One of the trickiest things to do is join different size monofilaments, which you have to do when fishing for species that require bite tippets… like tarpon. There are many knots out there for this, and to make a choice can be to choose sides. Huffanagle vs. Improved Blood, Slim Beauty vs. Albright Special, and so on.
Learning any of these knots isn’t difficult, and they’re strong enough to do the job. The problem is most take way too long to tie. I mean, if you prep all your leaders before-hand, no worries, but what if you’re bonefishing and you find a school of tarpon busting sardines? Even if you have a tarpon fly in your box already attached to a shock-tippet, it takes time to properly attach it to your leader. In a blitz situation, time equals fish… or fish lost.
That’s where this knot comes in. It’s an Albright Special, but tied much differently than you typically see it done. I picked this method up from a Barramundi guide in Australia. He used it to attach bite tippet for tough-mouthed “barra’s” as they called them, but it works great for tarpon, snook and big jacks, and it’s fast.
