The Strongest Knot For Doubling Over Braided Line [Knot Contest]
- By: Luke Simonds
- on November 17, 2016
- Found In: Braid Loop Knot, Fishing Knots, Fishing Tips
It’s knot contest time again!
Of all aspects of fishing, our knots are the only thing that we have 100% control over so it’s on us to make the time to ensure that we’re using the best knots for all of our connections.
And this is especially true for the connection on the weakest line in the system since the weakest link will of course determine the overall line strength.
This knot contest is focused on determining the strongest knot for anglers who like to double over their braided line so that their braid to leader knot strength is maximized.
One of the benefits of doubling over the line for saltwater anglers is so that the leader to braid knot can be stronger since there are two strands of the braid which is often at a lower listed strength compared to the leader for maximizing casting performance while having enough strength at the end next to the fish to withstand the sharp/rough mouths of many saltwater gave fish.
But the potential issue the line doubling knots create is a new weakest link in themselves…
So this contest is going to focus specifically on the line doubling knots to see which one is the strongest.
Here are the 4 knots that I’ll be evaluating:
- Bimini Twist
- King Sling
- Spider Hitch
- Surgeon’s Knot
And here are the lines used for this experiment:
- 10 lb PowerPro braid (representing the main line)
- 30 lb Berkley Trilene (representing the mono leader)
Note: I altered between the Double Uni and Yucatan knots for the final connection to the leader to see if either of them would bread before the line connector knot did.
Line Doubling Knot Contest Details
To test these 4 knots out for their strength relative to one another, I paired them up against one another in a tournament style bracket with the stronger knot going to the final round against the other winner.
For each head to head series, I tied them against one another on the same strand of line and pulled until the weaker one broke.
During the tension loading for breaking the line, I attached a scale on one end so I could log the strength on the line when the break occurred.
Then I repeated the process until 5 tests were logged.
Quick Assessment Of The Knots
Bimini Twist
This is known to be the strongest of all fishing knots. It’s strength is due to it doing a great job at spreading the load across a long series of twists without any sharp load bearing points.
Here’s a video I made last year (pre-beard) showing how to tie it:
King Sling
This is a knot that I was not even aware of before starting this analysis… I did some pre-experiment testing on a variety of knots and this one turned out to be surprisingly strong.
Spider Hitch Knot
The spider hitch is what many anglers use to replace the bimini twist when time is a factor. It’s much quicker to tie compared to the Bimini Twist.
Surgeons Loop Knot
The core design of the Surgeon knot always seems to make for very strong connections. Although it’s an extremely basic and simple design, it’s hold strength can often be one of the best for various connection needs.
Line Doubling Knot Contest Results
Here are the results for each of the head to head match-ups:
Round 1 – Spider Hitch vs. Surgeon’s Knot
To analyze which of these two knots creates a stronger connection, I made them both with 5 twists. This way, the most efficient design will come out on top.
Here are the results:
- Spider Hitch won at 13.5 lbs
- Surgeon’s won at 14.1 lbs
- Spider Hitch won at 15.1 lbs
- Spider Hitch won at 13.2 lbs
- Spider Hitch won at 13.8 lbs
Conclusion: The Spider Hitch is stronger than the Surgeon’s knot due to winning 4 of 5 bouts.
Round 1 – Bimini Twist vs. King Sling
To analyze these two very different knots, I kept the wraps equal to what I saw to be the typically directions from others websites/videos (25 twists for the Bimini Twist and 5 turns for the King Sling).
Here are the results:
- Bimini Twist won at 16.1 lbs
- King Sling won at 17.9 lbs
- Bimini Twist won at 14.1 lbs
- Bimini Twist won at 17.4 lbs
- Bimini Twist won at 13.7 lbs
Conclusion: The Bimini Twist is stronger than the King Sling
Round 2 – Bimini Twist vs. Spider Hitch
For this final round, I experimented with different amount of twists for each knot.
Here are the results:
- Bimini Twist won at 16.3 lbs
- Bimini Twist won at 16.9 lbs
- Bimini Twist won at 13.3 lbs
- Spider Hitch won at 19.1 lbs
- Spider Hitch won at 17.0 lbs
Conclusion: The Bimini Twist is stronger than the Spider Hitch, but it was closer than I was expecting.
So the winner of this contest was the Bimini Twist, which explains why it’s by far the most popular option. And although many people feel intimidated by this knot, it’s actually quite easy once you’ve done it a few times.
Overall Conclusion
This experiment proved that the Bimini Twist is the strongest of the line doubling knots that I’ve tested so far.
But although it’s by far the most popular, I was a bit surprised by how close the Spider Hitch and King Sling knots came from beating it.
And comparing the breaking range of the Bimini Twist to what the FG Knot did in the single line to leader test, I’m looking forward to testing them against one another.
As of right now, I believe that the FG Knot will be the victor since it was breaking at over 20 lbs in our last contest with it using the same types of line.
I’ll be testing them against one another using the same exact strand of line to make sure the difference isn’t from line quality.
Your Help Needed: If you use the Bimini Twist as part of your line to line connection, please let me know which knot you pair it with so I can make sure to include it in my testing.
Leave a comment down below or send me an email at Luke@saltstrong.com with your knot of choice for me to use next week.
Tight Lines!
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STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
About darned time. Bimini Twist for the win! My absolute favorite, default knot for terminating the main braid line. Combines wonderfully with the Aussie Quickie to attach leader to the Bimini.
