What knot to use

Hello all. I’m a rookie muskie hunter here. I’ve been reading here all about line and leaders. What knots do I want to use? Also what is the best way to spool braided line on my baitcasters? I’ve been told to start with mono and then use a blood knot to go to braid and others say to spool black electrical tape on first then spool the braid on top of that. I want to minimize the mistakes I’m going to make before I get on the water. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to make more then enough mistakes once I get out there.

I know people that have used both, but I always use mono backer and a knot and have never had an issue.

I use mono backing and then use a Uni-to-uni knot to braid on my muskie setups.

Your musky braided line is probably between 50 and 80# test, I”ve always used mono as a backing and at least 20# test. you don’t need more than 20 to 30 yards of it, it is only there to grab the spool. Make sure you put enough of your main braid on there, you don’t want to be casting or trolling with your backing going out your rod. Fill your spool to the full capacity, do not just half fill the reel.

Knots, probably the strongest one for all situations would be the Palomar knot, easy to tie and very good on braided line. Use a back to back Uni knot to tie your backing to your braid.
and use at least a 12″ wire leader, and 18″ is not out of the question.
Good Luck,
Jack

Using the tape works great. I used to use some mono for filler but I’ve changed to using braid for that too.

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Your musky braided line is probably between 50 and 80# test, I”ve always used mono as a backing and at least 20# test. you don’t need more than 20 to 30 yards of it, it is only there to grab the spool. Make sure you put enough of your main braid on there, you don’t want to be casting or trolling with your backing going out your rod. Fill your spool to the full capacity, do not just half fill the reel.

Knots, probably the strongest one for all situations would be the Palomar knot, easy to tie and very good on braided line. Use a back to back Uni knot to tie your backing to your braid.
and use at least a 12″ wire leader, and 18″ is not out of the question.
Good Luck,
Jack

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This is gonna turn into a double uni-knot vs palomar knot argument again. BK, where are you?

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Your musky braided line is probably between 50 and 80# test, I”ve always used mono as a backing and at least 20# test. you don’t need more than 20 to 30 yards of it, it is only there to grab the spool. Make sure you put enough of your main braid on there, you don’t want to be casting or trolling with your backing going out your rod. Fill your spool to the full capacity, do not just half fill the reel.

Knots, probably the strongest one for all situations would be the Palomar knot, easy to tie and very good on braided line. Use a back to back Uni knot to tie your backing to your braid.
and use at least a 12″ wire leader, and 18″ is not out of the question.
Good Luck,
Jack

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This is gonna turn into a double uni-knot vs palomar knot argument again. BK, where are you?

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While the Palomar is my favorite knot, I don’t think I’ve ever tried to tie two lines together with it, can it be done easily??

Old timer here and I still use braided line, so I just fill my spool with that, considering usually several times a day I’ll cut about 6 foot off the end of my line and retie, I go though line fast enough to want a full spool and no backing anyway.

Al