Braided loop to line connection?

[NorthBranch]

Hey guys,

Going through my gear, and I need to put a new braided loop on a couple of lines for two of my rods. I have the braided loop connections to put on. In the past, I believe I slipped the braided loop up on the line and added a light coat of a glue like Pliobond to hold things together. I noticed that the braided loops came with some type of plastic shrink tubing that you can slid a small piece up the line and braided loop with half of the plastic tubing on the line and half on the braided loop... and then heat the tubing to secure everything.

Have you guys used the shrink tubing? Do you prefer using a glue... or something else?

I'm a little rusty... but I'll get back up to speed quickly. :-D

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Hi NB - This one I CAN really help with.

While there are a few holdouts that actually like those braided loops, enough people have had bad experiences with them that they choose other methods to attach leaders to fly line.

Click here for a good discussion on some methods that are common. There's others, but these are probably the most common choices.

Myself, I like to whip my own loops in lines 5wt and lighter, but I also have plenty of lines that have a short "connector" - typically 25lb Sunset Amnesia. All factory loops eventually fail, or get the outer coating compromised (the tip then sinks). Nail knotted connectors are pretty much good for the life of the line, if you seal the knot well.

H.A.

 

[Ramcatt]

**i don't use the braided loops on floating lines

throw those shrink tubes away
slide on the loop
2 nail knots of #20mono
cover knots with zap-a-gap OR coat the enitre braid up to the loop with aquaseal

 

[NorthBranch]

H.A.

Thanks man! Amazing how some thing come complete circle. When I started fly fishing, about the only way folks connected the line to leader was the nail knot. That and a couple of other insecure gadgets... like a tiny hook type thing with a ring on the end that you jammed up the line. Then came the first braided butt leaders (no loop) that you slipped on over the line and added a little glue... then came the loops... and now we're back to the nail knot... excellent!

I must admit, it's a lot of fun getting back into this stuff. :-D

 

[NorthBranch]

Ramcatt wrote:
**i don't use the braided loops on floating lines

throw those shrink tubes away
slide on the loop
2 nail knots of #20mono
cover knots with zap-a-gap OR coat the enitre braid up to the loop with aquaseal

Thanks Ramcatt... I'll probably go back to the nail knot. I'm still pretty proficient at that knot. Heck if the shrink tube is decent, I can use that to tie the nail knot the old fashion way.

I'll just need to stock up on some mono to build my own leaders again.

 

[Crotalus]

I use the braided loops the same way as Ramcatt. I give the braided loop a good tug before adding the nail knots to make sure it has a good bite into the fly line.

 

[fritz]

I used to use the braided slip over loops with the shrink fit tube til the shrink fit failed. The I started nail knotting the braided loop connector til the braided loops started to fail. So now I don't use the braided loop connectors at all anymore. Most flylines now have loops and yep, they fail. Then it's back to the nail knot.

 

[mcwillja]

Nail knot a 7 inch piece of 25 lb sunset Amnesia and put a perfection loop in the sunset Amnesia. Coat both knots with Loon UV knot sense. Never had one fail yet.

 

[NorthBranch]

Yea guys, I think what I will do is just go back to the good old nail knot. Never failed me before, but I did like the fact that I didn't have to straighten out all the kinks out of the braided leaders like a regular leader.

Think I'll use the nail knot on my bigger rod, and try one of these furled leaders on the small rod to see what all the "buzz" is. The small rod won't get used as much, so the "loops" should hold up for a long time on that stick.

 

[mcwillja]

Now you're talking....