Apart from lure colours, one of the other contentious arguments big-game fishermen often have is the one about knots.
Everyone has their favourites and blindly uses them for years, often oblivious to the advantages and disadvantages of their particular choices.
But when one looks closely at the situation, one often finds that it is not just the knot that’s responsible for their success, but the way that it’s tied. And by that, I mean a carefully tied, mediocre knot can often be stronger than a poorly tied strong knot. Confused? Read on.
Among the most obvious disciplines of our sport is knot-tying. It’s one of the few things we can control, and we should be able to perfect it to such a degree that it really should no longer be part of the ‘luck’ we employ on a regular basis. Anyone who regularly loses fish due to knot failure should really look at their efforts and do something about it. Not only is it not fun to come home with no fish, it’s also inappropriate to leave fish with hooks and line in them when you don’t mean to!
I must admit that I’ve reached the stage of my life when I no longer feel worried about my knots when gamefishing. And there’s a perfectly good reason for this – I only use a handful of knots and have the utmost confidence in them. I’ve tied each of them thousands of times and I think the last time I broke a fish off at a knot while big-game fishing was over a decade ago. Sure, I’ve broken line and leader since then, but not a knot, and one of the reasons for this is that primarily I only use two knots when chasing marlin and tuna: a Bimini Twist and a Cats Paw (also known as an offshore swivel knot). A Bimini is a knot designed to create a double line, while a Cats Paw is used to connect that double line to a swivel or other connecting device, or to a wind-on leader.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that a Bimini is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some people prefer an Aussie Plait for their double lines, and I’ll state right now that either knot, tied correctly, is as good as the other. But, I learnt the Bimini before I ever heard of a Plait, so that’s the knot I’m most comfortable with. It’s the one I tie well and I don’t see it fail any more. Having said that, I’ll also admit that, due to how much I travel and the people I meet, my 2007 Bimini is a very different animal to the 1997 Bimini, which in turn was a better animal than the 1987 version.
There are many articles and diagrams available to show you how to tie a Bimini, and they all vary. I find it easier to tie a long Bimini with two people rather than one, and a fixed point as a third hand makes things even easier. I make my Biminis just ten feet (3m) long, not only because my marlin leaders are the full 29’ feet (40’ being the maximum allowed leader/double length for most fishing clubs), but also because it means anglers on the rod cannot do silly things in the heat of battle close to the boat.
So, how do you tie a 10-foot Bimini? Measure off the length of line required. One person (the ‘holder’) holds the two lines at the three-metre mark, and the other (‘the walker’) extends the two lines and spins them clockwise with one hand, 30 turns. When done, they should put the loop on a fixed point such as a cleat, and then walk towards the ‘holder,’ spreading the two lines apart as they do so. The lines should be moistened at this stage as the turns start to tighten. When the ‘holder’ feels the turns are tight enough (they shouldn’t be too tight), he tells the ‘walker’ to stop, and the ‘holder’ should manually turn the first line back over itself (photo 1).
Do not worry about making the turns neat and tight like the books tell you. (photo 2) The first four or five roll-overs can and should be quite spread apart – only as you continue rolling should the turns become tighter. The ‘walker’ should continue at this stage to pull the lines apart to aid the rolling process until the final roll is achieved (photo 3).
At this stage the ‘holder’ should say “STOP!” and while the ‘walker’ keeps the pressure on the two spread lines, the ‘holder’ should take a single half-hitch around one strand of the lines to lock the rolls (photo 4).
There are various ways of finishing a Bimini, but if you have time, whipping the tag-end into the two strands of double line is a very good way to go.
With a two-inch (5cm) piece of waxed twine, take a half-hitch around the two lines, jamming the tag-end from the knot into place. Tighten, and then tuck the tag-end down between the two lines and take another half-hitch with the waxed thread (photo 5). Continue for an inch (2.5cm) or so, alternately tightening half-hitches of the waxed thread above and below the tag-end of the Bimini (photo 6).
