At the Brisbane International Boat show Queensland Fishing Monthly, with the help of Platypus fishing lines, put on a knot tying competition that was open to show visitors.

The rules were simple, tie your best knot first as you only got one shot at the title. While most saw this as a fun way to check out how strong their knots were, subscribers also saw the $200 worth of Platypus fishing line and a 12 month subscription to QFM up for grabs.

It was one of the most interesting competitions I have had the pleasure of running as we quickly discovered just how good some knots were for ourselves. And it was proven over and over again that the tried and tested older knots were far better than the modern versions.

While some of the winners had no idea of the actual name of the knot they were tying, I can let everyone in on a secret – they were actually tying a version of the locked blood knot – a knot that consistently out ranked every other knot tied.

For the competition we used Platypus Pretest line in 10kg and the line testing machine gave us a break reading gin pounds. To avoid any confusion and to standardise the test, we used 22lb as the 100% breaking strain mark for all days and as the same line was used all show, this standardised the results.

All the winners tied knots that broke over 100%, but it was a 12 year old, super keen junior angler who out-tied everyone (including our entire staff at Fishing Monthly group!). Peter Hopkins tied and improved blood knot that broke at a fantastic 122%, securing him the daily prize of $200 worth of Platypus fishing and a 12 month subscription to QFM, as well as a further $500 of Platypus fishing line and a further 12 months of QFM.

Peter was amazed at his own knot when it broke so high and the entire day he kept coming back to the stand to check on his peers’ progress. But he never had to worry as he easily accounted for the rest of the winners.

Congratulations to all the winners and to Peter. In an upcoming issue we will get Peter to run us through his knot, how to tie it and where he fishes. – FMG

Overall winner was Peter Hopkins.