howsthebite · Knots
Fishing knots that actually hold
11 knots worth knowing, each one step by step. Pick by what you're tying and what line you're on — not by scrolling a gallery of fifty.
No strength percentages here. Those numbers come from pull tests on one line with one technique, and they don't survive contact with your spool. What matters more is tying the right knot correctly, so that's what each page covers.
By line
Mono
Fluoro
Line to hook, swivel or lure
- Palomar knot easy Ties line to a hook, swivel or lure. The default choice for braid, and the one most bass anglers tie without looking.
- Improved clinch knot easy Ties mono or fluoro to a hook, swivel or lure. The knot most anglers learn first.
- Uni knot easy Ties line to terminal tackle, and doubles as the building block for joining two lines.
- Snell knot medium Ties line to a hook along the shank rather than at the eye. Standard for flipping and for circle hooks on bait.
Joining two lines
- Double uni knot medium Joins two lines — braid to a fluoro leader, or mono to mono.
- FG knot hard Joins braid to a fluoro or mono leader with the slimmest profile of any common line-to-line knot.
- Blood knot medium Joins two lines of similar diameter. The standard for building a tapered fly leader.
- Surgeon's knot easy Joins two lines quickly, even lines of quite different diameter.
Loop knots
Line to reel
The one rule that beats knot choice
Wet the knot before you seat it. Line cinching against itself dry generates enough friction heat to weaken it, and no amount of picking the perfect knot makes up for skipping that. Spit works fine.
Second rule: pull it tight and then test it against steady pressure before you cast. A knot that fails does it on the hookset, and by then it's your fish.
