u/HookEmNOLA

Been wanting to try out the flipping technique, and to my surprise this is the one fish I caught. A chunky bluegill. This little guy managed to get caught on a 4/0 EWG hook! I missed a few other bites in the same area that I now assume were other bluegill.

I did enjoy trying out flipping. There are areas of thick vegetation that I would never have even considered fishing and are now accessible. I used a 7’ heavy power Aird-X rod. It’s a bit soft for a heavy power rod, but it’ll serve for now. If I really enjoy the technique I might consider upgrading to a true flipping rod down the road. The lure I was using was a 3.5” missile craw from Missile Baits.

I’m gonna take a guess and assume there are many others here who struggle with the FG knot. I am able to tie it on occasion, but most of the time I mess it up and it’s crazy frustrating. Usually it’s because the wraps bundle up due to not enough tension on the braided main line.

When I get it right it’s obvious to me that the FG knot is superior to any others I’ve used. But my frustrations with it had me ready to give up on it completely.

Before totally giving up on it I bought this ~$30 knot assist tool on Amazon and I’m happy to say this thing is great. Basically all you do is wrap the braid around the clasps on the left and right side and lock them down. It keeps plenty of tension on the line. Then you wrap the leader material around the center clasp and lock it down leaving enough leader crossing over the braid to do the wraps. Once everything is locked down you can just focus on making the wraps without having to worry about losing tension on the braid or leader. After the wraps are done you can unlock the lines and do the half hitches to finish up the knot.

Every FG knot I’ve tied since figuring out how to use this tool properly has been successful. I had been moving away from braid main lines because of leader knot frustrations but this tool has changed all that.

I know there are many here who don’t need any tool or help tying the FG knot. But for those of us who struggle with it I can definitely recommend this little tool.

Here’s the Amazon link to the exact tool I purchased, but I’m sure you can find others out there that are potentially cheaper: https://a.co/d/03eZ7iRT