Uni-knot snapping

[Brandon Khoo]

On my last trip out, I had two instances of a uni-knot snapping at the knot itself. I've never had this happen before. On the first occasion, I simply accepted it as an abberation but when it happened twice, I changed the leader I was using. You could tell it broke at the knot twice. I'm not sure whether I did anything wrong - it was a standard four turn uni-knot which I wet before I pulled it tight. I pull the knots tight quite gently at first before really pulling it tight when all the loops have settled into place. Any ideas or suggestions? 

Leader was Fisherman Stealth leader which I haven't used before for jigging. It stretches more than any other leader material I know and I like using it for twisted leaders for this reason.

[Luke Wyrsta]

how were you breaking the knot? On a fish, snag, testing?

[Brandon Khoo]

both times while fighting a fish, Luke. As I wrote earlier, I can't understand it as I have never had this happen before. I lost two Jig's Ace!! 

[Luke Wyrsta]

That's a shame mate.

Perhaps there was braid cutting into the shock leader? what brand and lb mainline were you using? although i believe it is unlikely to be this you may want to check how the braid part of the knot is laying.

Perhaps you are testing and pulling so much that you are literally pulling all the stretch out of a portion of the line near the knot? I know you can do it with FC but i'm not too sure about Nylon. Does anyone know?

Short from that - perhaps a bad batch of leader material?

[Brandon Khoo]

Luke, where it was snapping was not the braid/leader connection. It was the leader to swivel connection. I use a swivel on a split ring with my jigs. That is why it was such a surprise to me!

The deckie and captain on the boat wanted me to change to Penn 10X after that. The only problem for me was that on my spare spools, I already had the leader connected via a PR knot so I changed the knot from a uni to a knot where I had two loops around the swivel. I then had what happened to me in the video - such is life! 

[DarrenC]

Luke, where it was snapping was not the braid/leader connection. It was the leader to swivel connection. I use a swivel on a split ring with my jigs. That is why it was such a surprise to me!

The deckie and captain on the boat wanted me to change to Penn 10X after that. The only problem for me was that on my spare spools, I already had the leader connected via a PR knot so I changed the knot from a uni to a knot where I had two loops around the swivel. I then had what happened to me in the video - such is life! 

Brandon, check out the Shout! knot. It's just as simple to tie yet offers a tad more abrasion resistance due to its length and is failsafe...

[Luke Wyrsta]

Luke, where it was snapping was not the braid/leader connection. It was the leader to swivel connection. I use a swivel on a split ring with my jigs. That is why it was such a surprise to me!

The deckie and captain on the boat wanted me to change to Penn 10X after that. The only problem for me was that on my spare spools, I already had the leader connected via a PR knot so I changed the knot from a uni to a knot where I had two loops around the swivel. I then had what happened to me in the video - such is life! 

Must be a bad-batch mate - the 4-turn Uni is the go to knot as you would know. Do some tests with it again - if the leader material fails - toss it!

[Brandon Khoo]

I'm going to do it this weekend, Luke
It must be Suzuki taking revenge on me!

[Greg Burt]

Your last loss wasn't revenge, it was just, 'WOW'

[warren yuile]

I had a similar thing with 100lb black magic just holding a little king under the boat waiting for a mate to hook up lost two jigs. the knot was still on the line both times and had broken on the loop and was told of a few people haveing the same problem the kings were not even legal Wov

[Cam Foley]

When doing the uni knot are you makeing an outside loop im guessing you are which i think you are suppose to.It's a weird one ,as Luke said faulty mono.

[Brandon Khoo]

I know what you mean by an outside loop, Cam and the answer to that is yes.
Wen I have a moment this coming weekend, I am going to test the mono itself.

[MikeOsborn]

after having the uni knot break several times last year I added a lumo thimble like what you have on gamefishing leaders. what do you know........ no more breakages and still the same batch of mono.

[Brandon Khoo]

Mike, that is very interesting. Are you just adding the thimble and tying a normal uni knot so the thimble sits around the swivel?

[MikeOsborn]

yep. simple as that and seems to have solved the problem???