Leader for jigging - what knot do you use?

[Greg Burt]

Staying with the Bimini sounds good to me, not so much the higher testing but not thinking about 'the knot' let alone as Neil said, 'worry'.

[MarkR]

The fabled 'Fisherman knot', the one that I have never got around to posting, is still the best I have used.

I use the Fisherman knot with a slight modification. Very very reliable.

[Luke Wyrsta]

Is this the knot we are referring to?

[MarkR]

Yes, something like that, looks similar at the start but I don't finish the knot with a Uni. Instead I do 9-10 wraps with the double on the mono, wrap back-up again (another 9-10 times) then secure/lock the wraps with 2 opposing half hitches. Once everything is in place and snugged up I pull tight. Not a fan of the albright or the bristol although these were some of the first braid-leader connections I used many years ago. Had the bristol slip several times...need to get the mono and braid diameter ratios worked out very well for the bristol to hold properly...too much of trial and error for me.

[Greg Burt]

 Mark, your knot sounds a bit like the 'Slim Beauty' where the leader loop is formed by a double overhand then pulled to make a fig 8

[Chris Wong]

I much prefer the PR Knot for braid to leader.  Check this link to a good photographic sequence for the PR Knot.
http://www.jigsdirect.com/eMerchantPro/pc/fishing_knots.asp

I attended the recent Jigging Festival in Osaka in March, all knot demos were tying the PR Knot. 

[Cam Foley]

Hi chris do you do this PR knot out at sea say after a bust up?

[Chris Wong]

Yeah, never a problem!  Tie it enough times and you can do them easily in your sleep.

[Hon-Su Chin]

With knots for jigging, becoz you're not casting I try to keep it as simple as possible. Bimini to a GT knot or a variation of the same knot without the bimini. Otherwise albright, double unis and deckie's knot all work well.

When you're trying to cast 150lb or more leaders then you might consider your knots more carefully.

[MikeOsborn]

I use the PR knot, Was shown it a year ago at the boat show by Shane and never forgotten it. Its fun and easy to tie I use it for all braid to mono connections on my jigging and livebaiting reels and it works really well.

If I could say one thing aout the knot is if you have a green fish with the leader just on the rod and he decides to run the mono blob can catch on its way back through. I have only ever experienced this in shallow water for kings and never in the deep though

[Hon-Su Chin]

the only way the knot will catch on the guide if the leader's tag is facing forward. That's why I use knots that faces back so that way the only way that it'll catch the guides is when you retrieve.

[MikeOsborn]

but how often do you get the fish running hard when the leader is on the reel?
For jigging why tie more knots that you have to?

[andrewboshoff]

I'm just getting into GT popping & need some advice. My outfit is a Stella 10000 with 80lbs Saltiga coloured braid on a Saltiga 86 rod. What leader (mono vs fluoro), at what strength and knot can anyone suggest? I've read in a local magazine that the bimini used with this particular line broke consistently at 18kg(40lbs) when tested.

[Luke Wyrsta]

I'm just getting into GT popping & need some advice. My outfit is a Stella 10000 with 80lbs Saltiga coloured braid on a Saltiga 86 rod. What leader (mono vs fluoro), at what strength and knot can anyone suggest? I've read in a local magazine that the bimini used with this particular line broke consistently at 18kg(40lbs) when tested.

Hi Andrew,

It may be useful if you also told us where you would be fishing, what rod, preference for poppers/stickbaits etc...

In simple terms you could opt for a 70-turn Bimini twist (I've never had a problem and ignore the magazine reports) cat's pawed to a twisted leader (80 - 100lb leader e.g. Shogun, MoiMoi, Fisherman, Varivas, Jinkai etc.) of desired length (do forum search...length 2 - 5 metres). Alternatively, if you wanted to run a shorter leader, you could cat's paw to a round-edged solid ring knotted via 5-turn uni knot, or connect bimini straight to nylon via Albright, Bristol knots etc...

[Travis Heaps]

I'm just getting into GT popping & need some advice. My outfit is a Stella 10000 with 80lbs Saltiga coloured braid on a Saltiga 86 rod. What leader (mono vs fluoro), at what strength and knot can anyone suggest? I've read in a local magazine that the bimini used with this particular line broke consistently at 18kg(40lbs) when tested.

Luke wrapped it up comprehensively but i'll tell you what we do.

We run Stella 10000 and 80lb tufline XP.  Bimini twist in mainline, of whatever twists you like, the overall knot section should be an inch+ long though.  With this we've never had a failure.  Attach this by a cats paw to a twisted leader of 2.5m.  We use 130lb Galis, the line material used for this leader is highly variable though.

Attach the cats paw making sure it sits snugly along the sides of the end loop of the twisted leader and is not pulling on the main end point - if you know what I mean.  PM if you dont and i'll try to explain better.  Any learner questions just PM me, myself and Warwick knew nothing about this sport ;ess than a year ago - and while we are still very much still learning I think we have learnt enough to a degree where we can help those just into the sport with explaining the basics.  I still remember my first twisted leader...imagaine salvador dali meets baden powell (ie A MESS)