I never put fire anywhere near my knots.
If the little blob on the end of the leader is the last resort holding everything together, which its not, ill change knots.
I have never had it slip through or anything like that. If it breaks it seems to pop right at the waterline (wet line tests lower, I think).
I would say it would have been the excess heat, rather than the half hitches. The hitches dont do bugger all in my opinion, except tidy the end of the knot so it doesnt all unravel. The strength of the knot comes from the fact that the mainline runs straight through the center of the knot, with no additional twisting.
The other weekend I got beaten by my first kingfish. Duel speedy maxed out on sunset, plus thumb on the spool, between 15-16kg of drag on the fish (tested on a scale afterwards
) and the trusty PR didnt fail me. Glad to hear your not giving up on it, best.........knot..........ever.......
Cheers
Ben