Then trim the end of the tag-end and whip over it and down the double lines, finishing as you want. This will give you a very non-bulky and flexible finish to the Bimini, which will aid the easy passage of line through rollers and rod-eyes considerably (photo 7).
A quicker way of finishing a Bimini out at sea on a rolling boat with hot fish in the spread is called the Venezuelan finish. After taking the half-hitch, simply tie a large and loose Uni knot back towards the Bimini across the two double lines (photo 8). Six or seven turns is good. Do not tighten, but when the turns are in place, go back to the beginning of the knot and wrap the loop of the knot back across itself (photo 9). By doing so, you take the turns out of the Uni knot and create a Nail knot finish. I hope the photos explain it more clearly.
When done, moisten the knot and pull tight before trimming (photo 10), and don’t forget to keep pressure on the initial half-hitch of the Bimini as long as you can.
I like to trim my Bimini ends long, and then apply flame to the end until they start to melt, at which point I wet finger and thumb, and squeeze and pull the melted end out into a long, thin feather of line that does not cut, prick, bulk out or in any other way become a bone of contention (photo 11). I finish all my tag-ends of line like this if I have time.
There are advantages and disadvantages to the Bimini versus the Plait. It is difficult to tie long Biminis by yourself, and almost impossible on a rolling boat. The experienced Plait man will manage to do his successfully in this situation. However a two-metre Bimini double is a different animal and can be done in seconds. Indeed, smaller Biminis can be tied by one person, using the rod tip and reel handle of a combo in a rod-holder as two anchoring points, and a good deckie will tie two-metre Biminis in four 15kg outfits before the Plait man has even finished the first of his.
Shorter 0.75m Biminis can be tied between the knees in the old-fashioned way, and as a way of making a small double for attaching leaders or swivels to, there is little to better it.
However the Plait has a devoted following who love it for its elasticity and flexibility, something traditional Biminis could not match. However, as we go into the 21st Century, creative anglers who like to experiment will continue to devise means of making the Bimini better; something the whipped finish, the Venezuelan finish and the ‘loose’ start – as described above – have started to do.
The fact is, a well-tied Bimini and a well-tied Plait should both break way above the line’s stated test, and that is the way it should be. Learn either method, learn it well and worry less!
Having tied your double line, there are many ways to attach it to a connecting device. Some people like a Blood knot, in which case the turns should be immaculately parallel, and others like a Uni knot, which I find is a weak join in comparison. Either way, if tied correctly, both knots should outlast the test of the line quite comfortably.
Personally, I prefer the traditional Cats Paw, and use it to attach double-line to both swivels and wind-ons. I also use it to attach line to line, whether Dacron to Dacron, mono to mono or Dacron to mono. Indeed, a very good way of attaching thin
polyethylene braid to mono is to tie Biminis in both, tie a Bimini in the ends of a 0.75m length of Dacron, and put it between the braid and mono, all connected by Cats Paws.
A Cats Paw aboard my boats is always tied using three turns only. Exhaustive testing by multiple blue marlin world-record holder, Stewart Campbell, has proved to him that this is the best way to use a Cats Paw. Stewart has an Instron tester at his house, and his monopoly of blue-marlin records over the past two decades is proof enough that he chooses his knots well (incidentally, his crew uses Biminis, too).
A Cats Paw basically consists of rotating the article to be joined to the double line through the double line itself three times. Whether the article is a swivel or another loop of line, the process is similar. Put the double line through the eye of the swivel or the loop of the joining line (photo 12), and then rotate it backwards through the double line three times, making sure the turns lie parallel to each other (photo 13).
Then snug everything up tight (photo 14). If the turns do not lie tight together, it is imperative to whip the two lines together (photos 15 and 16). When done like this you’ll have a 100%-plus connection to your swivel or wind-on AND you will still be able to land your fish should one strand of the double line be broken for some reason.
