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Mono to mono shock leader knot?

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South Oz Angler

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Hey guys, been looking around a lot and finding lots of info but thought I'd get opinions from all of you. I want to start running a shock leader on my surf bait rigs. One setup I'm running 30# mono and plan to use a 60# shock, on the other it's 20# mono to a 40# leader. I have read that several knots can be used, albright, slim beauty, the one with the overhand knot and uni snugged up together. Obviously I want a thin yet strong knot that will hold up to repeated trips through the guides as well as a big fish. What are your opinions/suggestions?


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I like the spider hitch to no name knot for 17lb mono to 40-50lb shock leader. I've used this for both spinning and conventional setups and landed large fish with no problems. I think that most knots involving 30lb mono and 60lb mono are going to have significantly more bulk to them than slightly lighter line like your 20 to 40lb setup.

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If you can tie it with such stiff line, I'd try a blood knot first - but any knot tied with 60# mono is inevitably going to be bulky and get beaten up if repeatedly cast through your guides.

 

Can I ask why you are using mono running line in the first place? The only guys I know that use mono running line and a shock leader are using it for casting tournaments that require mono. I'd think that in place of 30# mono you could use 50# or even 65# braid to get more distance and forgo the need for a shock leader altogether. Or, if you still needed a shock leader for finger protection or more abrasion resistance than a bite leader would give, the braid would at least allow for a smaller, smoother knot.

I've done stuff I ain't proud of, and the stuff I am proud of is disgusting.

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S O A

17# running is plenty. 20 # is fine, but no higher is really needed. My shock leaders are 50# Big Game. As long as your line is good - you can handle most anything. Depending on what type of reel you are using - IMHO I would not use braid on a conventional. If you blow it up, it is the most unforgiving mess, not to mention expensive.

 

As for mono to mono knots: I use exclusively a bimini twist (knot) tied to a "no-name" knot. It's as close to 100% as you are going to get & very slim. If you really want to get fancy: 17# bimini to 50# BG using a 'no-name' knot; to # 2 barrel swivel then 2-3 ft 80# to a short hook leader using 100#. For the 17#; 80#; 100# I use exclusively suffix mono. Softer yet very durable and less memory than most.

 

Just my 2 cents as my opinion is a lot cheaper than the suffix-tri

 

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I use a uni-to-uni connection. It's been the one that I always came back to after trying others.

 

I have this little knot tyer that makes a uni so it's easy to use to join the two mono lines.

 

I still use a 17lbBG to 50lbBG combination for everything.

 

BTW; I do use braid but only as a backing.. C2

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S O A

17# running is plenty. 20 # is fine, but no higher is really needed. My shock leaders are 50# Big Game. As long as your line is good - you can handle most anything. Depending on what type of reel you are using - IMHO I would not use braid on a conventional. If you blow it up, it is the most unforgiving mess, not to mention expensive.

 

As for mono to mono knots: I use exclusively a bimini twist (knot) tied to a "no-name" knot. It's as close to 100% as you are going to get & very slim. If you really want to get fancy: 17# bimini to 50# BG using a 'no-name' knot; to # 2 barrel swivel then 2-3 ft 80# to a short hook leader using 100#. For the 17#; 80#; 100# I use exclusively suffix mono. Softer yet very durable and less memory than most.

 

Just my 2 cents as my opinion is a lot cheaper than the suffix-tri

 

I use almost the same setup except for I use a slim beauty instead of no name for my conventional "8n Bait" rigs. Then I use 50lb braid (may drop this to 30 in the future) on my lighter whiting/spot rod with a 50lb rub leader with a Alberto knot on a maged abu 6500. The few spinning rods I have are 20lb braid with a rub leader of 30 to 50lb mono depending on what I'm doing tied with a Alberto knot.

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Thanks for they replies everyone. Both setups are conventional, a Daiwa Sealine X30 and X50. I prefer to use mono on my surf bait rigs as it causes less problems with things like weed and accidental reel blow ups, plus that bit of stretch is nice and better abrasion resistance as it is primarily sand beaches here with limestone reef mixed in. When I lived in Massachusetts I almost exclusively ran braid as most of my fishing, surf or otherwise, was with lures. On anything heavier than ten pound braid I always used a bimini to albright to connect braid to leader. With ten pound and under I used to use the double uni but found it didn't hold up well, switched to the slim beauty and haven't looked back.



