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Written by Josh   
Saturday, 30 June 2007

K.I.S.S knot tying works for me

*Note: I have since written an updated article on knot tying, having changed my tune after having a few bust offs from big fish using a couple of the knots mentioned here.

geoff wilsons complete book of knots and rigs
Aussie knot guru, Geoff Wilson
Any cursory glance around the shelves of any fishing retail store or some keen web surfing will reveal that there are a great many knots employed by fisherman across the globe. Quite a few of these knots are designed for specific purposes and some of them are relatively complex to perform. Although it took me longer than it should have to really learn the true merits of tying good knots, I'm usually pretty religious about the quality of the knots I tie these days. I've experimented with a lot of knots over the past few years and found most of them to be pretty well suited for their intended purpose.


Admittedly, I haven't gone to great lengths to test out which of these have the greatest holding capacity. I have, however, settled upon just a few simple knots that seem to cover all of my kayak fishing needs pretty well. Before drawing attention to them, I'm well aware that there are some superior knots to those mentioned below - particularly for various fishing conditions. The truth of it is that I think the main reason that I favour these knots is that they are relatively simple to tie, while retaining a fair portion of the lines rated breaking strain. Knots that are easy to tie make for faster rigging, which can sometimes be paramount. Equally important (especially for Aussies living in the southern states in the colder parts of the year) is the fact that it's not terribly easy to tie certain knots with freezing cold fingertips... and even harder to tie with gloves on. At the end of the day, the simpler you can make your fishing techniques, the less bother you'll have while fishing from a kayak. Personally speaking, that goes double for tackle.


Like most kayak fishermen, I do a fair amount of trolling and jigging lures and it is widely accepted that best results will come when lures are attached to a loop (as opposed to being secured directly with a knot) to allow for free range of movement. The theory is that this gives the lure the best chance to work as intended and mimic it's natural counterpart. It's a pretty sound theory I reckon and fortunately the most popular rig for doing this is pretty simple to do. There are a few variations of this particular rig and names vary as a result. I've tried 3 techniques, all of which seem to be pretty close in simplicity and performance. I haven't tried tying this rig with braid - nor do I think it would be such a good idea - but it does work well with a good quality monofilament.

Geoff Wilson calls his twist on this rig the Perfection Loop, which tends to leave the smallest knot of the 3. His directions to tying this knot can be found at Geoff Wilson’s knots and rigs page at Fishnet. Sportsmanschoice.com have a slightly different version, which they label as the non-slip mono-loop knot. Animatedknots.com have another take on it called the Rapalla knot, which can be easily followed with animated frames. For no apparent reason this is the way I have started tying the knot by default. I don't recall any of these knots ever failing on me so I'm pretty confident in each variation.

full blood knot
Full blood knot... or is it?
I go for a fairly common knot for tying swivels or hooks that has served me pretty well for a couple of years now. This one also goes by a few names and or variations. Animatedknots.com call their's the Trilene knot, while Geoff Wilson’s calls it the Full blood knot. Sportsmanschoice.com calls it the two-turn clinch knot and I think this is probably the most fitting description - the words 'two-turn' being the operative cue. It's similar to the even more familiar clinch knot (or what Geoff calls the locked half-blood knot... confused yet?), except that instead of just being passed through the hook, the line is wrapped around the eye twice to make a loop before winding the tag around the line. That extra turn really does seem to offer better gripping capability than the standard clinch knot.

There are times when I prefer not to use a swivel and in these instances I rely on connecting a mono leader to a braid main line. Many will tell you that the Albright knot is often the best suited for this and although I have no reason to dispute it, I find what Animated knots refer to as the Blood knot (I bet you're confused now) is easier to tie and generally pretty reliable. The approach demonstrated at animatedknots.com is pretty easy to follow, although I find Geoff's version a bit simpler to tie. It's the same knot (he calls it a generic 'joining fishing lines knot' tied a slightly different way. There is an interesting discussion on how to tie the Allbright and Surgeon's knots here in the AKFF (I might just give that Surgeon's knot a try).  

The only other knot I ever find myself tying these days is the Dropper loop, which may or may knot be it's correct name (who really knows). I've put this one to use for creating simple Paternoster rigs as well as soft plastic drop shotting. Though when I started digging around Geoff's knots and rigs page at Fishnet I discovered a 'drop-shotting soft plastics' rig that I just might experiment with to see how it goes.

As much as I advocate simplicity in knot selection, I also recommend doing your own experiments - either at home or on the water. With a bit of trial and error you'll find the knots that work best for you. There are several variations of Geoff Wilson's knots and rigs books on offer, including miniaturized waterproof ones, which just might make a good Xmas stocking gift idea for the beginner kayak fisherman. Otherwise the website links provided above offer a wealth of knowledge well worth investigating.

Update: I've started using a modified version of the Slim Beauty knot for mainline to leader connections. But instead of tying a double overhand knot as shown in the image below, I tie a uni knot instead. 

geoff wilson knot guide slim beauty

 





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