Far from Hollow, Off the Deep End with Seaguar's Threadlock (continued)

The Hollow Braid Advantage: I hear the question a lot, why hollow braid? Given the initial investment to acquire the installation tools, coupled with the expense of the line itself, many are left to wonder why bother? I've become a big proponent of the braid plus leader approach to setting up my line. I like the connected feeling to your lure braid offers, and rely on the leader to reduce visibility of my line and add a degree of shock protection and resistance to abrasion. However, that connection knot ticking through my guides on a cast is an area of concern. The sound is annoying, but also, my connection knot game is not very good. No matter how much I practice different knots and how well I think I can tie them after the practice, my results are inconsistent at best, so the standard braid plus leader strategy, while a good fall back, is still not as clean and precise for me as using hollow braid.

There are a few methods to secure that open end of the braid against the leader material

I prefer using a bobbin' winder to create a serve knot. I begin by winding some line (this is 20lb Seaguar Smackdown) around the spot

By inserting the leader material into the braid, and relying on that braid to grip and hold the leader material in tension, there is no connection knot to worry about. There is, however, what I call the finishing knot. Many simply tie a nail knot with some spare braid. I like to serve a knot over the hollow end to keep it in place. The two strategies are essentially the same, the serve is just a little more fun to execute.

Then, wind up the slack and spin the winder around the line

I usually start from the left, wind towards the right until I wind over the leader for a bit, then continue winding back over the hollow braid stopping somewhere in the middle

The reason for this knot is to hold the hollow braid in place when your line is not in tension. For example, when you're making a cast, the line is not in tension, it's in slack. Without this knot, the end of the hollow braid can catch in your reel's line guide, or one of the guides on your rod stopping the braid, just for a fraction of a second. During a cast, that fraction of a second is all that's needed to allow your leader to fly out from within the braid. I know, because it's happened to me. The finish knot prevents this occurrence by winding tight around the hollow braid's end and keeping it from moving. In turn, the profile of that finish knot is so small, it sails through your guides quite easily.

A couple of half hitches (overhand knots) to hold the line in place, then finish with that unraveled uni knot, cut off the tag end, finish with TAC glue and you're done!

This is what I mean by an unraveled uni knot. You begin with the uni-knot (served knot is under my fingers) going with about five loops

Lastly, for me, threading the leader material into the line and serving a quick knot over the end of the hollow braid is now faster and more reliable than tying an FG, Uni to Uni, or Albright knot. I rarely accomplish those knots in one try. Moreover, with the hollow braid, because I'm not tying an actual knot to connect the lines, there is no degradation in strength at the connection point. Finally, because all this is faster and easier to do, I change my leaders more often, ensuring I have fresh leaders on each trip, which in turn allows me to sample more, different leader materials in that never ending search for the perfect line.

Then, you unwind the big loop in opposite direction of the smaller loops so that the smaller loops gather close to your fingers

Pull that tag end snug and the unraveled uni pulls up close to your serve knot. Trim and finish with TAC glue

Real World Tests: The earlier table listing the amount of Threadlock I was able to spool onto a variety of reels was accumulated by moving line back and forth from the large filler spool to those reels with the help of our line winder. Not all of those reels saw action. Among the reels I actually fished with Seaguar's Threadlock include my Abu Garcia Revo4 IKE, 13 Fishing Concept Z SLD, 2016 Antares DC, Conquest 301, yellow Daiwa Z2020SHL, and the afore mentioned Chronarch MGL. Each of these reels have installed different leader materials including Sunline's SuperNatural nylon monofilament, Saltimate nylon leader, Defier nylon monofilament, Seaguar's Gold Label fluorocarbon leader, AbrazX, and Tatsu. I've even helped Zander rediscover the joys of hollow braid with his Tatula and Tranx 300 size reels.

Spooled and ready for some action