Fly to leader Knot

[SGFChief]

Any suggestions on tying the fly on? Don't know if it's releated or not but on 3 different occasions this weekend i had my leader break off while simply setting the hook. Not a heavy hookset like on a largemouth but just raising the rod up.

Each occasion the line had a clean break and wasn't unraveled at all--fyi i was using a clinch knot

[mcp633]

I've had the same problem in the past. IMO, I believe it was a bad leader. One day during winter fishing last year, I broke off at least a half-dozen flies in the manner which you described. I put on a new leader and it was fixed. It wasn't the knot, because after I broke off the first one on the hook set, I was very careful about the clinch knot I was tying, but still lost five more. Like I said, put on a new leader and didn't have a problem.

Kyle

[Gavin]

Did you have any pigtails on the end of your tippet? If not it was your tippet material.

As for your original question, a clinch knot will work fine for 99.999% of your fishing situations, but there are better knots. The Davy Knot is good one for small flies, but I prefer the palomar or the non-slip mono loop for larger offerings. Cheers.

[SGFChief]

It may have been the leader themselves as bad--I purchased them in a 3-pak and the leader before did the same thing.

Funny thing though--between spurts of wind on Sunday I saw a fish that looked twice as long as any other. I must have made the cast of my life because it took it immediately. I was praying that it would hold and to my amazement it did.

21 inches and my biggest taney rainbow--2 fish later and another broke off.

Just goes to prove that prayer DOES work.

[Brian K. Shaffer]

As a rule of thumb I will generally tie on a leader and clip off 6-8 inches or so of the thinnest end and then retie 2 feet of the next size down in tippet. If it were a 9ft 5x leader then I lose 6 inches and tie on 2 foot of 6x with a double or triple surgeons knot.

Most of the imperfections happen in the last (read smallest) diameter of the leader material during the extruding process.. so it pays to replace that section from the git-go.

Another idea that came to mind was after landing a very nice fish you may have had a little amount of the leader scuffed by the teeth of the 21 inch trout landed... so you alwyas need to re-tie after landing a decent fish.

It will save flies.. and save time on the water.

best fishes - Brian

[John Berry]

When I have knots fail I first check my tippet. I generally buy Orvis because it is dated. This stuff is not like wine. It does not improve with age. I buy in small lots and make sure I use all that I have before buying new. I want to use fresh stuff. As for knots, no one mentioned the improved clinch knot. It is all I use and it works for me. Buy a copy of Lefty Kreh's Practical Fishing Knots. He is the source of all knowledge on knots.

[McFlyGuy]

The Pitzen knot is a pretty good one.

http://www.fintalk.com/fishing-knots/pitzen-knot.html

You have to scroll down to find the pictures and description of the knot.

[Luke]

I use the Orvis knot because it's strong and small. The Pitzen and Davy knot fit that description as well. I used to use an Improved Clinch knot, but compared to these three its large and weak.

[motroutbum]

i use the Davy knot because it is small and probably the strongest knot out there. It is close to 100% strength because the line wraps around itself only one time creating less friction and less weakining of the line itself. unless you lubricate the clinch or improved clinch knot liberally, then with the wrapping of at least 5 turns of line around itself, the line weakens considerably. save the improved clinch for everything but trout. and use smaller stronger knots.

i also tie my own leaders and use blood knots to tie my leader sections together and even my leader to tippet. i have a super fast way of tying them and they turn out perfect every time. and i do not use a tool.

[ZachMatthews]

The Davy Knot isn´t just for light tippet or small flies - rather it is a knot that must be matched appropriately from tippet size to wire guage of the hook. The knot architecture makes this a requirement. Basically you need to use common sense and use a tippet that is approximately the same diameter of the hook, with some leeway. I am on the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil right now as I check this; I´ve just spent the last three days landing piranha and peacock bass on the Xingu River, and I used the Davy Knot a lot.

In 20# test, on multiple occasions, the Davy Knot to hook connection outlasted a triple surgeons knot in the middle of the leader. Over and over this happened. Just be very sure to seat the knot securely with heavy tippet - use pliers to lock it in. It won´t come off.

Zach Matthews