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.
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