Deadphishspread

Thanks for the replies, folks. Bulldog1935, yep, that's what led me to experiment with different knots and variations. The wire eye is smaller in diameter than the line. It cuts like a knife. Tom and T-billy, I experimented with the number of twists but maybe not as thoroughly as I should have. I used 7 wraps for 6 and 4 pound test; 5 wraps for everything heavier. I did this with the improved clinch, the trilene knot, and the modified I.C. QED, by wrap I mean full wrap around. Not twisting the eye but wrapping tag completely around standing end. papajoe222, I was careful to lubricate every knot. I used saliva but maybe dry fly dressing would've led to a different outcome. I've not used the knot on the water yet. newapti5, big 10-4 on that. Ironically, the modifiied version uses the knot's natural tendency to twist around itself. This is why I question if smaller diameter mono has a different intrinsic property from larger diameter mono. The lighter line seems to twist around itself better. moguy1973, a few weeks ago I caught a big cutthroat on a tube jig. I was using 6 pound trilene xp tied to the jig with a trilene knot. As I netted the fish the knot broke. I vowed to get to the bottom of this near disaster. During pull testing with a digital scale the trilene knot failed well below line strength about 30% of the time. This poor performance seems to happen with all the various lines I tested. During testing the variation seems much stronger and easier to tie consistently, but only when used in lighter line (4 and 6 pound). It really sucks when tied in or above 8 pound test. PressuredFishing, yup. MickD, as much as I hate to admit it, I think you nailed it. I simply allowed too many variables. Firstly, the cheap $45 scale I used is probably not very accurate, and I didn't verify its accuracy with known weights. I used different brands and "lines" of line. Nothing was consistent. If I can access a good scale I'll do it over again properly.

I think what I'm asking is: Do different tensile strength nylon monofilament lines have the same knot strength (as a ratio of line diameter/force required for knot failure) when tied to correspondingly larger diameter wire eyes, using the same knot? If not, why?

While doing knot strength tests I discovered that a particular terminal knot tied in 4 and 6 pound mono holds very well, but if tied in 8, 10, and 12 pound mono it fails miserably. I used a variety of snap and swivel sizes. When I tied this knot with 4 and 6 pound line to very small diameter wire snaps and swivels it usually held above the stated line strength. The same line tied to larger diameter wire snaps and swivels broke at the knot below the line strength. When I tied the knot using 8, 10, and 12 pound line to either small or larger diameter wire snaps and swivels it failed below line strength. So it seems like it's a great knot if used only for tying light line to small diameter wire snaps/swivels/eyes. My question is, what properties of mono are demonstrated by this experiment? The knot I was tying is a slight variation of the improved clinch. It's not a known knot; I can demonstrate it if there's any interest in such a near-useless knot.