The debate over nylon monofilament and fluorocarbon leader and tippet material has been alive and well since fluorocarbon was first introduced. There are many advantages and disadvantages of both materials, not the least of which is price. Fluorocarbon is far more expensive than nylon (mono), which is why many anglers prefer to attach pricey fluorocarbon tippet material to more affordable nylon factory tapered leaders.
The result? A cheaper overall leader, with the benefits of fluorocarbon (invisibility, abrasion resistance, higher strength to diameter ratio) at the business end. However, when attaching fluorocarbon tippet to factory tapered nylon factory leaders, we highly recommend – Don’t use a blood knot!
In most cases, fluorocarbon is much harder than nylon. Therefore when attaching fluorocarbon tippet to a nylon leader with a noticeable variation in diameter, fluorocarbon is actually able to cut through the softer nylon material when compressed.. That’s not good.
This is often not noticeable while testing the knot by hand, and might not even manifest itself in many freshwater scenarios, but when targeting hard fighting fish like bonefish, we’ve seen this happen on more than one occasion – Enough times that we’d rather not take the chance.
That said, when using blood knots to attach similar diameter fluorocarbon to hard monofilament (nylon mono that is manufactured to be harder than normal) such as RIO Alloy Hard leader material, we haven’t had any issues. The issue lies when attaching fluorocarbon tippets to factory tapered leaders, which out of necessity to produce, are made from a softer/suppler nylon material.
So, when adding fluorocarbon to your nylon leader, we strongly suggest trying a simple double or triple surgeon’s knot instead. Its easy to tie, believed by many to actually be stronger than a blood knot when connecting lines of differing diameters, and is less likely to cut when under tension.. Give it a try!
I too use fluorocarbon tippets with tapered nylon leaders. My preferred knot is the Orvis tippet knot (stronger than blood or double surgeons) but I also often use leader rings attached with a simple improved clinch knot. Leader rings make your tapered leaders last much longer and negate the knot strength and stiffness variances between nylon and fluorocarbon.
Thanks for an intelligent and well-written post. I don’t feel so bad about tying surgeons’ knots streamside anymore.
Sure thing CJ! Appreciate the kind words, and we’re super glad you found the post helpful. Have fun out there!
I often use a j-knot for non loop to loop connections between different size & material types of leaders.
Super strong & easy to tie.
An excellent connection when adding a tippet to your tapered leader is to tie the leader to a tippet ring using a clinch knot…and then add a tippet to the ring with a clinch knot. Now a strong connection, you don’t use up the taper when tying on another tippet, and the ring allows you to add a vertical dropper to the ring fishing a nymph dropper, or say a smaller streamer to you bigger streamer on the end.