The Yucatan Knot
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Soft Bait Fishing
Forum Description: Anything to do with this latest and greatest way of catching our favourite species
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29332
Printed Date: 14 Jun 2026 at 6:14am
Topic: The Yucatan Knot
Posted By: Domdomingo
Subject: The Yucatan Knot
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:10pm
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HI All, I was doing some researching in back issues of Fishing News, trying to improve my braid to fluro joins, and came across this dilemma.... Which is the right/best way to tie a Yucatan? Image 1 - Sam Mossman (Fishing News Jan 2007)  Then I found this. Image 2 - Mark Kitteridge (Fishing News Oct 2007)  They both call this the Yucatan Knot. Can anyone help on this? Adam |
Replies:
Posted By: KeenAs
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:17pm
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hmmm. . . i would have called the bottom for an Albright. . . .
I use the Albright to tie on all me leaders. But instead of wrapping one way and then feeding the tag end through the loop, i wrap "up" and then "down" as well(6-8 times each way) and then feed the tag through the loop.... I understood this to be called the "improved Albright". . .
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Posted By: Domdomingo
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:27pm
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Hi Keen As, I just checked Geoff Wilson's Book "Fishing Knots & Rigs" and the method you have described is what he call an Improved Albright too... But he doesn't have an Yucatan in his book to clear this matter up..... |
Posted By: KeenAs
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:46pm
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Thats the book i got it from........
The Tony Jones Leader knot is a good one to. . . bit tricky to tie in a small boat when it's sloppy. . .
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Posted By: Finatic
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:51pm
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Could it be something to do with a Yucutan basically being a reverse albright? ------------- What's the cheapest type of meat? Dear balls. They're under a buck. |
Posted By: KeenAs
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 12:57pm
| way to obvious Si |
Posted By: sooshee
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 1:10pm
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I believe a yucatan knot is traditionally tied with the thinner double wrapping round the thicker leader. But when it is pulled up tight, the leader will end up wrapping around the double similar to the first picture. |
Posted By: sooshee
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 1:13pm
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Just found a link to tying the yucatan:
http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/fishing_knots/knots_yucatan.html - http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/fishing_knots/knots_yucatan.html
This is my favourite way of joining braid to leader up to 80lb-100lb. Anything thicker than that, it gets a bit hard tightening the knot and I would use the PR knot instead.
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Posted By: strx7
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 3:43pm
| the top knot i have had issues with breaking well blow the BS of both the braid and the mono leader. these days I use a variation of the bottom one, winding the braid all the way down and then back up the mono loop, keeping it as tightly packed as i can, then pull it all nice & tight with lots of saliva, NEVER had it break. |
Posted By: Badfish
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 3:50pm
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To me that top one in an albright and the bottom one is a yuctan.
I've got a few knots and rig books and they all seem to agree with the albright (and the improved one you guys mention) but none have the yuctan except for this american fold out thing I got with one of my packs of braids... and its nothing like either of them... 
They're both good knots though Dom. I use both albrights, the 5 turn surgeons loop, the back to back uni and the tuctan just depends what I feel like on the day and what braid or leader. I like the yuctan the most of the time but some leaders and braid (often my 6lb fireline and 15lb seagar FC) I just can not get it to bind so I go one of the others. |
Posted By: sooshee
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 10:11pm
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Badfish, I actually think that the top one is not an albright at all and neither is it a yucatan in its purest form. The bottom one is definitely not a yucatan. Traditionally, an albright will have the thinner line (i.e. the braid double) doing the wrapping. As you can see, both have the thicker line do the wrapping (I am assuming the double in the bottom pic is braid). The knot in the top pic also has only one of the leader ends going through the loop which is not a characteristic of an albright. In answering Domdomingo's question, this is what a yucatan looks like: 
The braid double is the line on the right. The knot starts off with the braid double wrapping around the leader. If you are using braid, you will need more wraps. The leader is then bent backwards and inserted into the braid loop. Lubricate (very important) than slowly pull up tight. As you pull, the wrapped double will gradually twist the leader, and you will end up with the leader wrapped around the braid. It is important to pull on the knot to tighten it and not use your finger to push it down.
History of the yucatan here:
http://www.marlinmag.com/techniques/fishing-techniques/fit-to-be-tied-9014.html - http://www.marlinmag.com/techniques/fishing-techniques/fit-to-be-tied-9014.html
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Posted By: Marauder
Date Posted: 15 May 2008 at 10:18pm
| the bottom knot is what i use, and is what i know as the yucatan. it is an awesome knot havn't had is slip or break on me yet. from anyones knowledge is it worth learning the albright knot or are they as strong as each other. |
Posted By: wingo
Date Posted: 16 May 2008 at 9:10pm
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I agree with sooshee, I think I raised a query http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=19380&KW= about this a year or more back because I thought Sam Mossman's knot was different. I have been using it since with no problems. |
Posted By: sooshee
Date Posted: 16 May 2008 at 10:00pm
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Ahhhh wingo, no wonder I felt a sense of dejavu when I did my post- I saw that I posted an answer to your post too in that old link.
