Braided Loops?

[Jon Hammond]

On Morsie's Arbor to Fly DVD and he attaches a braided loop to his backing. I've always done Bimini's in my backing and then catspaw spliced them to the welded loops on the line. Is there any risk of the backing Bimini cutting the braided loop on the fly line at the drag pressures we typically fish? I guess this might become a more important factor in heavier setups?

On Boneheads I lost a big Brassy on my 12wt by fighting it pretty aggressively and putting a lot of pressure on it. I managed to pop the welded loop on the flyline at the leader end (A Rio Outbound short which by the way is a magnificent fast casting line with big flies). I was using a loop to loop connection to an 80lb butt section. Does anyone know what strength the welded loops might be rated too? On a heavier setup would it be better to chop off the welded loops and do a braided loop in the flyline instead?

[Tony Ong]

Shouldn't have any problems with the welded loops Jon. Saying that, I replace mine with welded loops out of habit. I know Morsie fishes with the welded loops and doesn't have any issues with them. They generally won't last the life of the line (especially in the heavier weights using heavy tippets), and eventually you will have to replace them.
Braided loops on the backing is the only way to go, especially when you want to change out fly lines. Braid tends to bite down quite hard on loops, and it gets quite hard to pry apart. Braided loops do wear, so keep your eye on them, and you should be ok.

[Stephen Winsor]

heres a maybe a stupid question..

Say I use 50lb backing for my 10wt setup

I do a bimini twist and attach it straight to my fly line..

how would you go about putting a braided loop on your backing?

[Jon Hammond]

Tony - the flyline I busted the loop on was maybe a day old. Hence not overly trusting them on my 12wt at least. I think for good insurance I should just do braided loops on all my 12wt lines.

Stephen - Morsie's DVD Arbor to Fly is cheap and really informative for rigging up. I think a demonstration would be easier rather than trying to explain it. Perhaps someone could do one at an upcoming club meeting?

[Tony Ong]

It's not that hard to do. Just a little fiddly, as you need to be able to push the gsp up the braided mono. We have a tackle auction at the next coming meeting. We can run one of these at the following meeting.

[Stephen Winsor]

I'll just grab a copy of ARBOR to fly... But thanks for trigging the brain!

[Max Garth]

If anyone want the pics/description associated with a Spliced loop to use for GsP, just Email me and I'll send
it off.

max.garth@gmail.com

MaxG.

[Max Garth]

PS... Its very easy to do, is 100%, ie it meets the GsP actual test figure criteria, and if you want to put
loops on GsP backing lines, I recommend Bionic Braid in 30lb, which tests at 42lb, Platypus figure. And
which is done to allow for the fact that knots in GsP, NEVER test at printed label figure. Like they NEVER
break at the nominal figure. A 50lb GsP braid will nominally test at 35lb or thereabouts, depending on the
braid formula. Like to get a 50lb test, you need to use 80lb .
And BB is an 8x8 braid, 8 carriers, bundles of GsP yarn, and a 8 piks, which is the return rate. The number
of turns required to do 360 degrees around the line diameter, ie loop.
And after reading the posts above, for what it is worth, for about 1000 different reasons, one SHOULD
NEVER USE A BIMINI in GsP braid, or any knots designed for mono.
Baically a Bmini is specifically designed for mono, which has a much larger diameter that an equivalent
GsP braid, and the knot comprises a number of twists where the line is looped and then twisted back on itself.
If you want a knot that is obviously NOT designed for a thin,and slippery line with a very bad critical radius,
( the line bend limit), you don't have to look very far with a Bimini near by.
And to cap it off, the Bimini finishes in a loop, which is connected to the load and that loop is in a line with
a 8/9% stretch factor which will mean that the length both legs of the loop are critical as far as individual
lengths go. With mono the legs are both at 30% stretch, but with GsP its a disaster if you put a load on that
loop without being extremely careful about the loop leg lengths.
Actually if you tie a Bimini, you will notice that the main line goes right around the loop, and is then twisted
with itself for a heap of twists and then twisted, with its own twists, back to meet the loop, with a simple knot
to secure the lot. If the legs of the loop are not exactly, and I mean exactly, equal the WHOLE of the load is on
that single line that goes around the loop, because everything slips to that state. Just look at it and how its tied.
Maxg

[Ryan Mcguggon]

G'day Max,

Just sent you an email request for the pics/description of how to attached the braided loop to GSP.

Cheers