Hollow braid how-to

In the past, line damage or loss has meant having to resort to back-to-back Uni or Clinch knots, which are notoriously fickle when placed under pressure. No one wants a connection like that involved when that once-in-a-lifetime fish hooks up on a bait or lure.

So, thank goodness for the recent introduction of hollow braids; now it’s possible to repair or top up our line loads using connections that are stronger than the braid itself.

First, get yourself a latch (or loop) needle. Next, allow about 1.5m of hollow braid from both the sections you want to join. In this demonstration I will refer to the sections being joined as the ‘red braid’ and the ‘white braid’.

By learning this connection, you can always fish with a full spool of braid, and have total faith in your connections, no matter how big the fish on the end might be.

1

Start by inserting your latch needle through the sidewall of the red braid about 30cm from the end, going away from the end.

2

Attach the white braid to the needle latch and pull the white braid through about 60cm. Now poke the needle out of the red braid, about 90cm from the end of the red braid.

3

Adjust your white braid so about 30cm is poking out the red braid. Milk your red braid tight.

4

It should now look something like this: 30cm tag-ends with a 60cm length of doubled section.

5

Now we need to bury the 30cm tags. Insert your needle into the red braid, about 10mm from where the white braid comes out, heading away from the white braid.

6

Attach the white tag-end onto the latch, and milk the needle up at least 30cm before pulling the white tag-end through the red braid. Remove the needle.

7

You can now milk the red braid tight, hiding the white tag inside. Now do the same for the red tag-end.

8

Insert the needle into the white braid, about 10mm past where it comes out of the red braid, heading away from the red braid.

9

Attach the red tag-end and work the needle up the white braid further than your 30cm tag-end.

10

Remove the needle from the white braid, pulling the red tag through.

11

You can now milk the white braid tight, hiding the red tag inside.

12

Milk the whole connection again, ensuring a tight finger trap. The whole doubled section should be about 120cm and look like this. You can alter these lengths if you wish, but it’s always better to overkill these connections than take risks.