For my big salt rigs I really felt the bump-stop effect of my Alberto knot.  It was like pulling a small bobber stop into the guides.   I decided to thin things up and try the FG.  I did use UV glue on the finishing knots.   My rod guides were happy.  
 

you know what?  To the untrained eye, I’m a FG knot pro.  They come out beautifully every time.  I made them way longer than the 21-22 go arounds normally discussed. I don’t even count anymore. I go by knot length.  I get it to about 3/4” long and put on leather gloves and pull it tight.  I even hook it to something unmoving and pull really tight. If it lets go, I want it to do so in my garage.  This gets it all really thin.  
 

ladt Saturday the knot held all day.  My leader was so roughened up by the rocks.  I changed and retied tonight before dinner.  I’m loaded for “bear”.

 

with 20lb braid and my 8-10 lb leaders, I tie an embarrassing FG. One destined for failure.  

I use an Alberto with heavy mono/FC leaders up to 50lbs.  It gets clunky using $40 and 50 Momoi.  If I'm using custom plugs, I use heavy HD carbon or blue label.  Its not as thick and IME it runs through the guides better.

Blood knot for me as I can see the opposing ends and know it's tied properly. For big swimbaits it's San Diego Jam and mostly palomar directly to the bait. 

 

For BFS, I tend to get redundant on rigs as it's hard for me to tie leaders with small line when fishing due to poor eyesight. So i'll tie all my leaders before a fishing trip in the driveway in sunlight. 

 

If there's a failure (break, backlash, etc) with one bfs, i'll retire it and have two backups ready which can typically handle whatever presentation i was using with the now-failed outfit. 

 

Salt water big game fish I always used hollow braid with a Wind On leader/top!shot, no knot!

For standard braid to 60 lb the Albright knot works good. Didn’t know about the  FG knot back in the day!

Tom

 

 

2 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Salt water big game fish I always used hollow braid with a Wind On leader/top!shot, no knot!

For standard braid to 60 lb the Albright knot works good. Didn’t know about the  FG knot back in the day!

Tom

 

 

I’ve been reading about hollow braids.  I thought only hollow to hollow splices worked?  

50 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

I’ve been reading about hollow braids.  I thought only hollow to hollow splices worked?  

No, look at “wind on” leaders or top shot video’s.

Tom

 

I also can't tie an FG with light leader, 8 or 10lb.  I usually use 20lb leader in the salt and it ties fine.

An FG with light line is trickier business, but still effective. Always pull the knot after finishing to make sure there is no slippage. Those smaller diameter lines tend to slip easier.

On 9/12/2025 at 4:47 AM, Alex from GA said:

I also can't tie an FG with light leader, 8 or 10lb.  I usually use 20lb leader in the salt and it ties fine.

Yup.  As the knot was forming beautifully w the 25lb mono, I thought life was punking me, but it’s solid!