Murphy and His Law

© Tim Tipton 2020 

Five knots Every Fly Fisherman Should Know

By Tim Tipton

 

 

If you want to draw an angler into a heated debate, bring up the subject of knots. There are as many opinions about which knots are best, as there are anglers on your local stream. Everyone has their thoughts on the best knots to use.

Below is my list of five knots that served me well in my years of fishing and guiding. I believe they can be used by most any angler. None of them are complicated to tie and each of them has exceptionally good knot strength.

 

Perfection Loop: A perfection loop is a remarkably simple, and very neat knot used to tie a loop in the end of tippet or a leader.

Form a loop in the end of the line. Form a second loop and lay it on top of the first with the tag end under the standing end. Pass the tag end between the two loops. Pull the top loop through the bottom loop. Lubricate and tighten by pulling on the standing end and the new loop. Trim the end.

 

Surgeon Knot: A Surgeon knot is the simplest knot for attaching a section of tippet to your leader.

To tie this knot, start by overlapping the two lines. Form a loop with both lines and pass the ends through the loop twice. Tighten the knot by pulling on both ends of the two lines. Finish by trimming the tag end of both lines.

 

Improved Clinch Knot: The Improved Clinch Knot is a solid knot for attaching your fly to your tippet.

Pass the end of the line through the hook eye. Pull about 6 inches of line through and double it back against itself. Twist five to seven times. Pass end of the line through the small loop formed just above the eye, then through the big loop just created. Be careful that the coils don’t overlap. Moisten and pull tag end and main line so that coiled line tightens against the eye and trim the excess line.

 

Palomar Knot: The Palomar Knot is immensely popular. It is a quite simple knot to tie and is extremely strong.

Double over the tag end of the line and thread the end of the doubled line through the eye of the fly. Make an overhand knot on the doubled line leaving the fly in the middle. Make sure that the doubled line tag end forms a loop that is at least as wide as the fly. Thread the hook/lure through the doubled tag line. Wet line with saliva or water before tightening and then tighten the lines down until it forms the final Palomar Knot.

 

Improved Albright Knot: This knot is perfect for joining two lines of different materials and diameters together. The line-to-line connections could be monofilament to braid, mono to single strand wire, braid to braid, mono to fluorocarbon, mono to mono. It is often used to attach fly line to backing.

To tie the Improved Albright Knot, start tying the knot by passing the leader through a loop in the main line, followed by wrapping several times around the main line. The improvement comes by continuing to make wraps with the leader around both the loop formed by the main line, and the leader itself. Moisten the line, cinch the knot, and trim the excess line.