Tying and FG Knot - a simpler solution

[Rod 773]

G'day

I haven't been fishing for well over a year with 2020 being the year from hell for me health wise.   Looks like my fishing days are over barring a miracle.  Anyway, I was recently asked to how to tie and FG knot after they had given on youtube methods.  8 years ago I started on the tuna fishing and wanted to learn the FG knot, I also didn't find any youtube instructional particularly helpful and ended up developing my own method.  Pretty easy, just stick the rod in a rod holder or whatever, secure the braid to something a couple of metres away, this provides a nice tight line with the flex of the rod tip cushioning the process.  Then tie as shown in the video.  I haven't shown finishing of the knot as that's pretty standard, though I would say the common technique of forming half hitches in opposite directions seems wrong to me, being a ropes and knots guy I say this does not work with ropes so why would it work with braid?  Needless to say I tie all the half hitches in the same way.  

Excuse the fumbling, the mono is 200lb which has a mind of it's own, I normally use 100lb ish, braid is 50lb.

Anyway, hopefully somebody finds this useful and maybe they get a smile

Cheers

Rod

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AkMx1NeCmYAF8Q3QNEhY7nSykhLo?e=odQKXd

 

[Rod 773]

I noticed another post using a similar technique with a jig just after I posted this, there is a difference so maybe still usefull for someone

Cheers

Rod

[doobie 5,802]

Sorry to hear on the health side of things Rod and hoping that miracle comes along for you.

Me too with the half hitches the wrong way lol - seems weird !

I've always found it hard to do the FG knot, but I'm going to give it another crack seeing your video - thanks Rod  

[yellow door 1 1,821]

There is a similar method where you tie a loop in your braid - run it through the rod and clip that loop back onto the handle of your reel.  

 

The tension is supplied by your bent rod tip. Just don’t add to much tension so it snaps your tip
 

it’s always handy to have a method that doesn’t rely on extra props.

I tie them 2 different ways  - one way on land that relies on a rod holder. 
 
but I have a different method that requires no extra props, that I use out in the field where there are no props

[yellow door 1 1,821]

Its like this but you tie a figure 8 loop on your braid and loop that around your reel handle- instead of just wrapping it around

You can get your braid much tighter with a loop

then you just cut the loop off to tie your hitches

 

[Rod 773]

G'day

Thanks Doobie and good luck with knot (with correctly tied half hitches 

YD1, that's a great idea using just the rod, more options is good for changing circumstances

Cheers

Rod

[dmck 627]

Howdy Rod... hows the coffee these days?  ... and the BIG-Cat ?

I too put a loop in the end and hook it over the reel handle. Can then do the knot anywhere.

 

As for finishing, I do a couple of half-hitches just to keep the knot tight, then do a couple of locked-half hitches.

 

To do a locked-half -hitch, insted of looping over the line once, loop over twice then thread the loose end under both loops.  Work the line from the fixed end to tighten it then pull tight.  The second loop ends up over a half-hitch, locking it very tight and there is very little chance it will work loose.

A couple of these and you are good to go.

 

dmck

[yellow door 1 1,821]

I do alternating hitches, as I had problems with them coming undone when doing them all on the one side.

But I think the problem was not enough tension on the hitches during tightening with a slippery braid like fireline

By the time I switched to alternating hitches, my braid had changed and so had my tying technique.

Finding a tying technique when I could apply alot of force to tightening my hitches was the most influencial factor in them not coming undone - followed closely by using a grippy-ier braid than Fireline.

[Rod 773]

G'day Don

The coffee is ready if you follow through with your threat to drop, appointment required.   

The Cat still purrs but assistant skipper taken control, I'm admin now, will have to make an assessment at some point where we go from here.   That was an epic day when you got your first tuna,  a long trip,  with some ïnteresting seas.  I recall you're disappointent not getting to see antarctica. LOL.   

Yellow Door 1

We haven't had a single failure issue of knots coming loose, I retie the knots, which look like when I tied them, at the start of the season and that's it.   Maybe do a little practice tying half hitches to learn what to do to get a series of tight half hitches, use a round anchor point, such simple knot/hitch but there is some technique.   I only buy the slipperiest braid I can find in the tackle store.  When bottom bashing in deepish water, mostly when you could catch snapper,  I like to be able to cast  and immediately stick the rod in the rod hold with the bail arm open so I can prepare bait etc, just keeping an eye for the sinker hit the bottom.  The ropier line doesn't feed out nicely and is annoying for me.  Same 50bl braid for that and tuna.  The combination of 50lb braid and 60-80lb jinkai mono trace I found perfect as serious snags would always break in the mono trace, surpisingly mostly between any knots after serious force applied.

Cheers

Rod

   

[yellow door 1 1,821]

Yeah I tried a whole heap of different hitches when I was having issues - Rizzuto, Grannies, even a thin smear of super glue etc and they all held better than standard. But when I switched my braid - I noticed it had way more grip so I went back to standard alternating hitches and didnt have a problem with them coming undone again.

I do have an FG I tied a year ago on a bait caster, I use it for casting practice in the back yard, and that has lost a few standard hitches but its still hanging on after over 1000 casts.

As a "hang over" from my light tackle breaming days  - I usually retie my leaders before every session - so I have fresh knots and leaders with no knicks in them.

Its been so long since unraveling hitches has been an issue,  I no longer even think it will happen.

If I needed my knots to last a whole season, I would definitely be using more intricate hitches - but as it stands - my standard hitches do what I ask of them
 

[Rod 773]

Yeah wd1

Good idea to retie knots, on bottom bashing rigs I would often remove a little line to retie the swivel and where the line sits on the top eye.  A case of lesson learned.

I agree with the if it works principle but my nature and my career makes me someone always seeking better or easier, preferably better and easier LOL 

[Rod 773]

wd1 I'm sure your the same, you've gone through process to get it working

I also have my wife who helps finding better ways for me to things, even now LOL

Cheers

Rod

[yellow door 1 1,821]

1 hour ago, Rod said:

Yeah wd1

Good idea to retie knots, on bottom bashing rigs I would often remove a little line to retie the swivel and where the line sits on the top eye.  A case of lesson learned.

I agree with the if it works principle but my nature and my career makes me someone always seeking better or easier, preferably better and easier LOL 

Yeah not retying cost me way too many fish (and lures) - and its usually only the bigger ones that let you know something was wrong

I dont doubt there are better hitches than the ones I currently use - and if my current hitches ever become an issue, its good to know there are better alternatives out there to fix any problems that arise