The Davy Knot

[Al Agnew]

Interesting knot...

I'm not as concerned with getting a 100% knot (and I'd be REALLY surprised if this or any other knot was truly a 100% knot) as I am with getting a strong knot that is quick and easy to tie correctly every time, including when your fingers are cold, the light is low, the trout are rising like crazy and you know it isn't going to last long and you have to get a fly tied on and out there quickly, the solo canoe is drifting downstream and coming up fast on that perfect spot...well, you get the picture. I hate fancy knots that take forever to tie. Looks like the Davy knot might be a quick and easy one with some practice, so I'll give it a try. Right now, for all non-fly fishing, I use a palomar--or a double palomar if using braid of less than 6 pound diameter with worm hooks, where a single palomar will allow the line to slip through the gap in the eye of the hook. Since I use a snap on all hard baits, tying a palomar is always the easiest and most dependable knot I know of--it's not nearly as easy if you're tying direct to a two treble hook crankbait! In flyfishing, it's either a palomar, an improved clinch, or sometimes if it's really cold I just tie a regular clinch knot. Oddly enough, I've had pretty good luck with the regular clinch, which isn't supposed to have much strength at all.

[RSBreth]

or sometimes if it's really cold I just tie a regular clinch knot. Oddly enough, I've had pretty good luck with the regular clinch, which isn't supposed to have much strength at all.

You know it's funny that I use the plain clinch most of the time, and rarely have problems with break-offs. For braid, another neat one is the double-through-the-hook-eye-then-uni-knot. Stops that problem with the line sliding through the gap in the hook-eye, and is my favorite for spinnerbaits with R-bend frames. Stays put.

I know Al use co-poly line for spinnerbaits and not braid, but if you use superlines for spinnerbaits it's a great knot that's very easy to tie.

[jeb]

I was fishing in quite a bit of wind yesterday and got pretty tired of all the time it took to tie the fish-n-fool. So I decided to try the San Diego knot for a while. I'd just picked up a DVD from Omega Tackle and they demonstrated it in there. Here's a video of how to tie it, at least with an un-weighted hook/lure. It won Field and Streams knot wars this last winter.

With a weighted lure, like a jig, this is a super fast and easy knot to tie as you can swing the lure around to do the 6 wraps. I could not find a vid of that, but it's on the DVD. Seemed to be a very strong knot too, compared to the fish-n-fool.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The Fishing Fool beat the San Diego. We should probably, myself included, remember that the Knot Wars test was based on three types of lines and a knot that held at a higher weight on two won. The difference could be in tenths of a pound, but if it was higher it won.

The Palomar is a great knot, but can be a bear to tie in a hurry. Any knot that is very close to it in strength, and easier to tie is worth trying.

[jeb]

Yep, I know the fish-n-fool won one of the knot wars. Not sure what all knots F&S tried, but the SD was the top knot in their test, FWIW. I'll probably still tie the fish-n-fool when I have the time and I'm not hanging out in the wind. But the SD with the "twirl" method (my term) is super fast/easy to tie, and seems very strong.