The Bimini Twist

Nick Drakes, is a Trolling Lure manufacturer and owner of Sekard Technology.

A Little History
In the heyday of big game fishing, back in the 1950's, giant Bluefin Tuna passed by the islands of the Bahamas in huge numbers during their annual migration. At this time the pioneers of our great sport regarded the Bluefin Tuna as the ultimate adversary in the ocean far more powerful and physically demanding than a Marlin of similar size.

Almost every item of tackle and equipment that we now regard as standard equipment in the big game fishing world was first developed to tackle these monster tuna, and by monster we are talking about fish that can top a 1000lb in weight. Bent butt rods, roller guides, lever drag reels, two speed reels, fighting chairs and fighting harnesses all came about because of the desire to catch these massive fish. Even the basic design of the modern big game fishing boat was first evolved in this prolific tuna fishery by such legendary boat builders as Merritt and Rybovich. Here speed and maneuverability were vital to stay in touch with the movements of the fish.

Another small, but incredibly significant, development of this era was a knot that has become known as the Bimini Twist, named after the island of Bimini where much of the history of giant Bluefin Tuna fishing was created. The sheer power of these fish meant that it was essential to eliminate every possible weakness in the tackle and equipment. The knot that was used to join the main reel line to the leader connection was one such weakness and the Bimini Twist was born to help solve this problem.

The Bimini Twist is not a "knot" as such. It cannot be used directly to tie on a swivel, hook or leader and it works by forming a double thickness section at the end of the main reel line. The significant property of the Bimini Twist is that, when correctly tied, the line retains 100% of its original strength. Conventional knots (blood knot, uni knot, etc.) reduce the line strength quite considerably due to their tendency to "strangle" themselves when put under heavy pressure. The doubled section of line that is created by the Bimini Twist is used to tie onto the swivel, hook, leader, etc, and a conventional knot can now be used as double the thickness means double the strength and this more than compensates for the loss of strength within the knot.

There are a number of slight variations on the technique used to tie a Bimini but they all achieve the same result in the end. I first learned to tie this knot many years ago from illustrations in a book and I remember thinking that having two pairs of hands would have been a distinct advantage. I later learned the tricks of the trade from a professional fisherman and this is the method that I will now describe it at least allows me to get by with just the one pair of hands. I have used hi-viz 130lb BS dacron in the illustrations but this is just to add bulk for better clarity in the photographs. When learning to tie a Bimini for the first time I suggest using 30lb to 50lb mono, go too heavy and the tension needed to form the knot makes life difficult and very thin mono makes it more difficult to see the important details of the knot. First perfect your skills and then move on to heavier or lighter line.

Step 1
Get yourself into a comfortable seated position and then pull off about 8 to 9 feet of line and double it over into a big loop. Grip the two sections of line firmly between the finger and thumb of the left hand and leave a 1 to 2 foot tag end. N.B. You will probably need to adjust the dimensions to suit your own stature. I'm an average size guy, but if you're a 7 foot basketball player you will probably cope with a longer section of doubled line and if you're quite small you may need to shorten it a little.

Step 2
Place your right hand into the loop of the doubled line, hold the line taught and then rotate your hand in a direction away from your body to spin a series of twists into the doubled section of line. Make between 20 and 25 turns. N.B. If using "superbraid" type lines use at least 30 turns as they have a greater tendency to slip than mono.

Step 3
Keep a firm grip on the line and keep everything as taught as possible. Place your feet and knees together and then slip the loop of line over both feet (make sure you're not wearing hob-nailed boots, bare feet or soft deck shoes only). Keep everything taught and do not lose any of the twists in the doubled section of line.

Step 4
Slip your right hand into the top of the loop just above your feet and gently lift your hand upwards while keeping a good grip and firm tension on the line with your left hand. As you lift your right hand upwards the twists in the line will start to compress.

Step 5
Once your right hand reaches a point level with your knees slip the open part of the loop either side of your knees. This keeps the loop open while keeping the twists compressed and frees up your right hand.

Step 6
Take the tag end of line between the finger and thumb of your right hand, holding it quite close to the point where it comes off the doubled section of line. At the same time maintain a good grip with your left hand and firm tension on the line.

Step 7
Slowly spread your knees apart while pulling firmly upwards with your left hand. This will compress the twists still further and will make the tag end want to start to wrap around the twisted section of doubled line.

Step 8
Continue to apply pressure using your spread knees and tension with your left hand and allow the tag end to wrap itself around the twisted section of doubled line. Guide the wraps carefully using your right finger and thumb, making sure the wraps are tight and touching, there must be no gaps and the wraps must not be allowed to jump over one another and overlap. Allow the tag end to continue wrapping around the double line until all the twists in the double have disappeared and you have a neat "barrel" of tight touching turns.

Step 9
Grip the barrel of wraps very tightly between your finger and thumb, don't relax your grip otherwise the wraps will spring open and the Bimini will be ruined. Remove one of your feet from the end of the loop, but keep one in place to give something to maintain tension against.

Step 10
It is now necessary to form a "finish" to the Bimini to keep the wraps tightly coiled and to prevent them slipping. One of the traditional methods is to simply tie a series of 8 to 10 tight, touching half hitches around the base of the wraps in the doubled line. However, the method I prefer is much neater and more reliable and I have heard it referred to as the "Rizzuto" finish.

Take the tag end and form a downward hanging loop against the doubled section of line, the tag should come up on the opposite side of the doubled line, away from your body. Now wrap the tag end over and around the doubled section of line within the loop that you have formed, working back towards the actual Bimini wraps in your left hand make a minimum of 5 turns.

Step 11
Grip the tag end tightly against the side of the Bimini wraps in your left hand. Now take the section of line that forms the main body of the loop and start to wrap this around the outside of the doubled line in tight touching turns, make sure you wrap in the same direction as the main Bimini or you will start to unwind the knot. Each turn of wraps that you make around the outside of the doubled line will unwind one turn from inside the loop; this process is simply transferring the wraps from the inside of the loop to the outside of the doubled line.

Step 12
Once all the wraps have been transferred from the inside of the loop to the outside of the doubled line, take the end of the tag end and pull gently to take up the slack in the loop. The wraps will pull up tightly at the base of the main Bimini section and form something that looks like a neat whipped finish. Hold the main section of line taught between your left hand and your foot and give one final firm pull on the tag end to snug it down.

Step 13
Trim off the excess line from the tag end there is usually no need to cut it really close, leave about half an inch protruding. For absolute security you could add a tiny dab of "superglue", but there should be no need for this if the knot has been tied correctly.

Step 14
The Bimini Twist is now complete. You may find that the tying process has spun a few loose twists into the main line above the knot. Just tease these twists out carefully and they will have no detrimental effect on the line or the knot.

You now have a 100% strong knot that has formed a doubled section at the end of your main reel line. You can now use this doubled section to tie any reliable knot of your choice to allow attachment of the swivel, hook or leader.

I hope these instructions and illustrations will allow you to learn and perfect one of the most famous and important knots in the big game fishing world. Don't worry if you don't get it right first time, it is a tricky devil and will need some practice, but eventually everything will "click" and you'll be able to tie a Bimini Twist in the blink of an eye.