A
long-time fly fishing guide, Capt. Greg Bowdish has been using
the Slim Beauty for years in many different fishing applications.
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The Uni Knot has become the standard knot for attaching
braided lines such as Power Pro and Fins to Monofilament
for the purpose of creating an invisible and abrasion resistant
leader between your lure and the highly-visible braided
line. There is however a knot adopted from fly fishing that
is not only stronger, but just as easy to tie. Called the
Slim Beauty, this knot has elements of both a Bimini Twist
and an Albright knot all rolled into one clean, quick connection.
Give the Slim Beauty a try, you may not ever go back to
the Uni Knot . . .
A Slim Beauty tied with 50# Flourocarbon
and 20# Power Pro.
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The Slim Beauty Knot
starts out with a simple Figure Eight Knot in the Flourocarbon
or Monofilament leader material. To make a Figure Eight Knot,
make a loop in the Mono, but coninue all the way around the
mono with the tag end before putting it throught the loop. Your
Figure Eight should look identical to the one at left. Be sure
not to tighten the knot too snugly. |
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Next, take the end of
your braided line and pass it through the top section of the
figure eight on the same side from which the tag end emerges
(in the Photo at left, both the tag end and the braided line
are underneath the right side of the mono loop). Next, put the
end of the braided line into the bottom section of the figure
eight so that it emerges on the opposite side as the section
of mono that goes to the lure. |
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Now, wrap the braided
line 6-7 times around the mono leader. Allow yourself plenty
of extra braided line to work with. You should now have something
similar to the image at left. |
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Take the end of the
braided line and wrap back down the mono in the same direction
and the same number of times. You should end up back at the
figure eight. To finish the knot, simply put the end of your
braided line through the bottom loop of the figure eight (the
side towards your lure). Which side of the loop you go into
is not important here. |
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The hardest part of
tying the Slim Beauty Knot is closing it. First, close the Figure
Eight Knot by pulling on opposites sides of your mono leader.
It is always wise to lubricate any knot tied in monofilament
with saliva. Next, alternately pull on both the standing line
and tag end of the braided line. The knot should slowly start
to take shape. You may have to push on the wraps of braided
line gently with your fingers to coax them toward the figure
eight. After the knot has taken shape like th one at left, pull
on all four lines to tighten. |
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Clip off the tag ends.
You should have one of mono leader and one of braided line.
The finished knot should appear like the one at left. |
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The Slim Beauty Knot (at top) is a strong,
clean knot that is a great alternative to the
Double Uni Knot (pictured below). It is much less likey to pull
out when tying
small diameter braided line to heavier diameter monofilament
and flourocarbon
bite leaders, and is indespensable when fishing for tarpon and
snook. |
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