i know the  moves.  i just get so messed up when i am pulling it tight.  what exactly am i pulling on to cinch the knot down?  when i do get it miraculously, it is so strong with flouro for me.  it just seems to tighten down prematurely, leaving me in a tangled loop-knot type of situation. 

Do yourself a favor and learn how to tie the Pitzen knot.  It is similar to the San Diego Jam but easier.  Double knots are not necessary.

14 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

Do yourself a favor and learn how to tie the Pitzen knot.  It is similar to the San Diego Jam but easier.  Double knots are not necessary.

X2

For years I thought I was tying the  San Diego Jam.

Turns out I had the right knot just the wrong Name.

The Pitzen with FC is a winner. 

A-Jay

I’m no expert, but I use that knot. My problem with it is I tend to twist the loop when I start to wrap the line around it. I think that makes it harder to cinch the knot. The Pitzen is probably better in that regard, in that it wouldn’t matter if it was twisted.

 

I know you pull the tag end to tighten the San Diego Jam knot, and you also have to pull the loops towards the hook at the same time. If you only pull the tag end, you’ll get sort of a sliding loop knot. I’ve read some instructions that say pull the tag and then slide the knot down to the hook, and other instructions that say slide the knot down to the hook then pull the tag.

 

I think sometimes I miss the bottom loop because I can’t see good and end up with a Pitzen by mistake.

 

I’m using it on mono. I learned of it through @WRB maybe he knows the correct way to tighten it.

The Pitzen knot is similar to the San Deigo Jam knot except you don’t put the tag end through the loop at the hook or lure eye and through the upper loop. To tightened the San Diego Jam knot you pull the tag end snug to form a barrel, then pull the main line to slide the knot down to “Jam” clinch the knot tight.

The double SD Jam knot is a double line SD Jam knot, use fewer wraps no more then 5, put the double loop tag end through the lower loop and up through the upper loop pull the loop tag end snug, the main line to slide the barrel down to Jam the knot tight.

I only use the double SD Jam knot on heavy wire hooks with smaller diameter line salt water fishing.

Tom

I use the Pitzen knot with all lines and all baits.

I do it the same way as Tom, and use the SDJ for everything except 2 braid techniques 
The extra step over the Pitzen is what makes the double SDJ redundant  

 

 

 

 

Mike

So many videos on San Diego jam. I decided this year to try it and really like it for fluoro. I’d just suggest watch a video with some line in front of you and go step by step. Super easy honestly if you do it a time or two with the video. 

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Pitzen knot, it’s also known as the Eugene knot. This is one of the easiest and most reliable knots you can tie. If you haven’t been using it, give it a try it also gives you an audible click to let you know it’s tied correctly 

I just tried the double pitzen this past weekend for the first time.  I hated tying a palomar with braid onto a spinnerbait or buzzbait.  I was also having some palomar knot issues with one of my lines (weirdly, just that one line).  After two practice runs and then two rods tied up at home, It was dead simple on the water.  Its faster than a trilene knot and stronger.  Same speed as the palomar and stronger.  And its fine for every line type.  I'm sold.  

I’m starting to think knots are the boogie man. They aren’t nearly as tough as you read and fail much much less. I show these forum posts to my friends who fish and they all laugh a bit. It’s just not that daunting

3 hours ago, A-Jay said:

X2

For years I thought I was tying the  San Diego Jam.

Turns out I had the right knot just the wrong Name.

The Pitzen with FC is a winner. 

A-Jay

 

I don't know knot names. I know the Palomar and the knot my grandpa taught me when I was twelve. I've been using the latter ever since. Went to look up the Pitzen and discovered it was what I had been tying all my life.  ?

For all you fishing knot tying aficionados,

there's another option available. 

Might be under the radar and can be effectively completed at least a couple of different ways.  It's more of a an instinctive tie, meaning you just kind of go with the flow.  So loops & clinches end up going every which way.

In the end you have the Mite knot.

Might hold, might not.

It's any bodies guess. 

You know what they say, if you can't tie a knot, then tie a lot.

#sheepshanksforthewin

A-Jay