Double or no double

bparker · #1 17-03-2003, 08:36 PM

My rig usually consists of 4lb Fireline with a short 50 cm bimini twist tied double, to which I attach a 150cm 8lb Vanish leader.

On Saturday morning, one of the many snags I had broke through the double.

At the best of time a bimini twist isn't the easiest thing to tie let alone out in the field. So rather than fish with a double, I simply attached a new leader directly to the mainline with a barrel knot. I pulled a decent fished and suffered a few more snags with this reig, all without a break-off.

My question is, should I aim to fish with a double all the time or is this just over-kill and a simple mainline-to-leader set up is sufficient. What are your thoughts on doubles??

pw-bream · #2 17-03-2003, 08:40 PM

I've never used a double in Fireline. Lots of people who visit this site just use a double uni knot (me included).
Personally I use 5 or 6 turns in the mono leader and 8 turns in the Fireline.

bparker · #3 17-03-2003, 08:40 PM

My apologies.

Craig_S · #4 17-03-2003, 08:52 PM

I'm another just going mailine to leader with a double uni. 4lb fireline to 6lb leader and 5 twists to the leader with 7 on the fireline.

beefaman · #5 17-03-2003, 09:09 PM

Mainline to leader, uni knot. Have never had a trouble with knot breaking (touch wood)

bparker · #6 17-03-2003, 09:46 PM

Thanks for your replies...

It's seems that a uni-knot mainline to leader is the way to go!!

I'm still a complete novice to this 'bream on lures' caper and a lot of what I do I have picked up from books and magazines. Why do so many of them advocate the use of double particularly on fine lines ???

Does a double reduce the likelihood of the main line cutting through the leader (I've read a few posts of people complaining about this particularly using Vanish).

Richo · #7 17-03-2003, 09:53 PM

I think its to even the strenght out. MadFish has explained this to me before. Something like doing the double to change your main line to 8pd in strength to match the leader. I myself am still a sinlge uni man, 10-11 twists fireline and 8-9 for the leader. I used to get a few break at the knot when I was using a double, but not anymore.

cheers

richo

jimi · #8 17-03-2003, 10:14 PM

Just to be different, I always use a double to tie on the leader. I don't know that making a double makes it match the leader strength as Richo said, 4lb fireline already breaks above 8lb anyway.

I think the main advantage is in having a thicker diameter to tie to the mono. You've also doubled the turns in the uni-knot for no extra effort (eg. doing 8 turns in a uni-knot with a doubled line is like doing 16 turns without using a double).

I think this is like the flurocarbon/mono debate, more of a confidence trick than anything. If you go straight to a leader with no double and you haven't lost a fish because of it, then just keep doing it.

James.

Tim Richards · #9 17-03-2003, 10:16 PM

As I am quite new to this Bream Fishing with lures and Sp's I racked Ian Sewells brain at AA's, he suggested the Uni Knot to join to the leader as well. He also suggested doubling the fireline over to tie the Uni Knot but not to tie an actual double in the line, I don't know if that makes sense to you. I have only caught a handful of bream to date without a problem, so I can't say it is tried and proved but by the sounds of what everyone is saying it seems the way to go.
Bundy

#10 17-03-2003, 11:23 PM

I do mine the exact same as Craig S. The double in fireline is to even out the diameters. It doesn't double the strength, as the line is only as strong as its weakest point, that being the double knot, which will prolly be around abouts the lines breaking strain.That's what i think anyway, i guess its up to personal preference. What ever makes you confident is the way to go!

Dave

Grant · #11 18-03-2003, 12:09 AM

I use the double uni knot to but only about 6 turns of mono and 7 turns of fireline. At the moment i use 6pd fireline and 8lb powerline for leader. Have not had a break at the knot yet but have had a break on the uni knot connecting my jigheaad once

Must ahve been a bad knot.

pete s · #12 18-03-2003, 12:42 AM

i used a bimini twist when i fished the melbourne comp...extra security

, but i dont normally use one.

as for leader to fireline knots, try the twisted leader knot....stronger than a uni knot for connecting mono to fireline.

bubba · #13 18-03-2003, 01:01 AM

I use the uni knot combo as well but if you want the extra security of a double why not try a Spider Hitch. Almost as strong as the Bimini but can be tied in about 5 seconds

Dave W · #14 18-03-2003, 04:37 AM

I always use an Improved Albright, with anything under 10lb Fireline getting doubled before the end - not tied into a double, just doubled over.

The Albright is designed to join lines of dissimilar diameters - and it does it well, I very rarely have a failure, and when I do it's normally because I didn't tie it properly

6 turns of the Fireline up the leader, followed by 5 turns back is just about perfect for 4lb Fireline, I cut the turns down a bit if I'm fishing heavier braid.

It is a nice, flat knot and the tags can be trimmed in very close - stops the 4lb Fireline catching on the leader tag (isn't it a biaaatch when that happens

)

To be honest, I don't know why more people don't use it - it's very easy to tie, and if not done properly will easily fail upon testing, not hang on just enough to come open later on.....

Here's a pic, the only difference is that I do half the turns up the leader and the rest back down

Cheers,

madsurfe · #15 18-03-2003, 06:01 AM

but now go with the double uni. This rarely fails and with 4lb fireline I do 8-10 twists and 6 twists on the mono, more twists in the fireline because it is a smaller diameter. When I first started tying the double I kept to six twists on each and it fails. Just gotta do more twists on the finer diameter line so there is someting for the knot to pull against.