Would the Zeppelin Bend work for mono fishing line?

[TMCD]

I'm a fisherman and that's what actually brought me to this board in the first place. Anyway, I've been wondering if the Zeppelin Bend would be an adequate knot for tying fishing line together. Most fisherman use the Uni Knot, Blood Knot, Surgeon's Knot or Albright knot for joining their lines but I'll bet the Zeppelin Bend would actually work pretty well.

[xarax]

   I believe that the "double" variations of those knots are much better, as they are more secure, and/or stronger ( being more convoluted and/or symmetric) : Double Uni, Doube Surgeon s knot, Double Albight and Double Zeppelin (2)...Also, a Double No name knot (2) would be fine, I guess. 
   It would be nice if you make a collection of all known bends used by fisheremen, and post it here. As mentioned repeatedly in this forum, fishermen knots are different from the ordinary knots used by other proffesionals, because they are pre-tightened in high loads, relatively to the size of the line. However, they are very interesting knots, and many of them can be adapted ( tied with fewer wraps, for example ) and used on cordinary cords and ropes.
   I think that the knots used by fishermen deserve a forum section of their own here - but I do not see much audience around, ready to participate in relevant discussions. 

1) http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=1980
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3-R7D60pEM

[SS369]

I believe that one of the bigger drawbacks to using the RZ bend for fishing is the the size and configuration of the formed knot. In that it may not pass through the line guides very smoothly. It may also create a disturbance (turbulence) notice by the fish if located near the bait(Not sure if that really makes a difference?).

You should try it and report back to us on how it works for you. Perhaps moistening the (mono) line prior to final tightening will help it retain its locked shape.

SS

[Dan_Lehman]

As SS369 remarked, the zeppelin isn't so well shaped for angling.

You might do some comparative testing of the knot-A vs. knot-Z sort
and see if, as I suspect, the knot Z. is comparatively weak, too.


--dl*
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[knot4u]

The Zeppelin Bend works in monofilament, but it's not as strong as fishing-specific knots.

[knot4u]

Also, I don't feel comfortable with cutting the ends short on a Zeppelin Bend.  Meanwhile, that's exactly what you're supposed to do with fishing knots.

[TMCD]

I was just curious if the Zeppelin Bend would work because it's probably my favorite bend and I'm a fisherman. Having said that, I don't do any fishing where I would actually need to bend mono or braid to a backer line. I'm a panfisherman and simply use the line on my spool. Bending lines together is used much more in Saltwater fishing because those big fish have the ability to rip off massive amounts of line when they take off running and you must have enough backer to allow for these huge strip offs.

I like the Albright and the Uni Knot, those would probably be my two choices if I ever had to bend lines together.

[Sweeney]

Freshwater fishermen use mainly hook to line or some other hardware to line rather than bends as TMCD says. The importance of knot strength is always stressed because fisherman (as part of the nature of the sport) use line which has the minimum breaking strength relative to the fish so unlike rope knots, fishing knots will be tested for security and breaking strength quite often. The other major consideration is the disturbance the knot makes when travelling into or through the water - again not really a consideration with rope. Some specialist fishing knots can be used in rope but most depend on the slide-and-lock nature of very slippery line - a blood knot can be tied in for example polyethylene rope but in ordinary rope it simply will not tighten properly (a double fisherman's works in both though).

For a good book on fishing knots I would recommend the revised edition of Geoff Wilson's "Complete Book of Fishing Knots & Rigs" published in the USA (Geoff is Australian) @ 12.95 USD and also available from Amazon in the UK or Lindsey Philpott's "The complete Book of Fishing Knots, Leaders and Lines". My own favourite is the Pitzen Knot (which will work in cordage with fewer turns).

Barry

[TMCD]

Speaking of fishing knots, Perfected Whipping is the same thing as Snelling a hook. Snelling a hook is a challenge for your typical angler, that's one reason they sell snelled hooks at the stores. It's the only knot I'm aware of that the manufacturers pretie and then sell to the customer. Anyway, if you can tie a Perfected Whipping, you can snell a fish hook because it's the exact same hand action. I use the Snell Knot almost exclusivley and it took me quite a while to finally master the art of Snelling a hook.

[Dan_Lehman]

Speaking of fishing knots, Perfected Whipping is the same thing as Snelling a hook.

Or, of one way of doing so.

It's the only knot I'm aware of that the manufacturers pretie and then sell to the customer.

I've seen packages of ("leaders"?) pre-tied eyeknots,
using angler's loop & surgeon's knot ("strangle eyeknot")
--and pointed out the former to Brion Toss in contradiction
to his Rigger's Apprentice assertion that monofilament line
had rendered that knot obsolete (a mis-quoting of CLDay).
There are probably some other cases (Bimini twists ?).


--dl*
====

[TMCD]

Dan,
There are several variations on Snelling a hook, but some of those variations don't hide the tag end...that's the key difference between a pure snell IMO. They bring the tag end across the body of the knot, ala a Uni Knot, the Perfected method hides the WE and it's supposedly the "correct way".  Of course I'm a knot geek and am obviously being picky in my evaluation. I've always thought the WE being completely exposed across the wrappings could lead to it being cut and then the whole knot unravels.