Author Topic: BIMINI TWIST (Video and text) (Read 22253 times)

REEFMAN · « **on:** June 26, 2010, 07:33:44 PM »

A Little History behind the Bimini Twist

In the heyday of big game fishing, back in the 1950's, giant Bluefin Tuna passed by the islands of the Bahamas in huge numbers during their annual migration. At this time the pioneers of our great sport regarded the Bluefin Tuna as the ultimate adversary in the ocean far more powerful and physically demanding than a Marlin of similar size.

Almost every item of tackle and equipment that we now regard as standard equipment in the big game fishing world was first developed to tackle these monster tuna, and by monster we are talking about fish that can top a 1000lb in weight. Bent butt rods, roller guides, lever drag reels, two speed reels, fighting chairs and fighting harnesses all came about because of the desire to catch these massive fish. Even the basic design of the modern big game fishing boat was first evolved in this prolific tuna fishery by such legendary boat builders as Merritt and Rybovich. Here speed and maneuverability were vital to stay in touch with the movements of the fish.

Another small, but incredibly significant, development of this era was a knot that has become known as the Bimini Twist, named after the island of Bimini where much of the history of giant Bluefin Tuna fishing was created. The sheer power of these fish meant that it was essential to eliminate every possible weakness in the tackle and equipment. The knot that was used to join the main reel line to the leader connection was one such weakness and the Bimini Twist was born to help solve this problem.

The Bimini Twist is not a "knot" as such. It cannot be used directly to tie on a swivel, hook or leader and it works by forming a double thickness section at the end of the main reel line. The significant property of the Bimini Twist is that, when correctly tied, the line retains 100% of its original strength. Conventional knots (blood knot, uni knot, Spyker knot, Slim beauty etc.) reduce the line strength quite considerably due to their tendency to "strangle" themselves when put under heavy pressure. The doubled section of line that is created by the Bimini Twist is used to tie onto the swivel, hook (offshore trolling) or the leader in Rock and Surf, and a conventional knot can now be used as double the thickness means double the strength and this more than compensates for the loss of strength within the knot.

This knot was adapted by some wise old men for Surf conditions in South Africa. The original Bimini twist is the "tight " coiled knot as described in the video that follows. Some South African's bastardized the knot with the loose spirals - while this works, it's not the way the original knot was supposed to be made. Both the tight and the loose versions have significant stretch in the Nylon, so there is not much difference in that department. However, the tighter version, by being a much shorter knot, has less chance of contact through the guides when casting, and has much less chance of ever coming undone. Some Cape anglers modified the finishing off of this knot, which now stops any unravelling of the knot completely, and stops burnmarks in the line when tieing... it's now almost bullet-proof!

Remember that if you're doing this knot in Gelspun line (FIRELINE) or BRAID, then you need to make more turns. In Fireline, 40-50 turns... with less turns as the line gets thicker, up to .55 Nylon which needs 20 turns.

THE ULTIMATE BIMINI TWIST VIDEO
See how easy it actually is!

Here is a Video of how to complete a Bimini twist - done the 'proper' way, as the knot was originally designed to be done, with tight wraps. This makes the knot smooth and compact through the guides, rather than the loose Bimini which is a much longer knot with a coarser finish.
The Video also features a unique way of finishing the knot off, as developed by some Cape Town Shark anglers - this stops the knot from ever coming undone and also allows one to finish the tag end off as tight as possible.

And here is the link on YOUTUBE

http://youtu.be/lxJsYIuw9Xw

REEFMAN · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2010, 08:19:24 PM »

Here is the text version of the Bimini Twist, courtesy of Geoff Wilson

Capt. Hook · « **Reply #2 on:** July 05, 2010, 09:39:09 PM »

I love this knot.

REEFMAN · « **Reply #3 on:** July 05, 2010, 09:41:01 PM »

So do I.

J-Rock · « **Reply #4 on:** October 01, 2010, 10:43:51 PM »

Thx Reefman... Great story...

Glider · « **Reply #5 on:** February 04, 2011, 05:21:29 PM »

Great post thanks Reefman!

super_daav · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2011, 09:20:29 AM »

Tony,

the video you make of the Bimini is phenominal!! It shows all the subtle details which a drawing can never!!

