[Surf_Candy]

DS - use size A multi-strand thread. Use your bobbin and do it like these

http://www.activeangler.com/articles/flyfishing/articles/doug_macnair/tippets3.asp

and here

http://www.sydneyflyfishing.com.au/recipes_detail.html?ID=08898&_SKU=1&startat=[startat]&index_no=4

You can also look in Lefty's Advanced fly Fishing book. I use waxed dental floss to pull the end of the whip under about 20 turns of thread.

I use Red for the thread color that goes against the backing or running line. That way I always know the back end of the fly line. Use a color simialr to the fly line for the business end.

I check them each season - insert your hemostats into the loop and pull liek hell. I have never had one come off.

Surf

 

[Surf_Candy]

woops

 

[Jim Darden]

I use loops and don't have any problems even with the 20 ft plus leaders going thru the guides. You need to know how to make a loop that slides thru the guides easily. Trout fishing seems to work with either the nail or loop but I have seen a ton of nail knot problems with warm salt water species. The only bad hangup I've ever had was when using the guides rod and he had a nail knot to backing connection, it nearly lost me the bonefish. I have gone back to all my lines and cut off other connections in favor of the loop. If the line is monocore, I just loop the line on itself and make a wrap over the free end to bind it to the main line. If it is a braided core line I scrape the finish off and make a trim loop back to the main line and bind it down with 8/0 thread. It only takes a few minutes and has never failed me. I use super glue to seal the deal and coat the thread area. Try it on one of your lines and judge for yourself.

 

[tlcgpw]

here is a photo of a whiped loop that a friend of mine dos.
she says that it works great never has broken
see ya Greg :beer2:

 

[Don Perry]

I use 2 different methods that haven't been mentioned (exactly) so far.

On my lines up to 8 weight I use a method I read about in a Fly Fisherman article by Dave Whitlock. A bit complicated but no knot at all. Basically you use put the eye of a needle back up through the end of the fly line about .75 inch and push it through the coating. Thread a new leader through the eye and then pull the leader through the center of the line until you get close to the end of the butt. Use a piece of sandpaper to lightly scuff .75" of the leader butt. Put a small amount of a good superglue on the scuffed section and then quickly pull it back into the fly line. Dab off any extra glue before it sets and then put a tiny drop on the line to seal the hole. I have never had one of these pull out, they float better than a nail knot and have no bumps at all. Expecially nice with long leader chironomid fishing.

On my heavy lines and heads I use for dorado I use a double catch braided loop (at least 4" pushed over the fly line) secured with a nail knot. Then I attach a butt section (usually 40#) using a 3 turn sheet bend. That's only a 70% or knot but still comes out higher than the class tippet. It draws the loop down tight and also doesn't show as much bulk as the loop to loop. I put a Kreh non-slip loop in the end of the butt section and prepare a bunch of class/shock tippet sections to attach to that with another loop. Allows for a quick change, near 100% connection. These ideas were from a guy named Bill Nash who regularly posts on another site.

 

[tlcgpw]

sorry

 

[Ryan Nathe]

I have always liked loop connections for easily changing out leaders without having to clip off part of your fly line each time. ALthough when tying loop connection to a sinking tip with thin diameter they seem more likely to break. I had a sink tip loop connection that broke while battling a king LUCKILY the leader loop clinched down so hard on the (now) broken sink tip loop that I didnt even notice it was broken until after I landed the king. I like the suggestion that Dec Hogan makes in his new book about tying a 15" piece of 30# maxima onto the sinktip with a nailknot and than tying a perfection loop in the 30# maxima to allow for the addition of more leader material. In this way there is no loop to loop connection in the thin sink tip material but you still have the versatility of a loop to loop connection.

 

[gt]

interesting reading all of these thoughts. i have to admit that when i got started fly fishing, when dirt was young, i read everything that i could find, bowed at the alter of the scribes who obviously knew more than i ever could, and eventually tried all of the techniques they wrote about with so much passion.

- needle knot, yep, tough to pull off cleanly but seems to work, kind of the analists approach to setting things up
- whipped finish, worked fine until in went in the salt and poof came apart and i could never master keeping that finish small in diameter and length
- hollow dacron with loop, chinese connection to flyline with whip finish, clunky but it worked great on BIG fish (tarpon and such)
- nail knot each and every leader to your fly line, works just fine and if trout are your primary target, why do anything different?
- short chunk of stiff mono nail knoted to fly line, head or whatever, with surgeons loop, fast stable, easy to add or change leaders when your hands are blue, yep, simple, efficient and my standard for a couple of decades now. only change, UVknot instead of plyobond.

try'um all, you will hit on somthing that makes sense for you and your specific needs.

 

[Fish Hunter]

Nail knots for God's sake; have some pride man!