Should You Use Saliva When Cinching Down Fishing Knots? [Experiment]

Note: This blog post on using saliva to cinch down fishing knots was originally posted on September 11th, 2020, but we wanted to share this important experiment again!! Be sure to scroll down to check out all of the HELPFUL comments below this article!

Should you use saliva when cinching down fishing knots?

Back in the day, it was necessary to use saliva with mono because the surface of the line was rougher and less resistant to abrasion.

But fishing lines today are much higher quality than back then…

So the big question is do you still need to use saliva when cinching down knots or not?

I saw in one study that it actually may do more harm than good, but other experienced fishermen claim that it’s still a necessity.

Since there’s a lot of debate out there, I decided to do a test to find out the truth.

I did three rounds of testing knot strength with saliva, and three rounds of testing knot strength without it.

I did that for monofilament, fluorocarbon, and braided line.

The results were very surprising, and now I know how I’ll be cinching down all of my knots.

Check out the full experiment and the results in the video below.

Should You Use Saliva To Cinch Down Your Knots? [VIDEO]

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Are you actually damaging a knot when you use saliva to tie it?

Here are the results of the experiment, measured in the amount of tension required to break the knot:

Fluorocarbon Saliva Test

Fluorocarbon used: 20 lb. Berkley Vanish

Knot used: Non-slip loop knot with two twists

Pre-testing treatment: knots were soaked in water to mimic real-life application.

No Saliva Knot:

• Test #1: 13.05 lbs
• Test #2: 15.66 lbs
• Test #3: 14.80 lbs
• Average: 14.50 lbs

Knot With Saliva:

• Test #1: 15.11 lbs
• Test #2: 13.20 lbs
• Test #3: 11.80 lbs
• Average: 13.37 lbs

Conclusion: The knot without saliva was 8% stronger on average than the knot with saliva.

Monofilament Saliva Test

Monofilament used: 20 lb. Ande Mono

Knot used: Non-slip loop knot with two twists

Pre-testing treatment: knots were soaked in water to mimic real-life application.

No Saliva Knot:

• Test #1: 17.08 lbs
• Test #2: 17.04 lbs
• Test #3: 16.96 lbs
• Average: 17.03 lbs

Knot With Saliva:

• Test #1: 16.48 lbs
• Test #2: 15.97 lbs
• Test #3: 18.45 lbs
• Average: 16.97 lbs

Conclusion: The knots with and without saliva were essentially the same.

Note: notice how much stronger the knots tied with monofilament are than fluorocarbon!

Braided Line Saliva Test

Braided line used: 10 lb. PowerPro

Knot used: Braid uni knot (through the eye twice with 7 turns)

Pre-testing treatment: knots were soaked in water to mimic real-life application.

No Saliva Knot:

• Test #1: 16.67 lbs
• Test #2: 19.29 lbs
• Test #3: 15.54 lbs
• Average: 17.17 lbs

Knot With Saliva:

• Test #1: 21.14 lbs
• Test #2: 16.79 lbs
• Test #3: 19.62 lbs
• Average: 19.81 lbs

Conclusion: The knot with saliva was 12% stronger on average than the knot without saliva.

Experiment Discussion

The surface of the line used to be much rougher, so it was necessary to use saliva to ensure the line didn’t burn on itself as you cinch it down.

However, fishing lines are made so well these days that that no longer happens, so you don’t need saliva.

Not only do you not need it, but it could actually do more harm than good, as shown by the results of the fluorocarbon and monofilament experiments.

Of course, this is a small sample size in just three rounds of testing each, so we can’t say definitely whether one is better than the other, but I believe it’s safe to say that saliva is at least not a necessity like it used to be.

Also, another thing to notice is that the range of results was greater for all of the knots with saliva than those without it.

So yes, it’s possible that saliva could make a knot stronger, but it’s also possible that it could make a knot weaker.

That’s likely because saliva may make the coils in the knot tighten down unevenly, which could decrease the knot strength.

Conclusion

Although it used to be necessary to use saliva when you cinch down a knot, that’s not the case anymore.

In fact, it might even be worse if you use saliva!

I won’t be using saliva with my knots anymore in hopes of getting a more consistent knot and not risking it be much weaker.

What do you think about these results?

Do you wet your knots down before you tighten them?

Let me know down in the comments.

And if you’ve seen the study about whether or not knots should have saliva on them before you tighten them down, please paste a link to it in the comments below!

Finally, if you know someone who always uses saliva on their knots, please TAG or SHARE this with them!

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