The improved clinch versus the Palomar knot is a line-to-lure test I run on a force tester to find which connection holds more weight before it fails. In this How 2 Tuesday I tie both knots to a 3/0 Gamakatsu circle hook on 20-pound Daiwa fluorocarbon, pull each one steady on my NexTech tester, and read the breaking strength right off the screen. It is the first round of the line-to-lure Knot Wars, and the winner came down to barely more than a pound.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
In my test the Palomar knot won. The Palomar broke at 18.8 pounds and the improved clinch broke at 17.34 pounds, both tied to a 3/0 circle hook on 20-pound fluorocarbon. It was a tight race, but the Palomar came out on top by about a pound and a half. That one pound of pressure can be the difference between landing a fish of a lifetime and breaking off, so I am going with the Palomar for this connection.
I tied both knots with Daiwa fluorocarbon in 20-pound test, and I connected each one to a 3/0 Gamakatsu circle hook. Keeping the line, the hook, and the tester the same on every knot is the whole point. If you change the materials you change the result, so I use the exact same gear for each knot so the only variable left is the knot itself.
I tie it with six turns. You run the line through the eye of the hook, wrap it six times around the standing line, pass the tag through the small loop near the eye, then tuck it back through the bigger loop you just created to improve it. I lubricate the knot and pull it down tight and seat it consistently every single time. A lot of people just call it the fisherman's knot, and it is one of the first knots most of us ever learn.
You double the line, pass the loop through the eye of the hook, tie an overhand knot with the doubled line, then bring the loop back over the hook and pull everything tight. A lot of bass fishermen tie the Palomar all day long. People think of it as a more advanced knot than the clinch, but it is not hard once you have done a few, and it tested as the stronger of the two.
Because great fishermen control the controllable, and the way you rig your tackle is the most controllable thing you have. You can choose to tie a stronger knot or a weaker one, and you can choose to do the prep work and prove it on a scale. When you test your own knots with your own line and hooks, you stop guessing and you know you are walking onto the water with your strongest possible rig.
Absolutely, and you should test them yourself. You might seat the clinch or the Palomar a little differently than I do, and that can change the number on the scale. The goal is to find the strongest knot that you can tie consistently with your own gear. Tie a few, break a few, and let your own tester tell you which connection to trust.
Here is the simple process I use to compare two knots head to head so the result actually means something.
After the braid-to-fluorocarbon round, where the FG knot won as I expected, I wanted to move to the connection that finishes every rig: line to lure. It is how you actually tie the hook or the lure to the end of your line, and it is the last link between you and the fish. If that knot is weak, none of the strong connections above it matter. I get into why I started here in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The improved clinch broke at 17.34 and the Palomar at 18.8, and the clinch actually failed well into the fluorocarbon leader, which tells you something about where the weak point really was. That margin is small, but on the water a single pound can decide a tournament or a fish of a lifetime. I walk through exactly what I saw on each pull in the episode, so press play in the player above.
This whole series comes back to controlling the controllable. We cannot control the weather or whether the fish eat, but we can control how we rig. Testing knots is the cheapest insurance there is, and it is something any angler can do at home with a scale. I talk through how I think about that mindset in the episode, so press play in the player above.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
improved clinch knot · Palomar knot · FG knot · double uni knot · fisherman's knot · Daiwa fluorocarbon · Gamakatsu circle hook · NexTech force tester · Waypoint TV knot course · braid to fluorocarbon · line to lure · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I am Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 629: Improved Clinch vs. Palomar, Which Line to Lure Knot Is Stronger
In this episode: the fg knot won the braid to fluorocarbon round, the improved clinch your grandfather taught you, tying the palomar on a three ought gamakatsu circle hook, 18.8 pounds against 17.34 on 20 pound daiwa fluorocarbon, why great fishermen control the controllable — in the exact words spoken.
Tom Rowland: What's going on, everybody?
It's how to Tuesday, and we're gonna continue our knot wars.
It's been fantastic.
I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions that you either emailed or sent to the text line.
The text line for future reference is 3059307346, and you can always get me at that, number.
Also, there's a dedicated email address for the show.
It is podcast@saltwaterexperience.com.
Both of those have been pretty active with this new knot wars that we're doing.
You guys wanna see different knots.
I'm trying to incorporate those.
Tom Rowland: Today, we're gonna move away from the braid to fluorocarbon that we've been doing, and everybody I I guess if you were listening, you you realized that the f g knot won.
It's no surprise to me.
The f g naught is the strongest knot that I know from braid to fluorocarbon.
The one that was a surprise, though, was the, was the the j naught.
The j naught was actually much stronger than I thought, although the double uni and the f g knot were, as expected, at least by me, the two strongest knots.
Today, we're going to do a different connection.
That's that's one very important connection, braid to fluorocarbon.
Tom Rowland: Another very important connection is line to lure.
How do you actually tie the lure on, the hook on, whatever you're tying to the end of your line?
How can you make that the strongest connection and test it and make sure that you're doing that?
