Here are some essential knots for fishing.
The right fishing knot is as essential as using the right fishing line, fishing rod, or even fishing lure. If you don't tie your best knot, the action on your lure won't be proper and even worse, a fish may break you off.
So, for today's fishing tips, we'll look at some essential and simple line knots that are as important to catching fish as every lure in your tackle box.
These are some of the best fishing knots you can use and they prove knot tying doesn't have to be complicated.
1. The Palomar Knot
This is as simple as fishing knots can get. Basically, you're just tying an overhand knot with a small loop through the eye of the hook and then taking the hook back through the loop. Snip the tag end of the line and you're done.
This knot is used most often with braided line, but you'll find bass fishing pros using it with fluorocarbon and monofilament line too. The great thing about this knot is how quick and easy to learn it is.
2. Improved Clinch Knot
This is the simple knot I use myself for almost every fishing application. It couldn't be easier to do. You're just running one end through the eye of the hook or lure, looping it a few times and then looping that tag end back through the loop again. Pull it tight and clip the tag end and you're ready to fish.
Again, you can use this with just about any type of fishing line. I use it with monofilament myself. Some pros will recommend this is best used with light lines.
3. Trilene Knot
This knot goes by a few different names. You may hear someone refer to this as the "clinch knot" or "double clinch knot," but they're all the same thing.
This one looks complicated, but it's actually very simple and has a very high breaking strength. You're simply running the tag end of the line through the hook eye twice and then looping a few times before taking the tag end back through the loop. This line knot is trusted by fishermen for all sorts of applications with almost any kind of line strength. Everything from saltwater fishing to tiny panfish in the local creek.
These are good "catch all" knots
There many other types of knots out there, and a growing numbers of types of fishing line, too. The Surgeon's knot, the snell knot, the rapala knot and the uni knot to name a few. But the three we've outlined here are good ones to know because they'll work for just about any fishing situation, not just artificial lures.
In fact, in the case of that Trilene knot we mentioned? Bass pro Greg Miller has been cited before as saying it's the ONLY knot he uses! If it's good enough for a pro, it's good enough for the rest of us!
Master these three knots and you should be ready for whatever fishing situation you might encounter in the future.
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