A couple of things I've discovered about braided loops:
For a LOT of reasons, work your fly line ALL the way up the loop, INTO the end of the section of the braid that forms the end of the loop to the junction. This is more easily accomplished by cutting the end of your fly line on an angle and pushing the loop toward the line, which loosen the weave.
The reason for doing this is 99% of your loop will float, there will be less hinging, it makes it a lot harder for the just the loop part to fail or for the entire line loop to pull off by accident.
I only had one braided loop in my life ever fail and that failure was when the loop part pulled out at the junction of the loop. For that reason, I ALWAYS put a small drop of UV Knot Sense at that junction, work it into the braid and cure it with a UV light. FWIW - I also do this on the loops of my furled leaders.
IF you clean your fly lines frequently by pulling them through a sponge or rag, you have to be careful that you don't pull off the loop. This can happen working towards the loop because it acts like a "finger trap" and the weave loosens if you push in that direction with the rag or sponge.
A couple of things that can help:
Pushing your fly line ALL the way up the braid
Not squeezing as hard as you pull the loop through the rag/sponge
Hooking the loop on something and wiping from the hooked end toward the line
Washing the loop gently between soapy fingers.
IF you like Cortland loops with the heat shrink, you can damage your fly line if you are not careful. Instead use a
small ceramic flat iron for hair (there are cheaper options). They work great and won't melt the coating on your line.
However, another issue with heat shrink is it is more likely to slide on the fly line towards the loop when cleaning, loosening the weave of the braided loop making it more likely to pull off completely. Because of that and the need to use heat, I switched to the Rio loops that use a small diameter piece of "stretchy" tubing. I find that the Rio loops are less likely to slip. The loops that Orvis sells also use stretchy tubing.
However when installing, slide the small piece of stretchy tubing down AFTER pushing your fly line into the loop and do it S-L-O-W-L-Y!! IF you slide them too far and past the open end of the loop, they are about impossible to slide back up the line and over the braid.
You can forsake the heat shrink or stretchy tubing entirely and just use some UV Knot Sense but you will have to trim the loose end of the braid and get them UNDER the Knot Sense, which is harder than you think. Another option is to a thread wrap over the end of the loop and Knot Sense coat that.
