Doug Olander, bimini in braid?

[fishboy]

Doug,

Please tell me how you are tying biminis in braid. I test my knots and I haven't been able to get one single bimini to retain strength or not pull out with 8 turns or even 25 turns. Talked to our preeminent fly fisher (and author of my best knot tying book) this AM and he can't get them to hold either.

David Leavitt

[TOP SHOT]

hey, dave --
thanx. i haven't figured it out but there's got to be something in the way anglers tie their biminis that is significant. i.e. i have had a few guys say their 10-turn biminis slip. but then i've had lots of others -- including some well-known charter skippers -- tell me that they started using that and it's not failed them.
all i can say is that i tie mine very quickly and simply as i learned it (except with fewer turns) many years ago. i.e. i "walk the line down" over my 10 turns, then four steps: i cinch up a simple half-hitch around one leg, and do the same (a half-hitch) around the other leg, then a half-hitch around both legs, and finally i finish with a half-hitch but run the line through the loop three or four times and pull the loops together as i cinch it down.
not sure what else i can tell you! for me, it really works ... most recently, the 25# jack on 8# braid last week (in photo)... wasn't fishing for anything that large but hooked it and really cranked on the drag for 45 minutes -- which would have been ample time for a bimini to slip or otherwise fail but it didn't.

http://forums.sportfishingmag.com/photos/data/519/medium/25-pound_jack_on_8-lb_braid.jpg

[fishboy]

I tie mine a little different and will try your way and test it. I overhand one leg (going in the same direction as the line is wound back over itself) then both legs then clinch with 6 turns and I turn the clinch into a nail knot by unwrapping it, like I learned in Guatemala. I hope yours works because the only one I can get to hold is a 55 turn bimini and it's hard to tie when fish are breaking around you.
Thanks for your answer
David

[TOP SHOT]

i think that IS the key -- nuances in how one ties the knot make the difference.... sounds like what you're doing is sophisticated, but also maybe a little more involved... i can throw my 10 turn together in about half a minute. good luck!

[fishboy]

Tied by your directions and break tested 5 biminis. One pulled and 4 broke at line end (not loop end) of knot, with 20 lb. Power Pro. I believe all of them actually slipped at least a little, then broke. I went back to 55 turn bimini (which doesn't slip) and line broke at mid point, not at the bimini.

I'm on the Chesapeake (Eastern Shore of Md.) in the summer and in Palm Beach in the winter and would drive quite a ways to see you tie your knot and break test it.

David Leavitt

[floridadeckie]

I dont know if you guys are doing this at all, and keep in mind this is not with braid, but on the charter boat I work aboard, we tie 46 wrap biminis and tie them long instead of the short compact knot. instead of cinching the wraps at 45* then bringing it back at 90*, we cinch it at 45*, cinch some more at 90* to lock it, and then wrap back at 45*. then a half hitch around each leg, three around both, and then a triple hitch to finish it. still only takes around 30 seconds for me to tie

[TOP SHOT]

i may address this issue in a blog soon but for those interested in this knot, i offer this, now: i discovered that with light braids, at least, i CAN get my 10-turn knots to slip IF i check (pull/test) them while the two "legs" are still around my feet. but if i then tie the bottom of the double-line loop to my leader (with a bristol knot), it WILL NOT any longer slip. nor do the "little biminis" that i tie break at the knot in use. capt. rob hammer -- a top key west/tortugas skipper for many years told me he started using the 12-turn bimini after he read about that in Sport Fishing a couple years ago and has never gone back to more turns; he says he's never had them fail. of course the bottom line, i think, for anyone is: use what works FOR YOU, and what you have faith in, whether that means a 10-turn bimini twist or one with 60 turns.
d.o.

[canyongear]

easier and faster..

Capt Tim

[Skolmann]

I haven't had any problems tying a spider hitch with braid line to form a double line.

I use the spider hitch to form the double line when I tie the Yucatan knot to make a braid to mono connection.