Thanks, Pat!
I see the FG knot is commonly used by surf fisherman to connect to their leaders.
I want my education on knots for the surf fishing I'll do for the first time on a vacation to be broad and with practice and testing of knots before I go to a coast. I'll certainly study the knots and practice.
But, the one I know the least about is the splice with the locking feature of hollow core braid over the much larger leader.
I have all of my other rods and reels for lighter duty and smaller fish and can easily do reel swaps on my surf fishing rods for lighter tackle for the smaller fish, but for my large Penn Spinfisher 10500 reels and based on only what I've been reading (and with no experience) I'm thinking of getting Jerry Brown Decade in 130 pound test and for surf casting with an 8 ounce weight and bait, they are commonly using fluorocarbon in 100 pound test as shock leader going all the way to the reel and a couple wraps for safety when power casting for distance. In these sizes, the leader diameter is much larger than the hollow core braid diameter even for the lower strength and will make a bulky knot and it has to go through the guides.
This is the line I'm considering:
https://alltackle.com/jerry-brown-line-o...-2500-yds/
This line is rather expensive, so I want to get my choices of line and leader to be compatible before I purchase.
Some things I don't know are the cinch ranges for the various hollow core to the various leader diameters. It seems there should be a chart to be sure to select the combination to be within range, but I haven't found one.
For example, I know that the hollow core braid will only cinch down to it's particular minimum diameter, so it won't grip any leader near or smaller than that diameter and it will just slip out. I've been reading that leaders will slip out even when it is gripping a near minimal diameter leader that seems to hold when tested in your hands because it fails on the big fish because as the leader material stretches some, it's diameter decreases.
Since I want to purchase to have the line and have everything ready before I go on my surf fishing vacation, I want to make good choices even before I know what I'm doing. But, it's not like I'm committing to only one choice because I already have the lighter gear. For this huge reel, I'm selecting line and leader for it to be my heaviest choice and I like the idea of the hollow core splice for it.
Regarding knots, I see that most surf fishermen are using the FG knot with only twenty or thirty pound test and still using 60, 80 or even 100 pound test shock leaders to take the forces of distance casting and generally going by a rule of thumb of 10 pound test for every one ounce casted, so with an eight ounce weight and bait, 100 pound test shock leader is right in that range to not break loose upon casting. Then flying through the air, the lower pound test braid gives them greater casting distance than my heavier proposed choice that will enable the splice type line to leader connection.
They mostly use the lighter line for achieving a little more casting distance, but also because they are most often using much smaller reels and they want line capacity for when a large fish runs against the drag of the reel. With line capacity for that, they can still bring in the large fish even with lower pound test line.
But, with this huge reel, I'll have 40 pounds of drag and plenty of line capacity regardless of thicker line.
I will lose some casting distance which is a choice I make mitigated by my intention to use my strength combined with resolve to learn from a surf fishing guide (haven't found the one yet) to be a powerful caster to achieve desired distance anyway. The great breaking strength is for this reel to be dedicated to targeting the larger fish.
For my lighter equipment for when the smaller fish are biting, I expect I will use the FG knot on still heavy shock leader when using 8 ounces of lead. That weight not only is to get it out far, but also to hold to the bottom in heavy surf when using bait.
But, I will also at times rig light leader for casting lures and that isn't much weight and doesn't need a shock leader and I'll use an appropriately rated rod. I'll have a large selection with me since the surf fishing I'll be choosing will be driving on the beach in search of the seagulls diving into the boils created by large migratory predator fish feeding on the bait sized fish. I'll rig my surf fishing vehicle with sand tires with a large rod rack for quite a selection to be ready for whatever fishing presentation becomes appropriate at any given moment and will be able to quickly switch to what's best for the moment.
I already have a large variety of rods, reels and tackle, so I'm not trying to achieve what I already have for my heaviest set up. I want to set that one up heavy for the big fish and pick the appropriate one for the fish that are running at the time. I actually have two of the same reel and can have one set up on lighter tackle should I choose that, so I still have flexibility.
Ronald
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