Practical Knots & Loops for Fishing
When it comes to fishing, knowing how to tie proper knots is important. You could hook a fish with poorly tied knots but whether you land that fish or not is another matter. I'm going to highlight some knots & loops here that I use regularly. For detailed instructions on how to tie these knots, go to Animated knots.com. Under their fishing section. This is an excellent website for all forms of knots & loops. I'm going to share here some basic knots & loops that you should master, as these are the most practical & useful knots for angling. I've compiled the videos here from various sources for your reference.
Note that I do not own the videos.
Basic Tips that applies to all knots.
(1) To make knots more secure, before tightening knot, apply some saliva as lubricant onto the knot & tighten it slowly. After cutting the tag end down to about 0.5cm, heat it up with a cigarette lighter to form a 'mushroom' head. This will prevent the tag end from slipping & increases the knot's reliability by a high percentage.
(2) Always test your knot by pulling it as tight as you can without breaking the line. Better to discover a weak knot before fishing then to find out when that trophy fish got away because you tie a shoddy knot. This is usually a mistake by most beginner anglers.
(3) Take time and patience to tie your knots. Don't rush it. If you can't seem to focus on tying knots & rigs while fishing, then do it at home or before hitting waters. A well tied knot & rig gives you confidence knowing that it is reliable.
Clinch knot
This is probably the first knot you'll learn when you started fishing. Everyone learns to tie their first hook using a Clinch knot. It's easy, fairly strong & quick to tie. Works well with almost any line. Normally I use Clinch knot or the Improved Clinch knot for joining line to swivels. Most beginners would use this knot for joining to hooks too but I prefer to snell my hooks. There is an Improved Clinch knot too but most local anglers still prefer the basic Clinch knot.
Palomar knot
This is perhaps the strongest knot to use for securing terminal tackles, eg. swivels. This has been in use by big game saltwater anglers for years but is gaining popularity with freshwater anglers too. This knot works well with braided lines & thin soft mono/fluorocarbon lines. Not advisable for thick, stiff mono lines. Those who are not satisfied with Clinch knot may choose Palomar instead. Nobody likes to loose a fish because of knot failures so choose & tie your knots properly or you may just loose that trophy catch.
Hook Snelling
I snell all my hooks, except for EWG hooks which I still use either a Clinch or Palomar knot to secure. This is the most secured way to join a hook, the harder the fish pull, the stronger the knot gets. Traditionally, this was used by saltwater big game anglers but has become popular even among freshwater anglers too. Again nobody likes to loose a fish due to poorly tied knots. There are three ways to snell a hook. For some rigs, you may need to use more than one way to snell a hook. Eg. 2-hook sliding sinker rig or a 2-hook live bait rig.
Perfection Loop
While most people prefer to use the Surgeon's loop which is easier to tie, I find the Perfection loop is more finesse. Most anglers use a loop at the end for a rig so it's easy to join to the main line's snap lock. Some anglers prefer to use swivels as they lack confidence with a loop, especially saltwater big game anglers.
Dropper Loop
You'll need to tie a dropper loop or two when you want to make a Paternoster rig (Apollo). Generally, dropper loops is easy to tie with 10 to 50lb mono lines but once it gets too thick & stiff, it becomes harder & harder. You'll also need the dropper loop when tying a floating rig for live bait.
Albright knot
You'll need to use an Albright knot if you wish to join two lines of dissimilar size together. Eg. thinner main line to thicker leader. This is one of the easier knots to learn for this purpose. Albright knot can also be used when tying Paternoster rigs (Apollo) connecting hook to rig backbone. More experience anglers are not in favor of Albright as it is not strong and if you did not tie it properly, it could slip when being pulled by a whopper. An alternative to Albright is the popular FG knot.
Arbor knot
Use this knot to secure line onto your spool. This is the preferred knot as the harder you pull, the tighter it gets. This will be your last point of connection if your fish peels off all line from the reel. It's easy to tie & reliable. [Note:] If you are spooling a spinning reel with braided line, always spool in about 5 to 10m of matching diameter mono line onto the spool first before connecting it to braided main line with a double Uni knot. We'll get to that later.
Double Uni knot
This is the preferred knot for joining two lines of similar diameters. Eg. main line to leader, re-connecting broken lines. It is very strong, reliable & has a slim profile very suited for joining lines.
Alright, there you have it. These are some of the basic & easier to learn knots that you can depend on. Buy yourself a new spool of cheap 20lb mono line & start practicing these knots. The more you practice, the better you'll get at tying them. Practice makes perfect!
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