If I could make a recommendation, I would do a video showing how to tie the Bimini knot using the reel handle. This is not just because the handle and any other fixed object like the chair are similar, but tying on the rod/reel is far superior as it allows the line on the rod to provide tension on the line. This tension serves as a third hand and makes a complex knot like the Bimini, crazy easy to tie.
Thanks for making time to leave the comment Bill. Yes, I agree that the using the rod and reel for applying the tension and hold of the line is a great way to tie the Bimini Twist… I’ll add that to me list of videos to make.
I’m looking forward to testing the FG knot on a single line to the Bimini doubled braid using a variety of finishing knots to see how much strength (if any) doubling over the line creates.
H ave you ever plaited a double? I hav’nt tested a plait with a Bimini Twist and I use both. With braid I prefer the plait while Mono I stick with a Bimin Twist.i
I have never tried the plaited double because I have not yet seen a way to tie it in under a minute (looks like it requires a significantly amount of time to tie correctly). Please let me know if you have any shortcuts for tying it.
I had always used double line at the terminal end to act as a “shock absorber”. This has been since I started fishing when all we used was mono. Now with the advent of braid, I have been using a single strand of the braid attached to a fluorocarbon leader. I have liked using your FG knot to attach the two but it does let go eventually after repeated casts (I have read your troubleshooting suggestions and I do pull very tight before use). Could the FG be used to tie the fluoro to the braid if the braid had been doubled?
I have heard that the FG can be tied with a doubled braid, but I have not yet tested it… will be sure to try that as part of the contest next week.
Great videos. Love to have a quick chart on the boat for others to see with test results. I use an Albright special for Bimini to leader, but I love the FG knot the way you demonstrate it. Can’t wait to see how it compares.
Thanks for making time to leave the comment Cecil. Yes, the albright/bimini combo is very popular so I’ll be sure to include it in the upcoming test. Tight Lines!
I use the Aussie Quickie. I would love to see how it compares in your contest.
Thanks for the suggestion… I’ll be sure to give the Aussie Quickie a try.
For the doubled line to leader, I think the “improved Bristol knot” (sometimes called the “modified, modified Bristol knot”) is great. Sort of like an Alberto knot in reverse (wrapping the mono around two strands of braid vs. the opposite). Owner of a tackle shop in Cabo San Lucas (Baja California) told me that this is stronger than the Yucatan knot, which many of his customers use. (Have you posted you results yet? Would like to see how the FG knot fits in …).
Thanks for making time to leave the comment. I’ll be sure to give the improved bristol a try in the knot contest that I’ll do in the next few days.
Luke
I’ve been using a loop to loop connection with bimini twists on both my braid (main line) and leader about 6′ of fl. Carb for years until I learned from you the fg knot. Great knot, hasn’t failed yet.
Vinny
Thanks for making time to leave the nice comment. Yes, I used to double my braid as well until I found the FG Knot. But I’m looking forward to seeing which one is the strongest so that I know if the time savings from going to the FG is validated with comparable strength… results will be published later this week.
I really can’t thank you guys enough for your entire website and you tube channel!! Your time and knowledge of all aspects of fishing is very much appreciated
Our pleasure, Vincent. It’s great feedback like this that keeps us super excited to make new content… especially these knot contests which are tedious to create. Tight Lines!
I double my line with a bimini then attach my doubled line to leader with a slim beauty knot.
Thanks for all the tips and tests you guys do. I usually tie.
my Bimini to my leader using a surgeons knot. I’ve never had a failure with it but would like to see the results if you should test it. Keep up the great work guys.
I have not yet tried the surgeon’s knot on the bimini, but I am very confident that the FG knot on the end of the bimini would be the superior choice if the goal is to maximize strength. The con is that it’ll take a bit longer to tie, so I think that the ultimate test would be the bimini knot and surgeon combo against tying straight to the FG knot. My guess is that it’ll be extremely close so the answer will likely be dependent on the lines that you’re using. I highly recommend trying it out on your lines to know for sure. But either way, both options will certainly leave a very strong connection.
Have you ever compared braid stitching with the bimini? It’s not feasible at low breaking strains but pretty easy in 50lb 4 strand (possible but more difficult in 50lb 8 strand).
I tried to run a relative test but the improved uniknot kept breaking before the knots I was trying to test.
I have not tried stitching braid at all because I very rarely use braid over 30 lbs, and I’ve heard that it’s very tough to do with line that thin.
Just a question, if you took all the results for each knot, and did a statistical average of break point and calculated standard deviation, what are those numbers for each knot? Might not change the results but based on seeing some break above 17 and below 13 for the same knot, its a wide variance. Would be interesting to see a table of all values for each test, I would be happy to run the analysis and share back the results. And of course the bimini and spider hitch with double the test results will have presumably tighter data set with fewer outliers.
Sorry if I got too nerdy on this.
I agree that it would be interesting to see how the breaking point standard deviations compared for each knot. The trouble in that is the human factor given that it’s impossible to tie a knot exactly the same with the precise same sized loops, twists, etc. as well as applying the exact same tension the exact same way when tightening the knots. So the reason why I haven’t gone down that path is the fear of taking up a bunch of time to not learn anything more than what can be found by of these basic knot vs. knot pull tests.
I use the Bimini Twist and the Aussie Quickie.
Enjoy this site. Thanks for the enthusiasm and diligence.
Tight Lines, as well.
Thanks for making time to leave the nice comment Tom!
I’m curious about the strength of a loop to loop connection, have you ever done any testing with this? This is widely used in fly line to leader connections, usually surgeons loop. Comparing say loop to loop vs loop to FG or other. I guess the FG is stronger but by how much, i.e. is the result worth the extra time to tie.
Keep up the great work! Interesting stuff.