Like so much else in fishing, it’s the details that separate the weekend anglers from the pros.
That’s certainly the case when it comes to spring scouting, lure selection, rod, reel, and line choice, and fishing electronic tactics, but nowhere is it more true than in knot selection.
While most of use a single knot for pretty much everything, anglers who catch more fish than you do – anglers who win tournaments, impress their buddies, and simply outfish you every time – pick their knots as carefully as their lures.
Do you?
If not, keep reading!
We’ll take a deep dive into knot choice, and finish with a list of knots we can really stand behind.
Knot Selection Basics
Knots do a lot more than simply keep a lure on the end of your line, though that’s an important part of what they do.
As tournament winners can attest, knot choice comes down to picking the right option for your line, your technique, and your lure.
Knot options
Broadly speaking, there are two styles of knot to consider: the snug knots and the loop knots.
Snug knots cinch down tightly against the lure, holding fast and typically buying you a bit more strength than loop knots. By contrast, loop knots leave space for your terminal tackle to really move, increasing its action, but sacrificing some strength in the process.
Right there, you should see a stark difference between them: when you need more action from you lure, a loop knot is the right choice. But when lure action isn’t critical, as in the case of lure options like in-line spinners or worm fishing, a snug knot is the stronger and more reliable option.
But there’s a lot more to mknot selection that this.
Line?
There are several questions you need to ask before you can pick the right knot for your lure. Knot choice should be driven by a logical process, not familiarity, habit, or laziness.
Perhaps the first thing you should ask yourself is “what line am I using?”
As you probably know already, nylon monofilament creates strong knots, and the density and hardness of mono are dialed-in to make them easy to tie. On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find braid and fluorocarbon, both of which are notoriously harder to get to knot well than mono.
Why?
Let’s start with braid. Braided lines are woven from either Dyneema or Spectra fibers, and both of these materials are very strong, and they create very sensitive, low-stretch lines.
But what Dyneema and Spectra don’t do well is bite on themselves.
They’re comparatively slick, and the pressure that binds a standard knot like the Uni may not hold in braid, demanding modifications to many old-school knots that were invented in the days when mono was the only game in town.
There are many knots that work well with braided lines, but there are plenty that just won’t hold, and pull outs are a common problem with knots in braid.
Fluorocarbon has a different problem that bedevils knot tying. Extruded into a single strand of line, much like nylon mono, fluorocarbon is dense and hard. That reduces its ability to bite on itself, and slippage can be a real issue unless you choose the right knots and tie them well.
For a thorough run-down of line choice, including strengths and weakness, check out this article:
Best Bass Fishing Line: Braid, Mono, and Fluorocarbon Compared
Lure?
Think about arranging lures into two categories.
On one hand, you have the “wriggling, swimming” category that includes most crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, spoons, unweighted soft plastics, and topwater. On the other, you have lures that have plenty of flash and vibration without the ned for wriggling, including in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, worm rigs like the Texas, Carolina, Ned, and Wacky, and – because of where the eye is located on them – lipless crankbaits.
Now, keep in mind that knot choice will have a major impact on how a given lure behaves, meaning that you can deaden that action of the first catagory if you use a snug knot instead of a loop knot. That’s not always a bad thing – think about situations in which you need a subdued presentation. Switching to a snug knot will reduce the action of a crankbait, for instance, and can offer a more subtle presentation when needed.
So it’s not always bad to use a snug knot where a loop knot is recommended.
But adding a loop knot to a lure in the second category isn’t going to turn an in-line spinner into a chatterbait: you can deaden the action of a wriggler, but you can’t make lures that don’t swim back and forth in tight wobbles suddenly start dancing.
Knot recommendations
With what we’ve learned in mind, what knots do I recommend?
Loop knots
My favorite loop knot, bar none, is the Kreh or the “No-Slip Loop Knot” as it’s sometimes called.
It’s easy to tie, quick to master, and plenty strong, routinely providing more than 80% of your line’s test strength. It also ties well in all line types, making it perfect for braid and fluorocarbon.
I use this knot on any lure in the first category: crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwater – they all get the Kreh.
Snug knots
I recommend two snug knots for everything else, including terminal tackle like hooks, clips, and swivels.
One option is the ever-popular Uni knot, a very strong, very easy, very fast knot that offers exceptional shock strength. The other is the Palomar, offering unbeatable static strength and a no-slip design that can be modified slightly to prevent pull outs in braid.
Final Thoughts
Knot choice shouldn’t be an afterthought.
Pick the right knot for you lure and situation and you’ll see a dramatic increase in the number of fish that strike your lure, making you a better fisherman pretty much immediately!
As always, we’d love to hear any questions or comments you might have, so please leave a comment below.
Source: usangler.com