When it comes to lighter lines and the dirty world of snapper and kingfish fishing, you have to think differently from the traditional double-line knot. One of the most important knots is one that joins light line to a heavier section of leader for casting or biting purposes. My favourite knot is one I learnt many years ago on the surf beaches of the UK. I use it almost exclusively for all situations that warrant joining different lines together. In some parts of the world it is actually even known as the Roddy Hays knot, but that is only because I happened to be the one who showed it to a US writer called Tony Pena – I certainly do not call it that! In truth, it probably belongs to some gnarly old cod-fisherman from the beaches of northeast England.
Here’s how to tie it. Simply tie an overhand knot in the heavy line and pass a small length of your doubled length of smaller line through it so it lies parallel to the leader (the line can be doubled using a knot such as a Spider Hitch, Bimini or even a Plait if needs be)(photo 17). Now moisten the knot and tighten it as HARD AS YOU CAN with pliers. Then pull enough of the rest of the doubled smaller line through the knot to complete the main knot. Twist the doubled line eight times around the leader away from the overhand knot (photo 18), and then come back seven times, inserting the end of the doubled line through the last loop before the overhand knot (photo 19).
Next, gently pull the knot closed, aiding the loops to slide along if need be. Carefully trim all the extraneous line, and you will have a streamlined and 100%-proof leader knot that casts well and has caught fish up to 362.5kg or so for me on 24kg tackle (photo 20). The photos illustrate the knot tied with a single strand of line for simplicity purposes.
This knot is similar to many UK surfcasting leader knots, but I have actually not seen this particular variation of it since I was taught it. It is certainly very strong and has won many converts from the Albright and Yucatan schools for its simplicity, streamlined shape and durability.
A point to remember is that I increase the number of turns for lighter line and decrease them for heavier line. If I’m connecting 37kg line to 100kg leader, for example, I might only go ‘up’ four times and ‘down’ three – and I will only use a single strand of the lighter line. I do not remember why I always come back ‘down’ one turn less that going ‘up,’ but it is something I have always done – it might not matter a jot, and I have not had a chance to test it to see if there is any difference.
To round out my knot selection, I also use an ordinary Blood knot to join hooks to mono, or a Palomar if I can. The Palomar is consistently stronger than almost every other single-strand connection in the business, and has the added advantage of being extremely easy to tie in the dark. I use a Nail knot for lures that require a loop, and a Uni knot is always at hand for various purposes if things need to be done in a rush – its overall strength is not up to other connections, but it is easy and quick, and in some circumstances is a better option than a poorly tied ‘better’ knot.
To those who do not have the benefits of an Instron testing machine, I simply say test your knots to destruction. Put a hook in a wall in your shed, and sink it tight so it will never come out. Attach a swivel to the hook. To test knots, tie a 0.75m length of mono to the swivel using one knot, and and use another knot on the other end of the mono to attach a large hook (say, a 9/0), from which you have snipped the point. Put a glove on your pulling hand, and pull on the hook, using a piece of dowel if needs be. Pull hard, pull soft, pull swift, pull slow. Note all the results you get using different knots, and ultimately you’ll find one of the knots you use consistently outperforms all the others. Now, it may not be the best knot known, but it may be just the ticket for you, as the way YOU tie it is the most important thing if it leads to success rather than failure. Try it – it’s a great way to spend a wet afternoon or evening in the shed.
And don’t forget, a knot tied with five turns, for example, is totally different from a knot tied with three turns. So first find the optimum number of turns for a knot before pitting it against another knot. The results may surprise you.
Oh, and get your boating crewmates to come and practice that double-line knot in the shed, too. Sort out who does what and how, before you transfer the system to the boat and a pitching deck in 20 knots of easterly!
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This article is reproduced with permission of
New Zealand Fishing News
Nov 2007 - by Roddy Hays
RE-PUBLISHING ELSEWHERE IS PROHIBITED
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