I just read RankAmateur's post (from your link) about re-using the braid loop and must admit that I do that too. I have a set of very sharp clippers which I use to cut away at the leader coils and voila - I can use the loop again.
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Posted By: huntfish
Date Posted: 17 May 2008 at 8:19am
What makes it even more confusing is that Mark Kitteridge shows both of them in different articles, one in his book and a different one in th mag
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Posted By: strx7
Date Posted: 17 May 2008 at 8:53am
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just looking at those pics again, do YOU use a loop in your braid and wrap your leader around it, or do YOU wrap your braid around your leader? I wrap braid around my leader....
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Posted By: Domdomingo
Date Posted: 19 May 2008 at 7:04pm
Thanks to all that have posted answers to my question  By the sounds of it, neither of the knots that have been pictured in Fishing News are a correct Yucatan, or even close to one for that matter. The http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/fishing_knots/knots_yucatan.html - leadertec.com Yucatan seems to be the one that most people believe is the best way to tie a Yucatan, so I reckon i'll stick to this one. They recommend 15 wraps around the leader, which seems alot to me.... Do you really need this many in 10pd braid to 20pd fluro? |
Posted By: sooshee
Date Posted: 19 May 2008 at 10:38pm
I've been using up to 8 wraps to join 6lb fireline to 20lb flouro, and the same for joining 30lb fireline to 40lb shockleader on my surfcaster. I haven't had any slip yet though .
Let us know how you go. Cheers.
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Posted By: Domdomingo
Date Posted: 20 May 2008 at 11:32am
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Thanks for the tip Sooshee, i'll hopefully get a chance to try this out this weekend up at Teal Bay. Will try 8 wraps on my setup. |
Posted By: Dirty Oar
Date Posted: 21 May 2008 at 12:38pm
back to back unis easy as to tie and never had one let go  even before i used to know how to tie a double on my braid never broke one thats my knot of chioce for me |
Posted By: Rank Amateur
Date Posted: 29 May 2008 at 3:14pm
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Thanks Soshee for the mention - indeed that is the primary reason why i use the yucutan... (and the fact that to date I've only ever had one let go and that was purely poor know tying skills on my part) assuming your double doesn't break it only ever needs to be tied the once before you go out.... tiying doubles on the water can be a right pain in the rear end - it necessary I use a spider on the water but try to tie a bimini 1st up. ------------- Sĕnor Leh-mōn - The Marlin Liberator |
Posted By: Domdomingo
Date Posted: 29 May 2008 at 10:07pm
And I see Fishing News have done it again this month.  Damo's article on Soft-Plastic Techniques has an image of a 'Yucatan' which we have decided is not a Yucatan, but rather an Albright. But Damo mentions he uses an 18 Turn Yucatan, which is alot more turns than the image suggests.... Maybe someone who knows him might want to ask him which Yucatan he uses, coz with his level of experience i'm sure that'll be the right one..... |
Posted By: Rank Amateur
Date Posted: 03 Jun 2008 at 5:31pm
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I use 12-15 turns - braid around the leader ------------- Sĕnor Leh-mōn - The Marlin Liberator |
Posted By: Marligator
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2008 at 7:55am
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I use a blood knot with 10 turns of the braid and 5 turns of the flurocarbon and have never had one break, also tried the Albright and Yucatan, all good knots, but was brought up on the blood knot and so find it very easy to tie.
This is also the knot I use for fishing 1 - 3 kg mono where I join an 6 or 8 kg windon leader of 11 feet to the mainline. In this case I initially do a spiderhitch double and then use 6 turns of the main line around the windon and then 3 turns of the windon around the main line and pul it up carefully (if you use 5 turns of the windon the windon won't pull up properly). I have never had this let go and I have got some pretty good fish on 1 kg line.
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Posted By: Ritchtheitch
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2008 at 10:11pm
In the interests of finding out and improving my own knot tying, did anyone get an answer from Damo as to what his preferred yucatan looks like? Anyone else? I definitely want to improve on what I've tied to date  , AND get some practise in before summer.. (and I won't even go down the road of my first attempt on the water of a lefties loop - think catch and release of snapper and jighead, having just turned down the net.. )------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Ritchtheitch
Date Posted: 25 Aug 2008 at 1:21pm
Thanks for the ideas, I tried the wrap both up and down with a few more turns over what I would normally use, on what i think is an albright, and definitely getting a stronger knot. Now I just need to get it wet..  ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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