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Some Useful Knots for Fly Fishing – Don’t Lose Fish Again
Mikael Frodin a top fly tyer, salmon angler, guide and instructor has done a series of knots for fly fishing. Mikael if you are not familiar with works for Guideline Fly Fishing testing and helping to design products. A master shooting head caster Mikael has helped develop the Double and Triple density fly lines in the Guideline range.
As part of his experience in fly fishing Mikael has tested and worked with many knots and has decided on these 6 to teach you. If you have spent any time on the river fishing you will have no doubt lost fish to weak knots. With this series of knots you should have any situation covered with knots that are easy to tie and strong.
The Perfection Loop
A great knot to tie leader material to the loop at the end of your fly line when it doesn’t have build in loops.
Can also be used to tie flies to the end of your leader to give them more movement.
The Improved Albright
Second in the series a knot to attached leader material to your fly line.
A bit fiddly to do on the bank side but a strong knot that shouldn’t let you down.
The Double Eight
A good knot for forming loops on the end of your hand made leader.
Great for joining loop to loop connections ad keeping it simple.
The Leader Knot
When building your own leaders attaching different strengths of material together makes them turn over better in the cast.
This knot makes it simple without getting tangled up when casting.
The Clinch Knot
Fishing tube flies is more and more common and this knot is great for attaching the hook to the leader material.
The extra tucking of the tag end means it should not slip and loose you a fish.
The Steering Knot
A common problem with hook flies is most knots allow them to slip on the leader material so they don’t fish correctly.
This knot eliminates that problem and keeps the fly swimming properly throughout the cast.
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About Author
Hi Mark and thank you for your comment.
Knots have had to develop as new materials have arrived on the scene.
I was lucky enough, in the mid eighties to get my hands on some of the first fluorocarbon developed by the Japanese company Toray.
If I had wanted to buy it at that time, it would have retailed at around £50 per 50 mtrs !
It was not as fine a diameter per breaking strain as it is today, but the clear line and stiffer makeup made it absolutely way ahead of other leader material available at that time. Believe it or not, I still have some in my kit and it has not deteriorated at all. (Not really P.C. today). Picking out wind knots was unbelievably easy and a gentle stretch of the line easily removed any kink.
It was with the advent of fluoro that I decided myself to expelriment more with knots, not always successfully.
I still like to use the evergreen water knot and must say that I like the turle knot for smaller dry flies. This knot has never let me down !
My other preferred knots are, as demonstrated here, are the perfection loop, leader knot and the double eight along with the water knot.
Kind regards – Ken Sweet.
Having been a fly angler and fly tyer for some 50yrs, I am a capable knot tyer. However, I like to look up this kind of item just to brush up on my techniques (I’m not too proud to see if I can learn from others even at my age) and, I have to say that these are the clearest demonstrations of tying these knots that I have seen to date.
Well done Mikael and thank you for your great presentation.
Ken Sweet.
Hey Ken thanks for the kind words. Fishing and tying for 50 years I’m sure you could tell a story or two. Just wondering what knots do you use for fly fishing and have they changed much over the time you have spent on the water.