# Location X Knot



## Forgottencoast (Aug 25, 2017)

I just looked at the knot, it looks like after you finish it, it leaves you with 2 strands of your class tippet, which makes it not IGFA legal if I am thinking correct...?

Most guys that use bimini's in there tarpon leaders are using a huffnagle knot, but even the old school guys I know are moving to the slim beauty...


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## slewis (Sep 8, 2015)

Improved Blood or Alberto


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

I use the Slim Beauty for lighter shock (or bite) tippets - but I'm still using the Hufnagle for heavy shocks... (60 and 80lb fluoro joined to 20lb Hard Mason mono 20lb..). In the back country of the 'glades we can get away with heavier leaders than what's being used down in the Keys these days...

I took a job many years ago doing 100 tarpon leaders (in pairs - each pair joined the other by a double length of bite tippet -about 30" to allow room for tying a loop or other knot to the fly...) then each pair looped together to make a single chain wound around an empty spool... In use you pulled out a leader pair then cut the bite tippet in half to free up a single leader (very handy for night fishing since you didn't have to tie up any knots other than the connection to the fly - the leader itself was looped onto an existing loop on the butt section of the rest of the leader... That butt section on a 12wt is six feet of 60lb mono, double nail knotted to the fly line...

Back then the customer specified the bite tippet would be 110lb Maxima mono leader joined to 15lb hard Mason by a Hufnagle (after tying a bimini twist at each end of the tippet.... I was forced to learn how to do each knot - one hundred times over... (and needed to wear a glove to keep my hand intact..).

The Slim Beauty, by the way is the knot for building tapered leaders - far superior to the old blood knot (and much stronger if tied properly...).


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

sidelock said:


> Anyone using this knot to attach bite tippet to class bimini for big Tarpon ?


Hi sidelock. Long time no see. 

Are you talking about the one that involves a Bimini?


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## sidelock (Jan 31, 2011)

Yes haven't been on here for a while. The Location X Knot involves a bimini but I have devised a way to make the bimini with small 1" loops. It saves from having to discard the bimini class tippet every time the bite becomes too small from changing flies.


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## DeepSouthFly (Sep 7, 2016)

So you want your shock to be mono for the stretch it adds? I've always done fluro but that does make more sense. New to the tarpon leader stuff.


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## backbone (Jan 4, 2016)

Shock = Bite = always fluorocarbon.

The Mono goes in the rest of the leader for stretch.


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## DeepSouthFly (Sep 7, 2016)

Ok I misunderstood for a second. I do use fluro for my bite section but I have been using fluro to make my entire leader also. Is this "technically" wrong? I have been using full fluro leaders cause my tarpon fishing is beachside in the panhandle so our fish don't ride very high unless it's very calm seas. I use fluro to help my fly sink a little more. And water is crystal clear also. Using unweighted flies mostly, few with bead chain eyes.


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## Pierson (Mar 16, 2016)

DeepSouthFly said:


> I have been using fluro to make my entire leader also. Is this "technically" wrong?


Yes, and I have taken the liberty of reporting you to AFFTA. Don't let it happen again.


Foreal though, mono usually has more "fly line" like properties, so most people use mono for the butt sections of their leader to get a better turnover and as an extension of their floating fly line. For sinking lines or getting your presentation down lower, flouro is totally good to go. You just may have problems if throwing a gurgler or other top water flies.


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

DeepSouthFly said:


> Ok I misunderstood for a second. I do use fluro for my bite section but I have been using fluro to make my entire leader also. Is this "technically" wrong? I have been using full fluro leaders cause my tarpon fishing is beachside in the panhandle so our fish don't ride very high unless it's very calm seas. I use fluro to help my fly sink a little more. And water is crystal clear also. Using unweighted flies mostly, few with bead chain eyes.


You're doing it right for where we fish. I'll definitely help you test your system when the Mav shows up!


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## DeepSouthFly (Sep 7, 2016)

LowHydrogen said:


> You're doing it right for where we fish. I'll definitely help you test your system when the Mav shows up!


I know dude it's killing me.


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## backbone (Jan 4, 2016)

Yep, nothing wrong with full fluorocarbon. Especially if you want your fly down in the water column.
The mono helps flies stay on top and gives some stretch to the leader system that prevents breakage on big surges and jumps.


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## DeepSouthFly (Sep 7, 2016)

backbone said:


> Yep, nothing wrong with full fluorocarbon. Especially if you want your fly down in the water column.
> The mono helps flies stay on top and gives some stretch to the leader system that prevents breakage on big surges and jumps.


Would it be stupid if I used mono as my class tippet to help with stretch or would that affect the way my leader lays out, sinks or floats? Wouldn't think it would but I've never tried it.


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## backbone (Jan 4, 2016)

If I was trying to get the fly down I would use an intermediate sink tip fly line, but still use the mono setup with fluorocarbon bite.


