For the bad knot tier in your group.

[scoutm]

For the bad knot tier in your group. I think I will get me some, god knows I need it.

 

[silver creek]

In a chain of knots, the weakest knot is the one that will fail. Therefore, the most common knots to break and/or slip are the leader to tippet knot and the tippet to fly knot. For me it is the tippet to fly knot.

I can't recall in over 30 years of fly fishing having the fly line to leader or fly line to backing knot break; or for that matter, having a leader butt to transition knot break. So if one is to using UV Knot Sense to prevent a slipping knot, it only helps me for the leader to tippet knot. I certainly am not going to use it on the tippet to fly knot.

If one accepts my premise to be true, UV Knot Sense is not for strengthening a knot. Rather, the purpose is to smooth over the bulky knots so that the knot slips through the guides without the knots hanging up.

I have found that having a knot fail is a great motivator to learn how to tie knots properly. YMMV.

 

[scoutm]

In a chain of knots, the weakest knot is the one that will fail. Therefore, the most common knots to break and/or slip are the leader to tippet knot and the tippet to fly knot. For me it is the tippet to fly knot.

I can't recall in over 30 years of fly fishing having the fly line to leader or fly line to backing knot break; or for that matter, having a leader butt to transition knot break. So if one is to using UV Knot Sense to prevent a slipping knot, it only helps me for the leader to tippet knot. I certainly am not going to use it on the tippet to fly knot.

If one accepts my premise to be true, UV Knot Sense is not for strengthening a knot. Rather, the purpose is to smooth over the bulky knots so that the knot slips through the guides without the knots hanging up.

I have found that having a knot fail is a great motivator to learn how to tie knots properly. YMMV.

Silver - a very well written response and excellent conclusion...however, it misses the levity in which the original post was intended.

Really who would use UV Knot Sense in the ways they have portrayed.

 

[el jefe]

I have found that having a knot fail is a great motivator to learn how to tie knots properly. YMMV.

...or to learn another knot that one can tie better, and which serves the same purpose. I arrived at the blood knot because I could not tie a double-surgeon's knot in which I had any confidence, regardless of how much I worked at it. The blood knot has since saved me many hours of frustration.

 

[flav]

Really who would use UV Knot Sense in the ways they have portrayed.

That's exactly how everyone I know who uses knot sense uses it, to smooth out leader and connection knots so they slide through the guides easier and to keep weeds from catching on knots. I like to tie my own leaders, and although I don't use knot sense for trout I do on my saltwater and steelhead leaders.

 

[pnc]

UV knot sense as with knot sense from years back. To my knowledge were and are to make knots less likely to interfere by getting caught on guides or by picking up unwanted debris from water.
Having used product for years never thought about strengthening knots. First mention of it seen, was this thread.
Before knot sense first came out. Other things were and still are used. Knot sense just made things easier.

......... pc

 

[scotty macfly]

Whether it's used to secure knots, or to help the knots slide better through the guides, I can see a positive use for it, especially for a new beginner who is still having difficulty with knot tying.

If I tied my own leaders, I could see myself using it just for added security, but I use a furled leader with a tippet ring, and my knots hold pretty well.

 

[karstopo]

I got a little gung ho about using UV cure over my blood knots for a time then I decided I really didn’t need it since the knots were doing fine without it. It does make a smooth, snagless connection if weeds are an issue.

Lately, I’ve noticed that the little tag ends, even trimmed close, of the blood knot will hang up on sticks out while fishing on the lake so maybe I need to get to using the UV again. I’d hate to lose a big LMB just because the blood knot wouldn’t slide over a submerged log.

 

[ottosmagic13]

I have used Sally Hanson's Hard as Nails to coat knots on my bass leaders. I'm usually pulling poppers through some thick pond muck and a coat of S.H. (or UV Loon would work) helps keep the muck off the knots. It also has the added benefit of allowing the nail knot of the mono perfection loop fly line leader transition pass through the tip guide if necessary.

 

[silver creek]

Whether it's used to secure knots, or to help the knots slide better through the guides, I can see a positive use for it, especially for a new beginner who is still having difficulty with knot tying.

I guess I need to post this Lefty Kreh tip again on how to prevent knots from catching on the guides when reeling in fish.

When the fish gets close and you need to bring knots into the guides, turn the rod upside down so the reel and the rod guides are facing up. Then the knots will slide over the end of rod blank and not over the tip top guide ring or the snake guide rings. Imagine the leader coming over the tip top guide along the rod blank in the illustrations below. You can see that the knots are less likely to hang up.

 

[sweetandsalt]

Coating some knots with a thin semi-flexible UV material can smooth tag ends from catching up on weeds, I regularly do this with the blood knots on my flats fishing leaders. For smoothing, not for added strength or slip residence; this is achieved through proper tying and thorough tightening.

Fly fishing is a hands-on form of angling eschewing mechanical and automated processes. Accomplished practitioners enhance and expand their skill sets by a combination of experience, practice and experimentation. Practicing your casting makes you more effective during actual on-water presentation and practicing knot tying techniques renders you less likely to endure rigging failure when a fish is on. Sound knots are a prerequisite of fly fishing craft, mastering classic knots and learning new innovative ones should be a core objective of all who take our sport seriously.