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Fishing Knots

"The kind you use to connect fishing line to stuff, not how fast or far your boat is going."

There are too many knots for me to ever learn. If you learn the four I use, you will be able to rig up anything you will ever need to with only a few exceptions I'm still looking for those exceptions. And if you also want to use wire it's a must to learn how to make a haywire twist and a wire splice. You can look up how to tie and twist them in another section of our web site.

The Trilene Knot. It's one of the easiest knots to tie. I use it to tie ring eyed hooks, plugs, jigs, split rings and other terminal tackle to the end of my leaders. The reason I use that one instead of some other 100% knot is if I get hung up or if a fish spools me because I wasn't using the proper tackle the hold him (shame on me) I want my line to break at that point. Not on my reel, at the end of my line or someplace in the middle. I want to know where my weakest point is when I hook the "Big Cork" or "Moby Dick". Some guys use a clinch, improved clinch or double improved clinch knot. Not Me! Clinchers have too many twists and turns, and I've had too many mystery breakoffs with them. Remember to wet your knots with saliva before you cinch em' up tight. If you don't, the friction will generate stress and heat and soften your line and U GET one of those mystery breakoffs. I've seen some amazing demonstrations on the subject. This is one of those details you need to remember to do.

The Uni Knot. I use this knot for almost everything. It can be used to tie dissimilar diameter lines together, splice line, and add line. Tie braided lines like Dacron, Dyneema and Spectra to a monofilament leader without a swivel. If you use a long leader that makes it impractical to use a swivel this knot really slips through your guides like grease. I use it on turned up or turned down eye hooks. It's as good as a snell knot and a lot easier to tie. Use it to make a dropper too. You won't need to tie a 3 way swivel for a dropper. 3 ways always seem to tangle and catch everything. I hate em'. Some guys think a blood knot is the ticket. Forget you ever saw one. The tag ends stick out and catch things as small as a gnat. And most importantly try this. Get two pieces of line about two feet long. Tie the two lines together with a blood knot and tie the other ends together with a Uni. Now try to break the loop. I don't have to ask which knot broke first. Guaranteed, every time at about ½ what the uni does. Remember, wet the knot before cinching it up.

The Palomar Knot. This knot is reported to be 100 % of line strength. If not, it's close. Use it to tie drails, swivels and other intermediate terminal tackle to your running line and the leader to the intermediate tackle. [Hint] Tie your leader to the intermediate stuff first. Then tie the intermediate stuff to your running line. If you don't, it can be difficult to feed your fishing rod through the loop of the Palomar! Use it on big game leaders too. With its ability to efficiently join dissimilar diameter lines, you won't need to tie double leaders with the ever so painful Bimini Twist Knot. Remember, wet the knot before cinching it up.

The Albright Knot. This knot is primarily used to connect monofilament or braided line to wire line. When trolling wire line you generally use monofilament or Dacron for backing. Next comes 300 feet of wire, and then a monofilament leader to the terminal end of the wire. Some people use a barrel swivel on the terminal end of the wire and tie their leader to the barrel swivel. There is a very good reason to use an Albright here and I will cover it in the section "Setting up a Wire Outfit" Remember, wet the line before cinching it up.

The Haywire Twist. The Haywire Twist is not something you do on deck when you're happy or when something goes wrong. Use the Haywire Twist to connect wire directly to a hook or lure when pursuing Blue Fish, Wahoo, Sharks or other tooth denizens of the deep. At last, you don't need to remember to wet the line before cinching it up.

Wire Splice. Splicing wire is no more than a Haywire Twist joining two wires together. They look and function identically but you have to close up two tag ends instead of just one. You hope you never have to do this but, if a kink mysteriously appears, somewhere in the middle of your wire you must cut or break the wire at the kink and splice it. If you don't, a fish will. (break it, not splice it for you) Typically, the biggest fish of the day. Pay attention to details. A variation of the wire splice can also be used to weave a distance marker into your wire.

All of these knots are depicted on our site if you are unfamiliar with them. They will come up in the text on setting up wire and super braid outfits. You will need to know how to tie them if you set up your own trolling tackle.