By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
Without a doubt the weakest link between you and that trophy fish will be your line and specifically your knot. Having said that, it amazes me the lack of attention anglers pay to their lines and knots. Amazes me what some anglers will tie for knots. Believe me, you will learn the lesson the hard way. I have.
There are a bunch of fishing knots that will work. Most anglers have their favorite and I am not going to tell the merits of them all nor which ones I think are best. For me, I like to keep it simple. There are only a handful of knots that I ever tie. If you want to learn the one I use the most, and I use it because it is simple and versatile–can be used for many different fishing applications, might I suggest this old video:
Using a couple of memes I stole from the internet, let me make a some other points about fishing knots. . . .
First of all, you likely need to re-tie, frequently:
Your goal is to end up with this:
Have a great weekend and don’t forget to spit on ’em, your knots that is.