Tarpon Leaders-Slim Beauty vs Two Turn Blood Knot
2004-10-27 - Tom Rowland

After reviewing the search string statistics for my site, www.bigblueflyfishing.com, I noticed how many people are visiting the site to read about the Slim Beauty knot.  I then googled the Slim Beauty and came across endless mentions in articles, books, videos and website reviews.  The numbers of people who not only know about this knot but use it, test it and swear by it floored me because of my familiarity with the knot and its history.  To see it popularized is a testimony to the effectiveness of a true grass roots and word of mouth growth of an idea because with the exception of my site and a mention of the website  Midcurrent (http://www.midcurrent.com/CGI-BIN/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=slim+beauty)  neither Simon Becker nor I have written about the knot.
 
The Slim Beauty was born in 1995 when I was living with my guide mentor, Capt. Simon Becker of Key West, FL.  Simon and I were tying up countless Bimini Twists preparing for the upcoming tarpon season.  We would tie the bimini and then hang them on a coat hanger awaiting the rest of the leader.  While the Bimini is not a difficult knot, it does take some time to construct and is probably easier to tie lots of them at home rather than on the boat.
 
A traditional tarpon leader was completed by tying the butt section of the leader to the class tippet by first completing the bimini on each end of the class tippet and then tying a Huffnagle knot to the shock tippet and a loop to loop connection to the butt section.  We would then attach the fly to the prestraightned shock tippet, roll up the class tippet and store the whole works in a stretcher box which would keep the shock tippet under tension so that the mono shock tippet would not take a curve and swim through the water improperly.  While the system was exceptionally strong, the knots were bulky and difficult to tie.

Simon wanted to eliminate one of the Bimini Twists in the setup to cut our prep time in half.  We fooled with blood knots, improved blood knots, variations of clinch knots and finally progressed to the Tom Pierce knot used for tying braided wire to monofilament.  The Tom Pierce knot was a knot used in winter barracuda. 
To tie the Tom Pierce knot first tie a double overhand in the wire.  When slowly pulled tight, the double overhand knot will form a figure 8.  This 8 when turned on its side will look as if it could be a dish and could hold water.  This is the way you want the knot to be positioned to complete the knot.  Next, take the mono leader and thread it through the 8 so that it lays flat against the wire.  Now, pull the wire tight.  Finish the knot by tying a 6 turn improved clinch knot around the wire and pull the knot down so that it comes to rest on the double figure 8 in the wire.

Testing the Tom Pierce knot on the tarpon leaders revealed impressive strength but we knew that the knot had to be stronger.  We both liked the double overhand knot and how it offered an excellent stop for the clinch knot.  Noticing that a clinch knot is the same as half a blood knot, Simon remembered Stu Apte's improved blood knot and tied an improved blood knot which is completed by wrapping the mono leader 5 times around the shock tippet and then wrapping it back over itself 4 times and completing it like a blood knot.  This was good and tested out at about 90% but when we doubled the line and did the same thing, the knot slid into place with a unique look and impressive strength of about 95%.  Satisfied, we decided to head out to dinner at a Cuban Café located where Ambrosia Sushi now resides and were greeted by a vivacious Cuban waitress.  She instructed us to sit down and get ready to order.  When she returned, she had nicknames for all of us.  She looked at me and said "You ready to Order?  Let's start with you, Slim Beauty.”  We all laughed and she then called Simon, Slim Slick.   As we were eating she came back by and told me. “You eat them onions, Slim Beauty”  which still exists as an inside joke and comes up now and then in conversation.  Our waitress was arrested for dealing cocaine out of that same establishment weeks after our visit. No wonder she was vivacious.

Back home, we tied up a few more knots and we felt like the double improved blood/double figure 8 was the best and that we would start using it in our fishing.  I said, "What should we call it ?" and seemingly without thinking Simon said 'The Slim Beauty'. The knot and tarpon system has undergone some altercations and improvements since that night in 1995, but the major changes to the way I tie tarpon leaders came from a technological advancement in fishing line.   

Fluorocarbon line has the same light refractive capabilities as water so that means that it is supposed to have far less shine and be less visible underwater.  This is a great reason to try fluorocarbon but what made me stick with using it was the fact that is was so easy to stretch in the field.  When a line is stretched it looses its memory and lies completely straight.  Some types of line are easier to stretch than others.  In the early days, we would use Mason brand monofilament which is probably the nastiest, hardest and most difficult line to tie ever created.  We would go to unbelievable means to stretch this line and keep it straight.  From attaching the line to a tree and using a trailer winch or even a car to pull the line tight and remove memory to pouring boiling water over the line, we tried it all.  Once straightened, we would cut the line into 18 inch lengths and store them in a PVC tube.  With Fluorocarbon, 80 pound leader could easily be stretched and straightened by hand and achieve the same results right off the spool.  This, in itself eliminated a major step in preparing for tarpon season but it also immediately eliminated the need for leader stretcher boxes and the snarl of lines that went with them.  I gladly retired my stretcher box and the nightmares, hassle and time associated to preparing that for the season. 

I decided that if we could eliminate one bimini from the system, why not eliminate both of them.
I started tying a slim beauty knot from the butt section to the class and the class to the shock.  I attached the fly with a Non slip Mono loop knot.  After seeing a few fish lost to one or the other Slim Beauty breaking, I decided to experiment with other knots.  Since fluorocarbon was easier to tie, I could now easily tie a blood or improved blood knot from the butt section to the class with doubled line.  After two seasons of doing this, I determined
that the blood knot was stronger than the slim beauty and slowly began tying two blood knots instead of the Slim Beauty.  My blood knots evolved from the bulky and hard to tie improved blood knot to what I call a two turn blood.  I simply double the class tippet and wrap it 5 times around the butt section.  I will turn the butt section ONLY two times around the class and pull tight.  This is the strongest way to tie this knot.  The two turns allow you to properly pull the knot down and reduce slippage.

I was unhappy with the Non Slip Mono loop with heavy line because it cocked the fly off to the side.  After reading Trey Combs Bluewater Flyfishing, I noticed a Steve Huff knot in the knot section called the double figure 8.  I settled on this knot because it pulled the fly perfectly straight and was really strong.
I no longer carried pre tied leaders but simply kept my tarpon flies in plastic sleeves that fit perfectly in a Plano 3700 box.  Because I am not terribly concerned with World Record Tarpon on a day to day basis, I tie my shock leaders long and simply cut off the fly and retie if I want to change patterns.  This is vastly easier than changing out an entire leader simply to change patterns.

The Slim Beauty was so well received because it helped in so many ways.  It showed anglers that there was an alternative to the bulky, difficult tarpon leaders of the past.  Once Fluorocarbon leader became available, tarpon leaders transformed into something that made not only our prep work easier but also increased the storage area in the boats and eliminated the birds nests so often associated with trying to keep 60 flies ready on leaders in a stretcher box.  In hindsight, the Slim Beauty was a revolutionary idea but when that idea was coupled with technological advances like fluorocarbon, the sport and tackle really began to change.