Why the Knot Is the Weakest Link

A river is an unforgiving place to discover a badly tied knot. The current pushes, the bank is often steep and slippery, and the fish on the end may be the best of your season. Yet most lost fish come down to a knot that slipped, not a hook that straightened or a rod that broke. A monofilament rated at 6lb can lose half its strength at a poorly seated knot, and on a small river where you are fishing fine and light, that loss is the difference between landing and losing. Tie the same three knots the same way every time and you will spend less of your session re-rigging and more of it fishing.

The Grinner: Your Standard Hooklink Knot

The grinner, known in some parts as the uni knot, is the one I would choose if I could only tie one. It works in monofilament, fluorocarbon and braid, and it holds securely with eyed hooks, swivels and quick-change links alike.

• Pass the tag end through the hook eye and double it back alongside the standing line.
• Form a loop by laying the tag end over the doubled line.
• Wrap the tag end around both strands and through the loop five times — six or seven if you are using very fine mono, four if you are using braid.
• Moisten the wraps with saliva or river water, then pull the tag end to close the knot loosely.
• Slide the knot down to the eye and pull the standing line firmly to seat it.
• Trim the tag to about 2mm.

The grinner's great virtue is that it resists slipping under steady pressure, and it can be tied with cold, wet hands in the half-light of an autumn evening. Give it a gentle pull as you finish and you will feel it lock solid.

The Half Blood Knot: Quick and Neat

The half blood knot has been on river banks for a century, and for good reason: it is quick, and once seated it is tidy and strong in monofilament. It is less suited to braid, which can slip, so keep it for mono and fluorocarbon hooklinks.

• Thread the tag end through the eye, leaving a good 15cm to work with.
• Wrap the tag end around the standing line five or six times, working away from the hook.
• Pass the tag end back through the small loop that has formed just above the eye.
• Moisten, then draw the knot down to the eye with a steady pull. Slide it home rather than jerking it.

If the knot fails to seat neatly — if the coils bunch or cross — cut it off and start again. A half blood knot that does not look right almost certainly is not.

Loop Knots: Movement Where It Counts

Sometimes you want the hook or lure to move freely rather than being locked tight to the line. That is where a loop knot earns its place. The figure-of-eight loop is the one to learn first; it is simple, and it forms a reliable loop for loop-to-loop connections between hooklink and main line, or as the basis of a paternoster set-up with a dropper.

Tie it by doubling the line to form a loop, then passing the loop through itself in a figure-of-eight motion — over, round and back through — before moistening and drawing it tight. To connect two loops, pass one through the other, then take the hook end back through the first loop and pull gently. The same principle gives you a non-slip loop at the hook for lures and worm hooks, letting them swing naturally in the current instead of dragging stiffly behind the line.

Practise at Home Until It Is Second Nature

Nobody learns to tie knots well while standing in a river. Learn them on the sofa. Keep a metre of old monofilament and a shoelace on the arm of your chair, and tie each knot twenty times in a row. Then tie it with your eyes closed; then tie it wearing gloves. Time yourself. When you can produce a clean grinner in under twenty seconds without thinking about it, you are ready for the bank.

Make it varied, too. Line diameter changes how a knot behaves, so practise with 3lb, 6lb and 12lb. Cut up a batch of hooklinks in advance and store them in a small wallet — half a dozen grinner-tied hooks on 15cm lengths will keep you fishing when your fingers are numb or the light has gone.

Test Gently Before You Cast

Never trust a knot you have not pulled against. But test it gently. Take the hook between thumb and forefinger and pull steadily against the reel, applying smooth pressure over two or three seconds rather than a sharp jerk. A sudden snatch can damage a knot that was perfectly sound, or break it outright. You are feeling for the knot seating itself, the coils drawing down tight, and the line holding firm without slipping.

Retie after every snag, every heavy fish, and every few casts when you are fishing fine and light. Trim tag ends to about 2mm — anything longer catches weed and collects debris. Do that, and the knot will be one less thing to worry about when a big chub or barbel rolls in the current.