Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey guys,

I have seen a few different knots used to attach Leader to Fly Line, though don't know their names.

One even involves using a pin to thread the Leader up through the tip of the Fly Line before wrapping it back and finishing it with nail polish to hold it tight.

Which do you use?

I tie a "nail knot", which I guess is named after a technique where you wrap the line around a nail. Myself I use a multi-tool that I keep on a retractable gadget on my vest, but in the field and in a pinch, a stick or anything else stiff enough to give you a good working surface to wrap around would work. The resulting knot is a very strong, low-profile, barrel-shaped knot.

Animated Nail Knot

YouTube Nail Knot

Cool, the knot I was mentioning is just like a nail knot, except with the leader thread up through the end of the fly line by a needle so that it will have an even lower profile and not get caught up on your rod's eyelets.

Thanks!

you can use a nail not in that application too. I find it works very good with the leader comming out the end of the the fly line. The nail knot is also good for leader to tippet.

This website is pretty handy for different types of knots.

The one I was mentioning above is called a "Needle Knot".

http://www.gogaspe.com/salmon/knots/fishknot2.htm

I couldn't tell you the name of the knot that I use for attaching tippet to fly leader.. but I can tell you that many of the fly lines made these days will come with a loop at the end of the fly line. Then you leader has a loop on it... you can just put your loops together, no knot needed. Makes for very quick easy removal of one leader to the next.

Go here and click on the Perfection Loop. It's the best there is in MHOpinion.
http://www.orvis.com/orvis_assets/files/index.html

I'm a loop to loop guy. I put a braided mono loop on the fly line, then put a loop of choice in the leader, connect loops.

quadradomus wrote:I couldn't tell you the name of the knot that I use for attaching tippet to fly leader.. but I can tell you that many of the fly lines made these days will come with a loop at the end of the fly line. Then you leader has a loop on it... you can just put your loops together, no knot needed. Makes for very quick easy removal of one leader to the next.

Exactly quad. This is what I like so much about the RIO fly lines. Their loop-to-loop technology (whatever you want to call it) is really great for quick leader changes on-the-go. I appreciate this because it allows me to grab my leader roll with pre-tied leads and droppers and just substitue one for the other. Wolverine likes this method as well, and it is mostly preferred by fly anglers, as a general rule-of-thumb. As far as the nail-knot goes, one of those knots you cannot go forget/be without