Fly Fishing Knots - Leader-to-Tippett & Tippet-to-Fly

[Hawk]

I'm a newbie at fly fishing so I'm wondering what knots you guys recommend for attaching the leader to the tippet an attaching the tippet to the fly?

Thanks.

:D

[sothereiwas]

For leader to tippet I use a Blood Knot, or a Surgeons Knot.

For tippet to fly I use either a Clinch, Turle, or Non-slip Loop

Brad

[kilchisfisher]

Being a beginner myself, I find knot tying sites like this one very helpful. Hope it helps you, too.




http://www.killroys.com/knots/knots.htm

[Lymanator]

another vote for the surgeons knot for tippet. not much simpler than that.

clinch, improved clinch, trilene, turle, and non slip loop at the fly.

[Twothirteen]

another vote for the surgeons knot for tippet. not much simpler than that.

clinch, improved clinch, trilene, turle, and non slip loop at the fly.

For what situation would you use which knots? I'm quite the beginner. I suppose you have a go-to knot for the average leader-to-fly, right?

[Dry Fly]

Great thread.

I use an improved surgeon's for leader to tippet, and an improved clinch for the fly.

I've never learned other knots, so I can't say if mine are the best. One thing I have noticed, is that when I lose a fly, I usually lose the tippet also. There's something about the surgeon's knot that's hard on tippet.

[sothereiwas]

for tippet to leader connections I prefer the blood knot, much cleaner and stronger than a surgeons knot. I go to the surgeons when I'm lazy, or in low light conditions as it lends itself well to tying by feel.

Fly to tippet connections

Non-slip loop- for most lake fished streamers or anything that is retrieved at a decent pace. Also on steelhead flies like skaters or smaller hair wings. The loop lets the fly move more freely.

Turle knot- I use on most steelhead flies, because the knot is behind the eye it is very clean and it minimizes the flies tendency to roll or plane on its side.

Clinch/Improved Clinch- lazy mans knot, does the job 90% of the time. The way I decide between the two is dependent on the difference in size between the wire of the hook and the tippet. If there is a large difference I use the Improved Clinch as the standard Clinch wont cinch properly.

Brad

[mkwerx]

for tying on flies, it's almost always the clinch/improved clinch or the dry-fly clinch (for hooks with downturned eyes like most dry flies have. Pass the line through the eye, run it around the back/top of the hook shank, then pass it back through the eye and finish your clinch knot as usual, the knot snugs up right into the eye of the hook)

for leader/tippet connections I use either blood knots or albright knots. only when I'm lazy do I go with the surgeon's loop knot - which is nothing more than an overhand knot with the line looped 3 times instead of one.

For connecting the leader to the flyline I use a knot known to me as the Castwell knot - that's not the original name, but it's super-dooper simple and super strong. It requires a small loop at the butt of the leader, but it seems that most commercial leaders already come with the loop tied there. The Castwell knot is a little similar to the dry-fly clinch - pass the flyline through the loop of the leader like it was a hook eye, wrap it around the loop and pass it back through the loop, trapping the tag end under the main line. Draw the knot tight and clip off the tag end. It does not come undone - at least it never has since I start using it about 7 or 8 years ago. Before then I used the loop-to-loop connections, but those are a pain - they snag in the guides too much for my tastes. The Castwell is very strong, easier to tie than a needle or nail knot, and doesn't hang up like the loop connections do.

[chromeseeker]

Blood knot for tippet-leader connection.

But for tippet to fly, check out the San Diego Jam knot, I think you can Google it. Simple to tie and incredibly strong. Takes a little longer to tie thand the clinch or turle but it's great. I've started using this knot exclusively for bass fishing and it's awesome.

Another really strong knot is the palomar. Takes a little more line, but nearly as strong as the Jam knot.

CS

[Dry Fly]

I re-read my last post, and realize I meant to say double surgeon, not improved surgeon.

I can tie a blood knot given enough time and swearing, but a double surgeon is fast and painless (for me at least). If I've got the time, I'd rather tie a double nail knot than a blood. I haven't tested the two knots side by side, but the double nail looks stronger to me, so that's what I use. And a tie-fast tool makes it a snap.

[Hawk]

For the tippet-to-fly connection, what are the benefits of a non-slip loop compared to a slip-loop type knot such as the Duncan loop?

[sothereiwas]

Nothing other than the slip type loop lets you adjust the size of the loop. Non slip loops are difficult to tie extremely small so when using little flies it makes it nice to have it adjustable.

Brad