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When fishing lead core, copper wire or weighted stainless wire the Albright knot is a good choice for connecting these sinking lines to fluorocarbon leaders and also monofilament or braid backing line.
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By
Mark Romanack
The ability
to tie a good fishing knot is one of those skill sets that everyone heading out
fishing needs to master. Apparently knot tying isn’t as interesting as lures,
boats, motors, electronics and a host of other fishing topics, because rarely
do anglers preach about knot tying skills.
Ironically,
it’s the fishing knot that insures the fish that bite, end up landed and
gracing the pages of Facebook! Without at least a basic grasp of the common
fishing knots and how to tie them, most of your fish stories will be focusing
on the one that got away!
Fortunately,
the list of “must know” fishing knots isn’t a long one. Master the knots
outlined here and you’ll be well equipped to hook and land everything that swims
no matter where you wet a line.
IMPROVED CLINCH KNOT
The
improved clinch knot is easy to tie and without question the most common
fishing knot out there. Frequently used to tie on small lures like walleye
jigs, the clinch has good knot strength and will hold nicely when used on any
monofilament, co-polymer or fluorocarbon line.
The
improved clinch knot works in a wide variety of fishing situations, but it
doesn’t hold well on fused and super braid lines.
PALOMAR KNOT
This easy
to tie knot is super strong and works great for all line types. Because braids
and fused lines are slick not a lot of traditional knots will hold well with
these super lines. The palomar knot is the exception and it holds great with
all braids, fused lines, nylon monofilaments, co-polymers and fluorocarbon
lines.
The palomar
is a “go to” knot for tying on snaps and swivels, single hooks and smaller
lures like jigs or in-line spinners. Perhaps the strongest of all knot types,
if you only learn one knot make it the palomar.
EGG LOOP KNOT
The egg
loop knot is a snelling knot that is easy to tie, super strong and it has the
advantage of being useful for putting attractors like yarn on a hook. This knot
is often used when fishing skein because the line can be backed up enough to form
a loop that holds skein in place when the knot is pulled up tight. Steelhead,
salmon and trout fishermen swear by this knot, but it has other uses.
I use the
egg loop knot to tie my walleye fishing nightcrawler harnesses. Again this knot
is easy to tie and it allows two or three hooks to be snelled on a leader and
space them perfectly every time.
ALBRIGHT KNOT
The
Albright Knot is an obscure knot, but this knot is rapidly growing in
popularity. The ideal knot for attaching any backing or leader material to a
main line, this knot can be used in fly fishing applications, to attach mono or
braid backing to lead core line, attaching backing to copper line or attaching
fluorocarbon leader to lead core or copper trolling lines.
Trollers
swear by this knot and it’s easy to tie with a little practice, the knot is
small and it passes easily through rod guides and also reel line guides.
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When fishing plugs using a cross lok style snap, the Palomar
knot is hands down the strongest connection possible
when using monofilament, co-polymer lines,
fused and also super braid lines.
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DOUBLE UNI KNOT
The double
uni knot is a great way to attach small braids and fused lines to fluorocarbon
leaders. Ideal for jig fishing with braids, this simple knot allows anglers to
tie in a short invisible leader between their super line and the jig. This knot
is also ideal anytime two different line types must be joined. When pulled up
tightly, the double uni knot is small enough it slides right into and out of
baitcasting and spinning reel line guides.
MORE KNOT TYING TIPS
No matter
what knot an angler chooses to use, the strength of that knot can be increased
by simply wetting the line before pulling the knot up tight. Line conditioning
products also do a nice job of reducing memory in fishing line, especially
stiffer lines like fluorocarbon and hard surfaced nylon lines.
Also, to
insure your fishing line retains it’s natural tensile strength, store your line
in a cool, dry place away from direct light. A basement is the ideal place to
store fishing line.
A good pair
of scissors is mandatory for cutting line and clipping tag ends short. The
garden variety line clippers on the market work okay for monofilament, but they
simply don’t have the cutting powers to handle fused or super braid lines.
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Smallmouth like this one caught by the author are exceptionally
strong fighters and landing them consistently requires a solid
knowledge of fishing knots and what lines each knot works best with.
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KNOT TYING RESOURCES
The
internet is one of the best places an angler can visit when trying to learn new
knot tying skills. My favorite is www.animatedknots.com, but there are many
others including www.netknots.com,
and Fishing Knots 101, www.berkley-fishing.com. These sites and more
make it very easy to learn to tie any fishing knot in a matter of minutes.
After that, practice makes perfect.
