Yet another fluorocarbon question I had TWO knot breakages today in a row. Would normally be disgusted with one a year! This was at the fly, and left the wee curly pigs tail thing which I hate the sight of. I was a wee bit hungover, but I thought the knots were OK. I'm willing to accept that perhaps I just tied a couple of duff ones in a hurry, but it hasn't happened before! Does anyone know if the cold weather / water has an effect on fluorocarbon? It was also the end of the spool and was a bit discououred which I haven't seen before either. Grand Max Soft before you ask

Maybe just careless, less drink and more care / preparation!!

Probably!!
cold, unless below minus 15 wont affect flouro,(when it goes a bit stiffer), however it does affect our abillities to tie a good knot!!

If you had wee curly pigtails you have not suffered with breakages, the pigtail at the end of your line is a sure sign that the knot has undone.

Always always test your knot with sustained pressure before casting or it could cost you the fish of your dreams.

Secondly.....











take more water with it.

Hi 11foot5
I have heard that fluorocarbon does go a bit brittle in cold water but in my opinion using fluorocarbon is more important in the warmer months when floating lines are used. Ordinary nylon line will do just fine when using sinking lines in the cold spring water.
If you're getting the curly pigs tail type thingies it usually points to bad knots ( no offence intended ). What knots are you using and are you putting enough spit on the knot before tightening to reduce friction which weakens the knot.
I use the grinner knot
( Grinner Knot )
It won't let you down and you can clip off the loose end right down to the knot making an all together tidier knot.

Cheers, Dave

Dave,

That is a nice link to the knot, however, you can miss out the second stage (the initial wraps around the line) with no problem. I recall some research several years ago, in a sea fishing magazine, which showed that those wraps undid themselves as the knot tightened up. As you can see, they are not locked in by anything. As a result, you finish up with the Uni knot, which, of course, is the same knot as the Grinner without the initial wraps. Either way - same result!

Jeff

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As said before if you had a curly end, the knot undid itself. You can increase friction by: adding more coils (initial coils) or two solutions, which are usefull with bigger flies and streamers. One is to go twice around a hook eye before you start making a knot and the secodn to do a knot with a loop, so you are doing the knot with two strings at once. Last two are mostly used for (bigger) streamers.

BlueOne

There is no best knot for all types of line. As an example the grinner knot used by hundreds of thousands of carp anglers throughout Europe is perfect for gel spun (HPPE) braided hook lengths.

However tie a four turn blood knot using the same gel spun and you will experience a substantial loss in breaking strain.

Dyneema and Spectra love grinner knots (Palomars as well) but hate bloods due to the strangulation effects of the knots construction. There can be a loss in strength of up to 50% between the two.

Fluorocarbon on the other hand breaks all the rules. Due to its different chemical make-up the much maligned blood knot untucked comes out head and shoulders above the normally trustworthy grinner.

I first bought fluorocarbon more than six years ago because of its sinking qualities and being slightly stiffer it would aid turnover. The claims of invisibility were not a deciding factor but if half true would do no harm.

I initially tied it choosing the grinner because having been a carp angler for many years had total confidence in it. When I tested it on some old but still accurate spring balance scales with a slow steady pull I was shocked to discover that the breaking strain did not reach half of the lines stated breaking strain.

Before I decided to bin it I tried other knots. What came as an even greater shock to the system was the performance of a simple four turn blood knot without the tuck. Carefully tied it reached 80% of the stated breaking strain. Since then for my general fly fishing for trout I have incurred very few losses using the old fashioned blood.

Be aware that there are many brands of fluorocarbon on sale that are not 100% pure fluoro, some are blended with nylon and are what can be loosely described as a type of alloy. If you are using 100% fluorocarbon my advice is to avoid the grinner or uni-knot like the plague.

The simple three turn water knot for droppers also works well with fluorocarbon and its extra stiffness helps reduce tangles.

Check out a more detailed and comprehensive article called ‘Ultimate Knots ‘on this sister sites Fishing Magic that explains why there is no best knot for all types of line.

Sorry I cannot do the link thing but the piece is well worth reading and will open the eyes of a few.

Good luck and hope this helps,

Gotcha.

Used Grand Max and Fulling mill all through the winter in some extreme cold conditions and cant recall any issues at all. I use a Daver (or is it Davey) knot and a two or three turn water for droppers.

As Gotcha says, do NOT use the grinner knot.

a 4 turn 1/2 blood if you are tying on a fly.

But for goodness sake check if it is 100% fluorocarbon that you are using. A quick way is to burn it with a lighter. If it stays alight when the flame is removed, it's not 100% fluorcarbon.

There are, as Gotcha says, more fluorocarbon mixtures around that are inferior to fluorcarbon and that are giving the product a bad name.

Test the knots you choose.

I started using the faithfull old half blood on the new small diameter monofilament lines and found it to be horribly unreliable - in 0.25mm it was fine, in 0.15 it simply pulled out leaving a pigtail.

I have since switched to the Uni knot or - if I'm feeling adventurous - the Davy/Timber hitch.

What ever your choice - test them out against a strong steady pull.

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