Braid with a fluorocarbon leader has become very popular in recent years in bass fishing and the one sticking point for a lot of anglers who have not adopted the two line combination is the “extra” knot or fail point in the scenario. The truth is the knot really isn’t as big a deal as we want to make it. You can tie a great knot with great breaking strength and fish all day with confidence. A bigger issue is being able to cast the knot through the guides and the Alberto knot really shines for its super small footprint.
The Alberto knot, a slightly modified version of the albright special knot, gives you double cinching protection in a very small knot.
To Tie:
Start by doubling your fluorocarbon line and pinching it between your left hand (for right handers). Next, 1)pass the braid through the loop you have pinched between your fingers of the fluoro and begin wrapping the tag end of the braid around the two fluorocarbon lines.
Give yourself enough tag to wrap down 8 times and back up 10 times. So you wrap down 8 times, then reposition your grip and wrap up 10 times. The key to finalizing the knot is 2) passing the tag end back through the loop of the fluoro the way it came in, so that both ends of the braid are coming out the same direction in the loop.
Then grab the tag end and main line of the fluoro in one hand and the tag end and the mainline of the braid in the other hand and pull snugly until the knot cinches down. Then pull just both mainlines and secure the knot and test its strength and slippage before trimming the tag ends on each side. You can cut the tags pretty close on this knot so it will easily come through the guides.
Notes:
Once you tie it a few times it really goes really fast. The key is learning how to grab the lines with fingers and wrap with other fingers.
More Fishing Knots:
- Read our Wired2fish Fishing Knot Guide