On an improved clinch knot in 15-pound fluorocarbon, adding turns barely changes the strength: four turns held 11.82 pounds, five held 8.87, six held 11.75, and seven held 11.59, so there is no meaningful gain from extra wraps. In this How 2 Tuesday I keep Knot Wars going by testing whether the number of turns on the improved clinch knot actually makes it stronger, and learn the knot itself is not very strong.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Not in this test. Tying four, five, six, and seven turns on the same hook in 15-pound fluorocarbon, the results were 11.82, 8.87, 11.75, and 11.59 pounds. Apart from the low five-turn reading, which I think came from how I tied it, they were all about the same. So with matched pound test the number of turns made no meaningful difference, and you should simply tie the number of turns you are comfortable with.
Not very. In 15-pound fluorocarbon it tested under 12 pounds on every turn count I tried. That tells you the improved clinch is leaving a fair amount of line strength on the table. It is easy to tie and fine for plenty of situations, but if you are after maximum strength there are knots that test significantly higher, which is worth knowing before you rely on it for a big fish.
Run the line through the hook eye, make a number of turns around the standing line, pass the tag back through the small loop just above the eye, and then back through the larger loop you created, which is the improvement, before cinching it down. That final pass through the big loop is what makes it improved. Plenty of videos show the steps, but the strength side is what gets tested far less often.
Fewer. On heavier line you can get away with fewer turns and may need to. If you are tying something like 80-pound and want it to cinch down, doing 20 turns is far harder to seat than two or three. So turn count is partly about whether the knot will even close cleanly in the line you are using, not just raw strength.
To isolate the one variable you care about. By tying all four improved clinch knots on the same hook with the same 15-pound fluoro, cinched the same way, the only difference left is the number of turns. That is how you get a fair read on whether turn count matters, instead of mixing in changes in line, hook, or how hard you seated each knot.
When you want a planned break point. If you run heavy braid to a leader and throw up against trees, it helps to have the weakest knot be the one to the hook, so a snag costs you only the lure. If instead the weakest link is the braid-to-leader knot, you lose the leader and the lure and have to re-rig. So a deliberately weaker knot, like an improved clinch to the hook, can be the smart choice in snaggy water.
This is an awesome Knot Wars because the question is not how to tie the knot. There are plenty of videos on tying the improved clinch, including some of my own, and YouTube is full of good ones. What almost nobody covers is the strength of the knot and whether tying it a little differently makes it stronger. That is the theme today, and we are using one of the most common knots there is: the improved clinch, basically the everyday fisherman's knot.
I have always wondered how many turns you should make per pound test. With heavy line you can use fewer turns, and trying to cinch 20 turns of 80-pound down is a nightmare. So I tied four improved clinch knots on the same hook, 15-pound Daiwa fluoro on a Gamakatsu 4/0, changing only the wraps: four, five, six, and seven. Then I pulled each on the Next Tech force tester to see if more turns meant more strength.
The numbers came in at 11.82, 8.87, 11.75, and 11.59 pounds. Other than the low five-turn reading, which was almost certainly my tie, there was no noticeable difference, so tie the turns you are comfortable with. The bigger lesson is that the improved clinch is just not that strong, under 12 pounds on 15-pound line. It has its place, like being the deliberate weak link to a hook when you are fishing snaggy trees, but when you need strength, it is worth looking at other knots. Hear the full run-through in the episode above.
Watch or listen above to get the full breakdown in my own words.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a lifelong fishing guide, tournament angler, and the host of the Tom Rowland Podcast. I spent decades guiding in the Florida Keys and competing at the highest levels of saltwater fishing, and I've fished everywhere from the Seychelles to Louisiana. How 2 Tuesday is my weekly tutorial series where I pass along the skills, gear choices, and small refinements that have made the biggest difference in my own fishing.
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