Lefty's Loop Knot (Kreh Loop Knot)

For those of you that don't know Lefty Kreh is one of, if not the, most influential people in fly fishing and fishing in general. It is said that if fishing were a religion he would be the pope! He is also one of the nicest blokes you will ever come across and is always willing to share advice on casting and other facets of fly fishing even though he is well into the 80's. He has invented casting styles, flies, been involved in the design and development of various rods, reels, line and even invented a few knots just to name a few things.

The lefty loop knot is one of the most popular fly fishing knots when connecting a fly. The loop gives the fly the ability to move more naturally. The knot can also be used when trying lures onto regular tackle and it is one of my favorite knots!

For detailed instructions on this great knot visit the instructions page

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Fishing Knots: Berkley Braid Knot

For quite some time now I have had emails from readers asking which knot I thought was the absolute best for braid fishing lines like fireline, finns, suffix etc. For years now I have personally used an improved clinch knot with increased wraps on braided lines and have not had many problems. Early this year, for some reason, I went through a period of mysterious knot failures and decided to test a new braid knot to see if it made any difference. The knot I tested was the Berkley Braid Knot.

The Berkley Braid Knot is a knot that has been tested (and I guess invented) by the research and development team at Berkley. It is tied by doubling the braid and this has increased knot strength in braided lines. Fortunately it is very simple to tie and is basically a clinch knot tied in the doubled line (see instructions below). I have been quite happy with the performance of the knot and I am sticking with it for now.

(Click to enlarge)

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Fishing Knots: Turle Knot (and double turle knot)

The turle knot is a little known snare knot used to attach hooks to a leader. It is one of the most simple knots to tie, but is unfortunately quite a weak knot and is not usually recommended unless targeting very small fish. However, the strength of the knot can be significantly improved by tying the double turle knot, which I will also explain below.

Turle knot

1. Pass the line through the eye of the hook and make a simple loop.

2. Carry the end of the line on to make a Simple Overhand Knot upon the loop and pass the loop over the hook

3. Tighten into shape










Double Turle Knot

1. Pass the line through and make two simple loops. Then make a Simple Overhand Knot around both loops.
2. Pass these loops over the hook.
3. Tighten the knot.

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Fishing Knots: Thumb Knot

The thumb knot is one of my favorite knots and with practice is very quick and easy to tie. It is a popular knot for attaching hooks, swivels and rings to very heavy monofilament or fluorocarbon fishing line. The knot tightens down very well and provides a strong connection.

note - this knot should not be confused with the overhand knot, which is also called the thumb knot in rope tying circles

It will take some practice to get this knot correct

Click to enlarge

1. Thread your hook with the line
and make a loop so that the hook
is suspended from the loop.

2. Wrapping your left thumb
and loop with the tag three times.

3. Push the tag back under those three wraps.

4. Hold both ends and ease the wraps off your thumb,
one at a time, in sequence.

5. Close the knot by exerting pressure
on the loop against the tag.

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Basic fishing knots

I have posted lots about fishing knots before, but I have never really put all of the information together in one spot for convenience. Hopefully this post will be of use to people looking for the basic fishing knots that every angler should know.

Tying good quality fishing knots is a very important part of fishing. There is nothing worse than losing a fish of a lifetime only to find your knots were not up to scratch (trust me I know). Fortunately, tying quality knots is not all that hard and there are some very strong knots that are even fairly easy to tie in the dark.

Basic fishing knots
If you click on the following links they will take you to my original posts with instructions or an instructional video for tying the knots.

Line to terminal tackle (hooks, swivels) knots

Improved Clinch Knot - A strong knot that is easy to tie.

Uni Knot - Probably the most popular knot in fishing and is a quality knot.

Snell Knot - More difficult than the first two, but is worth learning.

Palomar Knot (Polymer Knot) - Quick and easy to tie with sufficient strength in most applications.

Line to leader knots

Double Uni Knot - The most popular method of joining a line and a leader and is very strong.

Surgeons Knot - A very good knot for joining two lines with very different diameters.

Albright Knot - A slightly more complicated method of joining two lines of different diameters, but is very strong.

Line to lure knot

Rapala Knot - A very famous knot that is perfect for lures.

Others worth learning

Trilene Knot
Joe Miller Knot

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Fly Tying Instructions - Wooly Bugger (video)

The wooly bugger (also spelled woolly) is one of the most well known and versatile fly patterns available. It can be tied in a variety of colors, hook sizes and patterns to suit your fishing scenario. They can be tied to imitate a variety of different fish food forms including baitfish, crustaceans, insect nymphs salamanders and leeches. It is most often tied in green, red, olive, gray, grizzly, brown, black, yellow, white, and purple. This fly can be fished near the surface, or with the addition of weight it is often fished deep.

The wooly bugger is deadly on trout and salmon, but can be used successfully on a variety of species including bass. It is a big fish fly and consistently rates as one of the most popular flies. The Wooly bugger is a versitile fly and can be cast upstream like a nymph or cast across a stream and left to drift with the current. Fish the wooly bugger slowly while imparting a little bit of action on the fly.

How to tie a wooly bugger (video)
This video comes in two parts and is very well presented.

Part 1



Part 2



I hope you have enjoyed this post.

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