Anglers know that the weakest link between an angler and a fish is the knot holding their hook on the line. When you’re fishing, a weak knot can cost you more fish than you care to count. Who wants to return to shore with nothing but broken line and memories of hooking a fish and then losing it? To test the strongest fishing knots, Sport Fishing magazine solicited entries and awarded prizes to the top three creators of the strongest fishing knots.

Photo by Jason Arnold

All entrants received PowerPro Super 8 Slick 30-pound braid and Berkley Trilene Big Game 30-pound mono. All were instructed to tie three knots to create three doubled lines with the braid, and three again with the mono.

This year’s challenge focused on knots used to create a double line, with the primary objective of finding which knots proved strongest and how those were tied.

We tested all knots on the International Game Fish Association’s Instron 5543 tensile testing machine, which provided a mean break figure for each test of three knots in braid and three in mono.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Photos: Adrian Gray (top); Jason Arnold (above)