# Albright Knot problems



## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Snapper fishing this weekend I used the Albright knot to tie my braided line to about 20 feet of mono top shot on 2 different set ups. Both of them broke on decent but not huge snapper on the 2nd or 3rd fish, so what's the deal? I'm furious and will never use the knot again. I know I tied them well, and yes I used the mono for loop and tied the braid to the mono. They didn't break on strike, they both broke half way to the boat and I had both drags only around 15lbs. One was 50 lb spectra braid the other 65 lb pp. I ditched the top shot for the rest of the trip.

So what knot should I use now for braid to mono top shot?


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Learn a PR knot, it is 100% in strength transfer. I must say though I have never had a properly tied Albright fail either.


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

How many turns are you using? I've been using 12-17 on 65# and 35# PP and never had a knot failure. I have had a few sharks tail whip me though because I use a shorter leader.


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## Kevdog540 (Aug 7, 2008)

I use a red phillips knot and haven't had any problems, easy and quick to tie.


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## hjorgan (Sep 30, 2007)

Uni-knot is all I ever tie. For line to hook/lure and line-to-line applications.
Small profile 100% knot strength. On inshore rigs it casts through the rod eyes just fine.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

hjorgan said:


> Uni-knot is all I ever tie. For line to hook/lure and line-to-line applications.
> Small profile 100% knot strength. On inshore rigs it casts through the rod eyes just fine.


 
That is a negative sir. The uni to uni in braid is not 100%. On 360 a fellow named pametfisher did extensive testing for years and it is about a 65% knot also.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

lastcast said:


> How many turns are you using? I've been using 12-17 on 65# and 35# PP and never had a knot failure. I have had a few sharks tail whip me though because I use a shorter leader.


Honestly couldn't tell you, somewhere around 10 which maybe was the problem. My knot didn't fail, the mono slipped out. I should of clarified, the knot in the braid was still perfect both times which tells me it is a good knot it just doesn't hold to mono.

I was doing research and some people say to use 25-30 and a drop of super glue. But how good is a knot really if you have to do that many wraps and add glue?

I really like the albright because it is clean and easy to tie, but I don't know how I can trust it anymore even if I do twice the wraps and use super glue.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

baldona523 said:


> Honestly couldn't tell you, somewhere around 10 which maybe was the problem. My knot didn't fail, the mono slipped out. I should of clarified, the knot in the braid was still perfect both times which tells me it is a good knot it just doesn't hold to mono.
> 
> I was doing research and some people say to use 25-30 and a drop of super glue. But how good is a knot really if you have to do that many wraps and add glue?
> 
> I really like the albright because it is clean and easy to tie, but I don't know how I can trust it anymore even if I do twice the wraps and use super glue.


Where are you located? I don't understand slipping either and I don't use glue.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

lobsterman said:


> Where are you located? I don't understand slipping either and I don't use glue.


Niceville but why do you ask?

By slipping I mean that the knot in the braid was still perfect but the mono had slipped out of the knot. Err...the mono part of the knot came undone but the braid part of the knot stayed perfect.

Would a fluoro top shot tie better to braid? I don't know why it would, I prefer mono because it has more stretch. But overall I like the ability to have mono when grabbing the line, retying leaders, etc.


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## timeflies (Oct 3, 2007)

+ 1 on the red phillips knot. It is basically a modified albright, and your tag ends both point the same direction. If you google it, there should be plenty of videos. 
Before I switched, I tied my albrights "backwards" and found them to be alot more reliable. I am not sure if I can explain but i will try....

Make your mono loop and pass the braid through just like normal, but instead of wrapping up towards the braid, wrap down towards the mono leader. when you reinsert the tag through the loop, it must go away from you, and above the standing end of the braid. If you reinsert it any other way, you will know when you go to tighten it down, because you will have two separate pieces of line again!

Maybe that helps, maybe it doesnt? 


Also, the line diameter makes quite a difference, If the mono is huge and the braid is small then you will have trouble.


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## lastcast (Oct 12, 2007)

Thinking about how the mono could slip, one way I could see it is if it wasn't wetted and cinched down tight. Maybe binding before it cinches around the bend of the mono. Another might be if you let the mono twist around itself as your wrapping the braid. Keep the legs of the mono parallel.


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

I like the red phillips, thanks guys. I am going to do some experimentation with the Albright knot with a double loop or overhand knot on the mono similar to the red phillips. I like how the red phillips gives the braid something to pull against. I would prefer to use a knot I can use for another rod for casting purposes, but at this time I only need the knot for bottom fishing and I don't really care about it's fluidity through the guides.

I'll be honest, I am not sure how good the 40 lb mono I used was, I tossed it out and think it may have been old but that did not appear to be the issue. I tested it in the garage and it looked fine before hand. But I used it for some other things this weekend and it frayed really easily. The other option is I simply did not wrap it enough, but as I said I did at least 8-10 wraps, wet the knot, and put a glove on to cinch the braid tight. They both looked and felt very solid, this was my first time using a top shot with braid and I triple checked the knots before going out. 

I have been doing some online research, and I am not the only one to have the mono in the albright slip.


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## Gonzo (Sep 17, 2010)

Try this:


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## Starlifter (Feb 24, 2011)

When using braid you have to use more wraps than you would of you were using mono to avoid line slippage. I've used Improved Albright Knots plenty of times wrapping the braid around 25-30 wraps. I haven't had any line slippage occur, but have witness this problem when I did not use enough wraps. It says that the thinner the mainline, the more wraps are needed.

http://www.leadertec.com/tipsandtechniques/fishing_knots/knots_imp_albrt.html


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## guam_bomb80 (Nov 17, 2010)

For casting lines 50# and under I tie 4 wraps up and 5 wraps down, out the same way I went in the loop, wet, cinch it tight and cut both tags and melt to mushroom the tags. Never had it slip. Not sure why everyone is using so many wraps, but to each his own. Maybe my burning the tags is what saves me.... over 50lbs i use loop to loop so no issue there


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## baldona523 (Mar 2, 2008)

Thanks for the help but I can assure you I know how to and did tie the knot correctly. Power pro recommends doing 25 - 30 wraps, I only did 8 - 12 and that worked great with me with mono to mono in the past but I guess is not enough with braid. I'm also going to be working on the red phillips knot I like that it uses an overhand knot in the mono for the braid to grab.

I like the Albright but 30 wraps is insane to me. I feel like any knot with 30 wraps would work. The Albright is really easy luckily so I may keep using it for that reason alone even with all the wraps.


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## aroundthehorn (Aug 29, 2010)

Have you tried using a barrel swivel between the braid and the leader? That's probably the simplest solution.


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## LoupGarou (Dec 29, 2007)

Step 4 on Gonzo's chart is a real important one. You need to make sure to pull the tag end of the braid really really snug before puliing the knot completly closed.


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## knowphish (Apr 26, 2010)

Albright vs Uni-to-Uni


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