connection but chose to switch to the FG knot on all of my setups after watching the SALT STRONG video. Currently I run 30# braid to 40# mono for my rockfish and snakehead setups. On my lighter setups I use 20# braid and 12# mono - perch, pickerel and LMB. The reason for the lighter mono to braid is in the event that if I get snagged it's easier to break 12# mono that trying to break 20# braid if tied directly to my lure. On those rare occasion's where I have snagged something and had to break my line to get free, the mono snapped and the FG knot was still in tact above the break every time.

I find that when casting with the FG knot there isn't any interference between the line and the guides on the rod. Smooth casts every time! When I used the uni knot, whenever I reeled in my line there was always an annoying tick, tick, tick, tick as the line came thru the rod guides.

One final suggestion, if using the FG knot. After the 2-3 half hitch knots to secure the knot to the mono, I add an additional 2-3 half hitch knots to cover any of the mono tip that is exposed. I find that the 2-3 additional half hitch knots prevents any interference that might occur when reeling in your line and acts like a mini cushion between the line and rod guides.