The Knot, The Davey knot, The Figure 8 Knot

[Guest Jim Traylor]

Jimmy T.

[Phil Lilley]

Here's the knot.

UtahOutdoors.Com

Here's the link to the page.

[Luke]

This knot is pretty easy and is very strong. Earlier this year I did some tests with different knots and my strongest and quickest knot to connect the fly was the Orvis knot. I also did some leader to tippet knot tests and the best knot for me was the Triple Surgeons knot. The blood knot tested very strong, but I'm just not very good at tying it.

In the past I had been using an improved clinch knot for my tippet to fly connection and Surgeons loop knots for my tippet to leader connections. These tested very poorly. I highly suggest trying some other knots if these are the knots that you use. It also helps pass the time when it's just to cold to go fishing.

[Phil Lilley]

Is it me or does the Orvis knot just add one more loop at the end... (or does the Davy knot leave off a step) I'll have to try it.

[Guest flyfishBDS]

I use this knot, the Eugene Bend pretty much exclusively these days.

Knot as small as the Davy probably but tests higher than anything else ive used if tied correctly. And it lets you know if you have screwed it up. You have to hear the click. and it works on flouro

[Brian K. Shaffer]

http://flyfish.ableweb.net/images/orvis.jpg

http://flyfish.ableweb.net/images/pitzen.jpg

http://flyfish.ableweb.net/Pitzen.htm

the board wont let me post these - do them individually

I tie on the Pitzen knot - everytime.

best fishes - Brian

[Fox Statler]

You know that just about any knot retains about 80% of the line strength, so what makes one knot better than another? The way you tied it. Here are a couple hints that I have found that really make knot tying easier and stronger. First, use monofilament tippet material that has not been exposed to the sun. Fluoro-carbons are not affected by UV rays and will still be in our rivers a 100 years from now. I don't use it. Second, when tying the knot do not tighten the smaller tippets of 8X - 5X. Simply snug the knot and make sure it is tied correctly, the first fish caught on it will tighten it perfectly. Anglers often over tighten it making a flat spot in the tippet which weakens it. Third, if you catch a large fish, cut off the fly and re-tie it on before attempting to catch another fish. The large fish did the same thing that most anglers do, over-tightened the knot creating a flat spot in the tippet material. Quite often after catching a large fish, the very next fish will break the line even though it is a small one because of the damage done by the preceding larger fish. Fourth, when fishing for large browns with small tippet material (8X-6x), use a open loop knot like an improved figure eight knot (an open loop knot should not slide down to the hook-eye but remain open and the knot is stationary). This type of knot will double the tippet where tooth abraision is caused by the browns teeth and give the angler twice the strength of the tippet at this point. Don't worry about the double line being seen by the brown and scaring it away from the fly. The portion of the tippet that flashes the light that the brown see is much farther up the tippet than the knot. Fifth, spit on your fingers before snugging the knot, this will moisten the tippet material and lubricate it so that you don't burn the tippet when snugging the knot.

Inspect your tippet after breaking off by looking at it and running it between your lips. Your lips are very sensitive even on the coldest of days and will detect knicks and cuts in the tippet material. Solution: replace the tippet. Look at the tippet where it broke off, if it is stretched and curled on the end the angler exceeded his tippets strength and caused the break off. Solution: use a longer tippet which will put more elasticity in the tippet, use stronger tippet, or a lighter drag, or best of all, a lighter rod. If the knot is still on the tippet after the break off then the hook cut the tippet in the loop of the line that goes through the hook-eye. Solution: buy better quality hooks. Mustad hooks are the worst to cause this type of break off.

Practice tying knots. Take a pencil and a piece of light tippet material. Tie a knot to each end of the pencil using the tippet material. Use the same knot but tie it on a good way on one end and a better way on the other. Put the tippet material over a doorknob and pull down on the pencil until one of the knots break. Repeat this until neither knot breaks, you have learned how to tie the knot the best way possible because your knots exceeded the strength of the tippet material.

Most line records exceed the line strength by 10-12 times. So when using a one pound test tippet, the angler should be able to land a 10-12 pound fish. All things are possible if you believe you can do it. You set the limits of your abilities because you don't think something is possible. Is a 50 pound fish on 2 pound test line possible? I think so if given the right species of fish, the right water, and the right fly fishing rod and reel.

Fishin' What They See,

Fox Statler

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Thanks Mr Statler - as usual, your candor still blows us all away.

Great advice.. how about this - whats the best knot when using 2x for steelhead ?

best fishes - Brian

[Fox Statler]

My knots of preference are the Trilene and Universal knot. When fishing big fish I run the line through the loop on a Universal knot 5-6 times, 4 times on small fish. There may be better knots, but these two are easiest and best for me. Your choices are probably different, but they work well for you.