Tying The Knot Correctly

First you find the woman/man who is going to put up with you spending as much of your free time as posible on the water. Next you ..... Wait a minute I'm not writing about tying that kind of knot but rather the knot that you tie your lure on to your fishing line with.

Tying knots correctly shouldn't be a chore or a bother, but rather something that comes second nature to you. How many knots do you need to know? Probably no more than 3 or 4. The following knots should cover almost any situation you come up against. Learn to tie them correctly and you should never have another knot fail on you, when you can least expect it.

Palomar Knot
Improved Clinch Knot
Non-Slip Mono-Loop Knot
King Sling

Rather than copy anyone of the vast number of knot tying website's instructions and pictures, I have placed a handy search box for you to use:

What are the two most common mistakes that people make when tying a knot?

Forgetting to wet the line before pulling the knot tight.
Clipping off too much of the loose tag end of the line after the knot is tied.

How do these mistakes cause problems? When you forget to wet your line two things happen as you pull the knot tight. First "friction", this will weaken the line and set you up for a break off. You don't believe me ... try this little trick to see what friction can do to your fishing line (we are talking about monofilament the braided superlines have different problems). Cut a piece (about 3 - 4 feet) of the heaviest lb. test mono you have, tie one end to a non movable object, next wrap the loose tag end around your hand (or you can tie it to a chair), pull and hold the line tight, take a kleenex, a paper towel, an old rag, it doesn't matter as long as it is dry. Finally take your kleenex, fold it a couple of times and place it over the line, keeping the line tight, rub the kleenex (make sure to use a little pressure) back and forth on the line for about a minute. What happened? The line broke didn't it. Why? Friction, if you look at the line you will notice that the line has been melted.

The second problem that comes up when don't wet your line is, the loops don't slide together, causing the knot not to be seated properly, eventually the knot is going to either fail or break.

What happens when you cut the tag end too short? If you cut the line to close to the knot, your knot will pull loose if the knot slips.