Fly-Fishing Knots

Be sure to moisten all knots with saliva before tightning.

Double Turle Knot

This is really a slip knot with an extra tuck in it. Form the knot (1), then pull it tight and slip the loop over the fly (2). Pull the loop tight onto the head of the fly.

Clinch Knot

Use to tie on flies. Five or six wraps give maximum strength. More wraps can weaken the knot.

Duncan Loop

This knot gives a freer action to flies and keeps the knot away from the head of small flies so the fly still looks small.

Blood Knot

Use to tie together two sections of leader which differ in diameter by no more than two "X" sizes.

Surgeon's Knot

Joins two sections of leader. Use when the sections differ by more than two "X" sizes.

Tube or Nail Knot

Use to join fly line to leader butt. This illustration uses a small tube to simplify the tie, but a nail will work in its place. After wrapping the leader, remove the nail and put the tag end through the space the nail occupied. Alternatively, you can put a loop of heavy leader material along the line, wrap around it, then use the loop to pull the tag end back under the wraps (it's the same way you whip-finished the end of a rope when you were a Boy Scout).