shocker knots

[red dog]

hey guys i was wondering what kind of knots most of you use to tie on your shocker thanks.......paul

[Dixie719]

[trowpa]

[chomper]

Albright works for me.

[bpfishback]

I was using a spider hitch to no-name knot but it is really hard to get the no-name knot tight with 80lb fluorocarbon. I switched to the slim beauty knot and it works great so far.

[Charkbait]

I use an albright and the knot in the link, have more faith in the albright but like not worrying about the knot in the guides with neil's knot.

[runinbroke]

Learning new ones all the time... The John Wayne doesn't work so well hehehehe the albright or blood knot works for me!

[flame thrower]

The book or rule of thumb on shock leader is 10 pounds for every ounce of weight so if your using a 5oz sinker top and bottom rig with little pieces of bait that puts you around 7oz total and would require at least 70 pound shock leader. That being said I have never used more then 65 pound shock leader and usually use 50 pound.

Shock leader is somewhat of a misunderstood term. There are several reasons we add heavier line on top of the smaller line.
1. Heavier line is thicker and easier to grab to beach bigger fish.
2. It is some what more abrasion resistant
3. It allows us to throw more weight. But the term shock leader is not correct it should be a load enabler. The Heavier leader allows you to throw more weight. We are by no means relying on the stretch to compensate for the increased weight. Simply put line with a higher breaking strength allows us to increase our payload. Thus, what is better Braid or Mono question arises. To me it’s a personal preference. Braid is thinner and will give you very small knots but will cut your hand trying to land a big fish or when throwing heavy loads on a Spinner that the drag has not been locked down. It also loads the rod quicker because it does not stretch with the initial velocity increase of the rod. If you have bad form this will add to you casting troubles.

I use Braid to either mono or braid running line on all my gear. I don’t know if I will ever use braid on by conventional rigs as a main line because when I blow one up it’s usually a get the razor blade out and cut it off. That would hurt with 40 or 50 dollars of braid on the reel.

My knot of choice is a slim beauty on the shock leader to a double uni-knot on the running line that I doubled with a spider hitch.

If you are using greater then 50 pound mono I suggest a single overhand knot to the double uni-knot as this will keep the mono knot smaller and lesson the risk of damaging any guides that have ceramic inserts.

[red dog]

thanks for the knots guys, but what is the slim beauty?

[flame thrower]

[ffemtreed]

I like making a double leader and then use a Yucatan/bristol/no name knot.

I make my double line with a surgeons loop. Some people will harp on a spider hitch or bimini but in my limited experience the surgeons loop never broke at the knot. I tied it off to the bumper of my jeep and did numerous pull tests. Some sharp jerks, some steady hard pulls and combos of each, every time the running line broke about 6 inches above the knot. To me this means my knot is holding good enough for my application.

The knot is slim, extremely easy to tie even in the pitch black and 40 MPH wind swirling around and numb fingers in February.

[Charkbait]

Tied up some slim beauties last night, very easy and looks damn good to go through guides without damage. I'll fish em Thursday and hopefully test them out on a biggun.

Same size as the albright on the 80lb but a little longer and less likely to get damaged going through guides. I bet with some practice I could get it down pretty good, only drawback is needing pliers to seat it.

[flame thrower]

Ben join the dark side - Braid Shock leader 80 pound test is 18 pound mono equilavent and 100 pound is 20. This would really reduce your knot dia and would never cause a problem with those ceramic guides busting from that 80pound mono knot hittiing them.

Join the dark side

[Charkbait]

That sure ain't gonna happen anytime soon, braid is for spinning rods!

[devomd63]

Mainline (17-20lb) 8-10 inch bimini, then one of three:

albright special
blood
double uni

always holds up in a tight battle thruugh big surf..

Dave