We're gonna test two different kinds in the in the coming weeks.
Today, we're gonna test one that snugs up tight.
Okay?
So the improved clinch against the palomar.
That's what we're doing today.
Tom Rowland: Improved clinch, probably a lot of people just call it the fisherman's knot.
It is one of the most, tied knots when you're a kid.
This is what your grandfather teaches you how to tie.
This is the fishing knot.
Right?
The improved clinch.
We're doing it with six turns, putting it through the hole, and then back through the bigger hole to improve it using, something to lubricate it and pull it down tight so that we're gonna be doing that consistently on every single one, and we're gonna test that against the palomar knot.
Tom Rowland: The palomar knot is one where you double the line, you tie an overhand, go back over the hook, and pull it tight.
If you wanna learn how to tie any of these knots, all of these knots that we're talking about plus 40 other knots, you can go and check out my knot course on waypointtv.com.
That will be that link will be in the description, and you can get that knot course.
It's it's reasonably priced, and you can learn how to tie, all of the knots that we're talking about plus many, many more.
Okay.
So today, what we're looking at is the Palomar knot first.
Tom Rowland: I've got a Palomar knot tied, and here is all the stuff that we're using.
We're using the Daiwa, fluorocarbon 20 pound.
K?
Very common commonly used.
We're gonna tie that to a three ought Gamakatsu circle hook on both of these that we're testing.
And, also, in order to test this, we're using our NexTech force tester.
And then when you're doing something especially like like this with a hook, when this hook breaks, who knows where it's gonna go?
So I'm gonna definitely wear, sunglasses to test this out.
I've got it on the tester right now, And as long as I'm in focus here, I'll wrap this around this deal, and we're gonna test this.
Okay?
Tom Rowland: So the Next Tech Tester, the way this thing works is it will it will pull and break, and then it will record the strongest strength.
So with 20 pound, here goes the Palomar knot on a threezero circle hook.
I'm gonna pull pull steadily, and it's pretty strong.
K.
It broke.
The scale went flying.
The hook went flying.
Let's see what kind of force we generated.
Tom Rowland: 18.
18 pounds on 20 pound.
So in my opinion, that's pretty good.
We have 18 pound, breaking strength on that knot.
Okay.
So now what we'll do is we'll reset this, and we'll get it all ready again.
Tom Rowland: And I have already tied a six turn improved clinch on the same Daiwa fluorocarbon 20 pound, and we're going to test this one out and see which one is stronger.
Give me one second here.
I'll hook this scale back up to my little rigged deal I've got going on for the scale.
Okay.
So we had 18.8, and now put the sunglasses back on so I don't get hit in the face with a with a hook.
Wrap this around my little deal here.
Okay.
Now, here we go for the six turn clinch.
We're gonna test this just like we did the other, pulling nice and steady.
And here we go.
Popped.
K.
That actually looks like it broke well well into the fluorocarbon leader, and we're looking at a tight race here.
Tight race.
Tom Rowland: 17.34.
So, actually, you know, a lot of people might consider the Palomar knot to be a little more advanced knot.
I don't know.
A lot of people tie that.
A lot of bass fishermen use the Palomar knot all the time.
It's very strong.
The improved clinch, very simple knot.
Turns out it's also pretty doggone strong.
Tom Rowland: So 17.34 against 18.8.
I'm going with the Palomar.
That is the stronger knot, and that one pound of pressure could mean the difference between winning a fishing tournament, catching a fish of a lifetime, or having having it break off.
So, first round of the line to lure goes to the Palomar.
So if you don't know how to tie the Palomar knot and you wanna learn how, there's probably tons of videos out there that you can get for free.
Or if you want to get my knot course, you can do that on Waypoint TV, and you can get that knot and a whole bunch more.
And then you can test these knots for yourself.
I mean, that's what we're doing here, showing you how I'm testing them.
I'm tying them these knots myself.
Tom Rowland: You should tie these knots and test them on your scale, and maybe you tie it slightly different.
I don't know.
You wanna go with the strongest knot that you can tie consistently, and that is how you're going to be able to control the controllable.
That's what we've been talking about.
Great fishermen control the controllable.
The most controllable thing that we have is the way we rig our tackle.
You can choose which knot you tie.
You can choose to tie a stronger knot or a weaker knot.
You can choose to do the prep work and test things like we're doing here, and then decide this is the best knot for the type of fishing that I'm doing.
I want my strongest rig.
Tom Rowland: So from the braid to the fluorocarbon, we're gonna use the f g knot, and then we're gonna go down to the to the, to the to the to the lure, and maybe we tie the palomar knot.
K?
We're gonna keep going on these knots, and we're gonna find out what is the strongest connection for the knots I know.
Now, you guys have been doing a great job sending me suggestions of other knots to try.
Keep sending them.
Nine three or area code (305) 930-7346.
That's how you do it.
Send me the knots you want me to test, and we'll see if we can get them done.
That's how to Tuesday for this week.
The Palomar beats the improved clinch.
Alright.
See you next week.
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