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## Gervais (Nov 28, 2016)

backbone said:


> If I was trying to get the fly down I would use an intermediate sink tip fly line, but still use the mono setup with fluorocarbon bite.


I’m not an expert but was told what you said above but for a different reason. The mono adds a little buoyancy between the sink tip and the fly so the fly doesn’t point downward which doesn’t look natural for a wounded baitfish.


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Y'all need to go fishing more....


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

sidelock said:


> Yes haven't been on here for a while. The Location X Knot involves a bimini but I have devised a way to make the bimini with small 1" loops. It saves from having to discard the bimini class tippet every time the bite becomes too small from changing flies.


No thank you. The tag on the bite tippet will snag silts, moss and grass. What I use is the system I described in the thread pinned in the top of the Fly Fishing Forum under Tarpon Leaders.


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## flyclimber (May 22, 2016)

lemaymiami said:


> Y'all need to go fishing more....


I need to get my motors fixed....


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## sidelock (Jan 31, 2011)

Backwater said:


> No thank you. The tag on the bite tippet will snag silts, moss and grass. What I use is the system I decribbed in the thread pinned in the top of the Fly Fishing Forum under tTarpon Leaders.


Not all places one fishes has floating grass and any knot in heavier mono/fluoro will arguably pick up some grass for that matter. When floating grass is present a short intermediate tip may be the best alternative solution to get just below it. Regardless how slim in profile the knots are, they are likely to disturb the moss/grass at the very least when the line is being retrieved through it and the knots come in contact with it which will ultimately spook weary tarpon just the same.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

sidelock said:


> Not all places one fishes has floating grass and any knot in heavier mono/fluoro will arguably pick up some grass for that matter. When floating grass is present a short intermediate tip may be the best alternative solution to get just below it. Regardless how slim in profile the knots are, they are likely to disturb the moss/grass at the very least when the line is being retrieved through it and the knots come in contact with it which will ultimately spook weary tarpon just the same.


In my experience, Murphy's Law persist. It's not always about floating grass. Silts, moss, random green slim and grass suspended subsurface, not to mention picking up all of the above from the bottom in the shallows. It all seems to be prevalent when you least expect it, no matter where your fly and leader rides in the water column. No matter if you are inside, outside, gin clear or muddy waters, grass flats or sandy bottom beach fronts, it can be where you least expect it. So if it can happen, it will. If the fish notices it, it's just one more thing to add on the many thing that will turn them off on your fly. That is why, if you look at any leader system I use for poons, every singe tag end points back to the fly, shedding off any slim or grasses that may catch on the tag ends.

You were asking and I am replying with what I've experienced with it over the years. No need to explain why I shouldn't be concerned with it. Nobody thought me how to do that. I went to the school of hard knocks over the years with the subject.

Also, that knot in the video runs with a long loop knot that is basically a doubled over tippet. So basically half of your tippet is a dbl tippet. Yes I see where you reduced it to a 1" loop. 25yrs ago, watching Stu Apte, I learned to snug the Bimini up tight against the bite leader. But 6yrs later, I did away with the Bimini in the tippet all together at the bite leader. Again, showing more stuff to a fish that can be a little on the weary side, even on the Gulf coast where I do most of my tarpon fishing. So about 20yrs ago, I switched to a longer FC tippet, Magnum bimini on the butt leader side of the tippet and either a Jimmy Albright knot or an Alberto knot connection from bite to tippet. Slim, small, strong, stealthy!

But hey, go for it. You do you and I'll do me! 

Ted Haas


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## sidelock (Jan 31, 2011)

I totally get it and I'm not arguing your point but like most everything else in life sometimes one needs to compromise. Some would argue that the Albright and the Alberto knots both leave a kink at the junction that impedes tracking. At least we have choices, which brings this to another subject.
What intrigues me in today's advanced and ever growing technology is why line manufactures have not developed or figured out a way to extrude one piece tapered monofilament leaders with integrated bite tippet ! If they can extrude fly lines as thin as #3 with similar taper variances, why not monofilament ? I know such leader would be very difficult if not impossible to conform to IGFA rules and regs. but we're not all chasing records here. I realize it's a small niche and limited market however adding such an option to an existing line of products certainly wouldn't hurt their manufacturing outcome.


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## coconutgroves (Sep 23, 2013)

Forgottencoast said:


> I just looked at the knot, it looks like after you finish it, it leaves you with 2 strands of your class tippet, which makes it not IGFA legal if I am thinking correct...?
> 
> Most guys that use bimini's in there tarpon leaders are using a huffnagle knot, but even the old school guys I know are moving to the slim beauty...


IGFA legal? I like to actually catch tarpon, not records.  Hey, for tournaments and the elite, that's fine, but going with heavier class allows the fish to be brought to the boat much faster. I run mono butt and class, then flouro tippet. Double uni from butt to class, albright from class to shock. Slim enough where I don't get snags. And I run up to 12' long depending on water conditions.


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