Whats Up With Line Knots?

I probably get more questions about how to tie a knot than anything else during a guided fishing trip; it抯 just amazing how many people don抰 know how to tie a knot that won抰 slip especially on braided line. Let me start by giving you my few musts when it comes to tying a knot.

The knot must be strong, and it must be something that I can tie quickly and easily so I can gets my customer back fishing. If it抯 not strong well that just doesn抰 get it for me and if I can抰 do it quickly I can feel the pressure from my customer to get him back in the water and that never good. So for me I use two types of knots; if I am tying a knot on any kind of monofilament line, or fluorocarbon I always tie a uni- knot, it is strong, with three wraps of the line around the doubling of the line pulled back through the loop and your done. There are a couple of keys to this knot one is you must always wet the knot before you pull it tight as it creates heat when pulled tight and will cause your line to break upon the first hook set if you do not. Next this knot must be wrapped at least three times for line strength or it will break. You must also note that a uni knot tightens as it is pulled on by a fish that is what makes it so strong.

My next knot I tie with all braided line it is a Palomar knot, it is the only line knot that I use that does not pull the braid through when there is a fish on it. Braided line can pull through just about every knot we tie except a Palomar as the double wrapping of the line through the eye of the hook and wrapping of the line over the hook stops the line from pulling out and letting go of the hook. When I am flipping in real heavy grass I tie a double Palomar knot wrapping the loop around the hook twice for extra heavy pulling prevention. This knot is strong, it is easy to tie and if you have good eyes it can be done quite quickly.

Tie knots that work, and you will save yourself a lot of headaches and frustration when fishing and lastly if you check your line for frays especially fluorocarbon constantly you will prevent most breaks before they happen.