 



Perhaps I don't even need a shock leader, I have had a few sinkers come off on big casts, but that was before I switched to my current setup. I'm now using a clip down system with breakaway's IMP clip, so mainline to a fastlink clip to which I attach an 80# leader to the hook and a second leader of usually 60# for the IMP clip and sinker tied to a swivel that the mainline passes through. Sounds complicated but it's really quite simple and works great, no more helicoptering or torn off baits.



 



I'll have to do some more testing out on the beach and iff I do decide I need to run a shock leader I'll give some of your suggestions a try. Also, what does a "no name knot" look like?


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Slim Beauty...

Slim Beauty with a spider or bimini on the running line

 

The trimmest is a Blob Knot (tied with an Uni or whatever kind of twisty knot you like)

Blob with a spider or bimini on the running line

Blob knots don't work well with certain leader material (Cajun, some flouro, etc.) If it's a "hard" finished line (read abrasion resistant), the "blob" may pop off (technical term)

powerless
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Hey guys, been looking around a lot and finding lots of info but thought I'd get opinions from all of you. I want to start running a shock leader on my surf bait rigs. One setup I'm running 30# mono and plan to use a 60# shock, on the other it's 20# mono to a 40# leader. I have read that several knots can be used, albright, slim beauty, the one with the overhand knot and uni snugged up together. Obviously I want a thin yet strong knot that will hold up to repeated trips through the guides as well as a big fish. What are your opinions/suggestions?

 

Perhaps I don't even need a shock leader, I have had a few sinkers come off on big casts, but that was before I switched to my current setup. I'm now using a clip down system with breakaway's IMP clip, so mainline to a fastlink clip to which I attach an 80# leader to the hook and a second leader of usually 60# for the IMP clip and sinker tied to a swivel that the mainline passes through. Sounds complicated but it's really quite simple and works great, no more helicoptering or torn off baits.

 

I'll have to do some more testing out on the beach and iff I do decide I need to run a shock leader I'll give some of your suggestions a try. Also, what does a "no name knot" look like?

 

 

I've been fishing shock leaders for years. All my distance or heavy weight outfits are Mag brake conventionals with 17-20 mono running line and 50-80 Mono shock leaders. Once you start getting into bigger drops like 10+ feet and especially with any torso rotation applied (power casting), a shock leader is a must! There really is no other safe reliable way to do it. I have to say that in the past couple of years I really can't recall a time I broke off on a cast while fishing my heavers. Having said that, a reliable compact shock leader knot is a must. I've tried just about every conceivable knot out there and pretty much always came back to a Uni to Uni. I found that 5 wraps with the running line and three turns with the shocker works best. Anything more and it stresses the line and you are drastically loosing strength. But a perfect stress free uni to uni connection is very hard to obtain. It usually takes numerous tries, to get where the strength will be close to test. No matter how much you moisten it or how careful you are about tightening, there will be stress impeded on the line. You will notice this after the knot is fully tightened, the line that comes directly out of the knot will loose some of it's perfect optical quality and straightness. This is due to the friction and stiffness of the thicker line over the thinner line. To get away from the friction and gain reliability, one knot, that I haven't seen anywhere is what I primarily use now. It is, part uni part slim beauty.

 

What you do is tie the figure 8 of the slim beauty with the shock leader. Like here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then you pass a single, (not double) strand of your running line through the figure 8 as shown in the video. Moisten. then hand tighten the shock leader knot. Pass a little more main line through. The running line should be able to slide quite easily without much stress. Now, tie a 5 turn uni with the main line. Moisten again and slowly pull on the main line and shock leader together to butt them close. A light tug on the tag ends and finally tighten all the way by pulling on the main line and shock leader. Trim the tag ends to less than 1/8" and and use a lighter to slightly bulb up the tag ends a bit more. Make sure it's done carefully with no heat applied to the knot. This results in a nearly stress free very compact knot that will be very close to the original running line test. The most important thing with mono to mono shock leaders is keeping friction to an absolute minimum during the tying process.

 

 

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223

Looks similar to an Albright, but backwards.

 

Yes, I don't know thename but itis really good...pound the surf in Baja, shooting out hundreds of cast at the time and never had a problem...barely feel it going out.

One warning though: youl'll have 2 knots on your spool(the Bimini and the other) so do make sure you position it on the side of the spool when you reel it in.I tie mine with a lock, too.

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