Knots
Knots with their written steps as the instruction and the diagram as support. Every record states which line materials the knot holds in, which it does not, and how it fails — because a knot that slips silently in braid is the commonest real-world failure there is.
What are you joining?
Every knot here is filed by the connection it makes. If you are choosing between two of them, the knot selector filters the same records by line material as well and prints the reason for each result.
Line to a hook, a lure or a swivel
The terminal connection. Tied more often than every other knot on this page put together, and the one that costs a fish when it fails.
Line to line
Joining two lines — a leader to a mainline, a shock leader to a shooting line, braid to fluorocarbon. Which one to use is decided by how different the two diameters are and by whether the join has to go through the rings.
A loop in the end of a line
For a loop-to-loop connection, or to let a lure or a fly move freely instead of being held stiff by the knot.
A dropper standing off the line
A hook or a fly held clear of the mainline. It is the structural knot: a sea trace, a paternoster and a team of wet flies are all a row of them.
Line to the reel spool
A fastening rather than a load-bearing connection on most fishing — and the page says where that stops being true.
Albright knot
The wrapped join: one line wound in a long coil over a loop in the other. It is the family that handles a severe diameter mismatch and still goes through the rings, which is what a shock leader needs.Arbor knot
The knot that fastens line to the reel spool. For most fishing it is a fastening rather than a load-bearing connection — and this page is explicit about the fishing where that stops being true.Blood knot
The traditional join between two lines of similar diameter — neat, slim, and unforgiving of a large difference in thickness.Double overhand loop
The simplest reliable way to put a loop in the end of a line, and the basis of every loop-to-loop connection.Double surgeon's knot
The line-to-line join that does not care whether the two lines match. Four operations, tied in seconds with cold hands, and the standard answer where a blood knot's diameter limit bites.Dropper loop
A loop that stands out at right angles from the middle of a line, holding a hook or fly clear of it. It is the structural knot: a sea trace, a paternoster and a team of wet flies are all built from a row of them.Haywire twist
Not a knot at all, and recorded as one because it is what terminates single-strand wire. Wire kinks where nylon would bed, so it is twisted rather than tied — and a kink is a break waiting to happen.Improved clinch knot
The classic monofilament knot for attaching a hook or swivel — quick, familiar, and specifically unreliable in braid.Loop-to-loop connection
Not a knot at all but a way of joining two looped ends — and the fastest reliable connection there is, provided it is made the right way round.Nail knot
The join between a fly line's plastic coating and a nylon leader or backing — two materials that will not knot to each other. It works by wrapping rather than by knotting, and it is why a fly line has ends at all.Non-slip loop knot
A fixed loop tied at the lure or fly so the connection cannot pull tight against the eye. It is a presentation decision rather than a strength one: the loop restores movement a tight knot kills.Palomar knot
A doubled-line knot to a hook or lure that is simple, exceptionally strong, and one of the few that holds reliably in braid.Uni knot
A sliding knot that works in almost any line and does several different jobs — arguably the most useful single knot to learn.