To Wet or Not Wet Fishing Line: That's the Question

I read here recently about a guy back in the '90s who learned a serious lesson from the water in a small pond he had been fishing. Turns out that bacteria was discovered in the water, and the pond had to be shut down...but not before people who had been swimming there developed symptoms.

While this fella didn't swim there, he often retied by first wetting the line with his lips. A trip to the doctor and a blood test confirmed that he indeed also had the bacteria in his bloodstream, and ensuing days found him battling a fever and strong stomach cramps, as well as spending lots of extra time "on the throne."

Once he was well, the fella returned to fishing the same pond, but anytime he had to retie, he spit into his hands, then ran the line and knot through it, cinched down, and finished by wiping his hands on a towel or his pants.

The question that comes to mind here is this: Do you still need to use saliva at all when cinching down knots today?

Because a lot of debate still exists about this question, some knot-strength testing has been done, both with and without saliva, using fluorocarbon, monofilament and braided lines. Following are the results of the experimentation, measured in the amount of tension required to break a knot, using 20-lb. Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon. A non-slip loop knot with two twists was used in all the testing of fluorocarbon and monfilament lines. Knots were soaked in water to mimic real-life application.

In the no-saliva tests, the breaking strengths registered 13.05, 15.66 and 14.80 lbs., for an average of 14.50 lbs. Those numbers compare to breaking strengths of 15.11, 13.20 and 11.80 lbs. with saliva, for an average of 13.37 lbs. In conclusion, the knot without saliva was 8 percent stronger on average, than the knot with saliva.

For the second rounds of testing, 20-lb. Ande Monofilament was used. The no-saliva knots yielded 17.08, 17.04 and 16.96 lbs. breaking strengths, for an average of 17.03 lbs. The knots with saliva registered 16.48, 15.97 and 18.45 lbs. breaking strengths, for an average of 16.97 lbs. In conclusion, the knots with and without saliva yielded essentially the same results.

In the third rounds of testing, 10-lb. Power Pro braided line was used with a braid uni-knot (through the eye twice, with seven turns). The no-saliva knots registered 16.97, 19.29 and 15.54 lbs. breaking strengths, for an average of 17.17 lbs. The knots with saliva registered 21.14, 16.79 and 19.62 lbs. breaking strengths, for an average of 1981 lbs. In conclusion, the knots with saliva were 12 percent stronger on average, than the knots without saliva.

These tests, according to the people who ran them, show that it's no longer necessary to use saliva to ensure line doesn't burn on itself as you cinch it down. Not only do you not need it, but it's apparent you actually could do more harm than good, as shown by the results of the fluorocarbon and monofilament tests.

At the same time, however, you should take notice that the range of results was greater for all of the knots with saliva, than those without it. So yes, it's possible that saliva could make a knot stronger, but it's also possible that it could make a knot weaker...as a result of the coils in the knot tightening down unevenly.

In case you're interested, you can click on the following link and be taken to a video that demonstrates the testing results discussed above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS8e4bT6c3Q.