Why does my knot keep breaking

[rjs123]

Ive been using a double surgeons knot to tie my tippet to my leader.  Ive not had a problem till lately.  What has been happening is when I go to test the knot it will break 50% of the time. I am not pulling that hard. It breaks real easy when it does break and no I havent been working out lately.  :)

Ill tie them over and they will be ok.  Sometimes they break a couple of times before they seem to be ok.  Once Ive tested them and they dont break they seem to be fine.  No fish broken off. Havent got anything huge lately though. 14 or 15 inches on 6x Ive attached to a 5X leader.

Any thoughts on what Im doing wrong?  There really isnt anything too this not so Im sure whats up.

While Im on the subject.  Should I switch to a blood knot?

[Woolly Bugger]

yes, switch to a blood knot, I've had way fewer knot breakages since I switched  -0-

on the other hand I've seen more bent hooks since switching 

[Trout Maharishi]

I see the knot tied incorrectly enough to tell you to check the instructions one more time. What I commonly see is people laying the two pieces side by side and then making the overhand loop. Make sure you are starting the knot by overlaying the two pieces from 2 different direction. If the know is tied wrong the two ends will look like rabbit ears, if it's tied right one end will come out of the top of the knot and one end will come out of the bottom of the knot. Are you pulling a short end and the length of the tippet thru the overhand know? I think it's every bit as strong as a blood knot.
http://www.orvis.com/orvis_assets/files/index.html

[22midge]

are you tying fluoro to mono?? if so this will cut the mono sometime because the fluoro is more dense.

[Beetle]

PeeWee- I think you are right.  I am having the same problem and it is always when tying flouro to mono.

Going to try the blood know per Woowe's recommendation. 

[flatlander]

I'd stick with the surgeon's knot for tying on your tippet...stronger and much faster.  I think Peewee may have it figured out. 

I usually bloodknot a section of flouro to a store-bought leader, and then use a double surgeon to connect my tippets.  So, try cutting back your leader a little, then blood knot on say an 18" piece of 5X flouro, then double surgeon knot your tippet to that.  Seems to work well for me

[tbird4]

Ive also had better success with the blood knot, until I ran into a bad batch of tippet.

[blue ridge angler]

I'm a blood knot man all the way..
I was slow at tying them at one time, but after thousands it is quick and easy..
almost never have any problems with it..

[flatlander]

All of you guys blood knot your tippets on?  Holy crap.  I can whip out a blood knot about as quickly as anyone I guess...but I change my tippet so many times on the river that it would drive me crazy. 

[WRector]

Damn, I thought I was going crazy with all the broken off fish and retied knots that I have been experiencing this year.  Turns out, I am not the only one....  One morning I spent 30 min. and ruined about 3 - 5x mono leaders trying to figure out what the hell was going on...

I'm with Flat on this one with sticking with either the Surgeons or the Orvis Tippet Knot (preferred).  I finally kept experimenting and got the best results with buying a 8.5' 4X Mono, attaching 15"-18" of 5x Flouro, and whatever length of 6x flouro needed to that.  Seems to be working so far.  It's defintely a pain in the ass, but sure as hell cheaper than buying those damn Flouro leaders at $15 a pop. 

Good luck with it.

[Woolly Bugger]

Since I hand tie my own leaders I've gotten much better at tying the blood knot.

I use mono for the leader and either mono for dry flies or fluero for nymphing


Leader Calc from Global Fly Fisher has all the formulas you'll ever need..

http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/leadercalc/download.php

[blue ridge angler]

actually I should clarify..I hand tie all my leaders using blood knots, but at the terminal end I tie a very small perfection loop, which I loop to loop connect my tippet to..
this way I can change tippet very easily at any time..I've heard some arguments against this setup, but it works quite well for me...

[WRector]

actually I should clarify..I hand tie all my leaders using blood knots, but at the terminal end I tie a very small perfection loop, which I loop to loop connect my tippet to..
this way I can change tippet very easily at any time..I've heard some arguments against this setup, but it works quite well for me...

How does it work on larger fish?  Say, 18" inches and up... 

The small perfection loop setup that is.

Just Wondering...

[blue ridge angler]

I have caught numerous fish over 20" at the D on this setup with no break off's..
early this spring I was out there with a buddy and caught a brown that was over 25" on 4x..

[troutphisher]

RS,

I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago. I use the double surgeons knot also.

What I found out was the fumed silica was drying out the knot and weakening it.
The fume silica gets between your finger print ridges is very fine. I think when you wet the knot with spit it dries it out a little and weakens the knot.

Now I always wash my hands thoroughly in the water before tyeing on new tippet. Haven't had the problems since.