"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Opus" wrote in
:

So, for my purposes the blood-knot is a straighter knot and the
strength is sufficient to catch the itty-bitty trout I fish for.

I'll second you on this. The surgeon's knot is an OK tippet to leader
connection, but if you use it to tie a knotted leader it lacks appeal for
me because of it's crookedness.

This matter of the crookedness of the surgeon's knot is a recurrent theme
here. I've always had a hard time understanding this because mine don't
come out this way. I thought about it and did a bit of research the last
time it came around, and I think I've figured out what the problem is.
People tie this knot in the wrong way.....or, to be more precise about it,
in the wrong place.

The crookedness referred to looks, when the leader is held horizontally,
very much like a child's drawing of the wavy surface of a lake; a series of
shallow arcs (belly down, ends up) connected at the ends.....imagine a
series of left parentheses " ( " turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise and
butted together. It happens like this:

Lay the leader down on a flat surface with the butt end to the left. Now,
take the tippet and set it down next to the leader so that the right end is
even with that of the leader and the rest runs out to the left, parallel to
the leader. In essence, you now have two lines running parallel and next to
one another, sort of like a model of railroad tracks. If you now tie an
overhand knot in the ends of both strands held together you will get exactly
the result described above (assuming you do this with multiple sections).
Remember that the surgeon's knot is simply an overhand knot with multiple
turns rather than just one.

Sitting on the bank of some small stream in Pennsylvania a few years ago,
waiting for the evening hatch with Tom Littleton, I happened to glance at
his leader. Choppy waves. Tom's leader was built as described above.

Here's how it should have been done:

Start as before. After setting the tippet down, pull it toward the right
until there is only about a six inch overlap between the two strands (leader
and tippet). Thus, assuming a 30 inch tippet, tippet and leader overlap for
6 inches and the tippet continues to extend 24 inches to the right of the
end of the leader. Now, holding both strands together, make a loop near the
left end of the overlap, and proceed with a multi-turn overhand knot, being
sure to draw both the end of the leader and all 24 inches of the tippet
through the loop on each turn. Moisten the knot and pull tight, making sure
to hold both strands on each end of the knot. You will note that the tag
ends of each of the strands come out at the opposite ends of the knot and
run parallel to the running lines.....NOT perpendicular, as is often
described when the knot is done wrong. In fact, since the tag ends come out
of the ends of the knot, it is superior to the blood knot (which it very
much resembles on cursory inspection) because the tag ends of the latter DO
come out perpendicular from the center of the knot. If the ends are snipped
close and carefully, the is virtually nothing left to snag on guides or
debris. Moreover, each end is held tightly under several wraps, whereas in
the blood knot there is only a single strand holding each end in place and
close clipping can make the whole thing come apart fairly easily.

You'll know you've done it right if the leader is straight.

Wolfgang