Thank you!

fedu · « **Reply #7 on:** February 05, 2011, 10:40:20 AM »

Perfect post, how it should be done.

history, knot, video the works.

thanks for a great post on a great knot

P.S. - Good taste on the video intro music "Tell me why" by Jimmy Somerville :sml:

super_daav · « **Reply #8 on:** May 11, 2011, 03:31:17 PM »

Gents, did not find any info so excuse if posting again, but when doing a bimini in braid how many turns should one use? I have read less is more i.e. 12 while others do 30 plus? Does it differ between under 50 lb vs. over 50 lb braid? Any thoughts?

REEFMAN · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2011, 03:33:15 PM »

I do 40-50 turns, regardless of the size braid used.

super_daav · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2011, 03:34:00 PM »

I noticed that in this topic http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php/topic,73.0.html that the braid was doubled but not using a bimini or stitch but "loose" so to speak. Would imagine okay for lighter lbs but not heavier?

REEFMAN · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2011, 04:21:27 PM »

Yup the 7 turn Uni to Fig 8 uses a loosely doubled braid line, no bimini, stitch or spider hitch. This knot was used extensively by Mark de la Hey, on his heavier tackle setups, throughout the ESA shows...

- thro the years they found that any knot in braid substantially weakens the braid, so a wrap-type knot was needed to prevent this. On lighter tackle, they used the Yucatan or what he calls the "French knot".

super_daav · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2011, 04:42:13 PM »

Interesting Reefz! So ignore bimini ini braid... 1 less potential weakness in the rigging + quick and easy to tie!

REEFMAN · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2011, 04:48:13 PM »

Ya, basically that would be true... but there are certain instances where a Bimini (or braid stitch) in braid is necessary...

when joining braid backing to mainline (CatsPaw),
when joining braid mainline to a wind-on (Modified Cats Paw),
and when using the Yucatan knot in light tackle braid setups.

shamwari · « **Reply #14 on:** May 11, 2011, 05:02:17 PM »

50 turns for the Bimini in Braid. I use the Bimini in braid to connect braid to braid and have more confidence in it than any other i.e back to back uni etc,etc. I then use a single loop to loop which is good if braid to braid. The reason for single is that its easier to get both legs perfectly even which is needed. The twists in the barid theoretically weaken the braid a little but because its evenly spread over two legs still strong.

Still nothing wrong with a bimini well contructed in braid in my view.

super_daav · « **Reply #15 on:** May 12, 2011, 08:58:10 AM »

Thanks for the info Gents!

hrogers · « **Reply #16 on:** May 30, 2012, 02:51:24 PM »

Thanks for the info UA !! Now I know what the propper name for the knot is !!

_ I did look at the info and it's the same

peterblace · « **Reply #17 on:** August 16, 2012, 04:08:19 PM »

yesterday I have followed this tut to perform my first bimini twist...
the hardest step I found was 5a from Geoff Wilson tutorial
I can't make it to have the tag spiralling around the twists too close...so my knot ends up having spacing and not close as it is there

I have applied a lot of pressure on the knot...but have no idea if knot will stay on after a strike and because I don't want to have gear failure (rather have a human failure) when loosing a fish (and gear) my question is
1) will this affect the robustness of the knot?

looking forward for your feedback

REEFMAN · « **Reply #18 on:** August 16, 2012, 04:18:29 PM »

Quote from: peterblace on August 16, 2012, 04:08:19 PM

yesterday I have followed this tut to perform my first bimini twist...
the hardest step I found was 5a from Geoff Wilson tutorial
I can't make it to have the tag spiralling around the twists too close...so my knot ends up having spacing and not close as it is there

I have applied a lot of pressure on the knot...but have no idea if knot will stay on after a strike and because I don't want to have gear failure (rather have a human failure) when loosing a fish (and gear) my question is
1) will this affect the robustness of the knot?

looking forward for your feedback

Haha PB... don't stress about not being able to get those twists tight together, it's not critical at all. In fact, the way you have done it with the twists wider apart is the way MOST R/S league anglers do it in SA - the reason being that it is much less harsh on burning the 2 legs of the Bimini. The tight wrap version is quite technique sensitive - if too much pressure is put on spinning those wraps, the line gets burnt easily. So for a quicker, safer version of the Bimini, the SA anglers developed the "loose" Bimini. The loose wraps Bimini has caught thousands upon thousands of huge Sharks off the SA coastline, no problems in it's strength.

Just a word of advice... try finish the Knot off with the way we do it in the Video... it's much stronger and stops the knot from unravelling over time.

REEFMAN · « **Reply #19 on:** August 16, 2012, 04:31:10 PM »

Here's a comparison of the 2 finished results... no problem with either of these knots...

Author Topic: BIMINI TWIST (Video and text) (Read 22253 times)

J-Rock