FISHING KNOTS AND TIES (PART 1)

Half Blood Knot

One of my favourite and easiest knots to perform is the half blood knot. It is also one of the safest knots to have when tying to singular hooks, swivels and lures. If you look at the design of the knot, you can see that if tension is applied to the hook, the coils actually exert more pressure on the line, preventing it from slipping off your hook.

The knot is tied by passing the line thru the eye of the hook, wrapping the tag around the main line 4-6 times, then passing the tag back thru the first loop made around the eye of the hook. The finer the diameter of the line in relation to the diameter of the hook eye, the greater the number of turns (up to six) that should be made.

If you really want to be fussy, take a cigarette lighter and melt the cut tip of the line (the tag) so that a small ball of monofilament forms. If your not careful, the heat of the lighter could degrade the strength of the knot and line on the hook. I usually don't worry about this. Knots these days have been designed to cater for most situations of fishing. 

Figure Eight Knot

This type of knot is made for the purpose of attaching leaders, traces or other terminal tackle. It has the advantage that they can be tied quickly and in the dark.

Also, terminal tackle can be easily interchangeable on this knot. I primarily use the figure eight knot on bottom fishing rigs for light or heavy sinkers. Its easy and quick to make, and if used in conjunction with a dropper loop, you need only to worry about its placement on the rig relative to the dropper loops. Learning the knots takes time.

Tying the knots and locating them on a rig takes some practice as well.

First, bend the line back upon itself to form a loop. Then twist the loop twice over around the doubled leader. Pass the end of the loop thru the first loop formed to get the figure of eight configuration. Pull the knot tight and cut off the tag

Snelled Knot

This knot is ideal for hooks with up or down turned eyes in a ganged configuration. It would have to be one of the hardest knots I learnt in my repertoire of knots. Tying of the actual knot is relatively easy, just the placement of fingers on the hook and monofilament was difficult to master, especially when dealing with small ganged hooks, to get a comfortable feel to tying it.

The objective of a ganged rig is to bind or gang several hooks in line, for use with bait such as white bait, pilchard, squid and garfish.

The eye of the hook can be threaded as shown, but its not always preferred. Make a loop with the tag, then wrap the loop around the tag and shank of the hook 8-10 times. As you pull on both lines to tighten the knot, any excess of loop will be taken out when the tag is being pulled. Cut any excess tag off.

I learnt this knot by actually studying and unsnelling a pre-made rig I purchased from a local tackle store. When rigging, keep in mind the type of fish your going for because it is this which governs the size of hook and strength of line your going to use for your bait.

For example, I use 25kg monofilament line with chemically sharpened 4/0 hooks for Salmon, Mulloway, Snapper and Trevally. This line is somewhat thick and easy to work with. For smaller fish such as garfish, Tommies and sand whiting, I use 4-6 kilo line.

When tying a ganged rig, leave plenty of line out from your first hook to allow tying the rest of the rig. Snell Hook 1, "A", then tighten the line at "B" which is part of the tag, and repeat the process on Hook 2 and treat Hook 1 as if it wasn't there.

Repeat the process for Hook 3. Just be careful you don't prick yourself. Some bait like garfish can be long and you may need 4 ganged hooks. When finished, cut any excess tag off.

Dropper Loop

The Dropper Loop is used to form several loops in a line above the sinker. When correctly made the loop should stand out at right angles to the line. The loops can also be made long enough to loop a hook directly onto it. This may not be a good idea when fish are not on the bite.

Make a loop in your line. A handy tip is to put a match stick to one side of the crossover. Rotate the match, putting a twist in the line. Make about 5 rotations of the match stick so that a series of twists are made on each side of the match stick.

Remove the match and pull the doubled section of the loop thru exactly the same hole the match stick was in.

As you pull the knot tight, you will notice the sequence of twists reverse so that the loop feeds from the center of the knot, rather than outside as you might expect.

		Palomar Knot The Palomar Knot is quick to tie and sufficiently strong for most fishing situations. It is a general-purpose connection used in joining fishing line to swivels, snaps, hooks and artificial lures. The double wrap of line through the eyelet provides a protective cushion for added knot strength, and is ideal for use with braided lines (SpideWire Fusion). Step 1 Double the line and form a loop three to four inches long. Pass the end of the loop through the hook's eye. Step 2 Holding standing line between thumb and finger, grasp loop with free hand and form a simple overhand knot. Step 3 Pass hook through loop and draw line while guiding loop over top of eyelet. Step 4 Pull tag end of line to tighten knot snugly and trim tag end to about 1/8 inch
		Double Loop Clinch Knot This knot is used chiefly for tying on various types of swivels when trolling. This knot takes a little more time to tie, so it is most practical when using the same terminal tackle over a long period of time. Firstly, turn the line end through the hook eye twice. Then wrap the line end around the standing part of the line three times, then put the end back through the two loops in front of the hook eye, as shown in Step 2. Finally, pull gradually to make the final knot.   Cat's Paw Knot Stretch a double line from the knot to the swivel to insure that the legs of the line are of equal length. Remove any twist from legs of the line. Select a swivel with adequate wire diameter ie thickness. Using a too small a swivel will actually cut the knot. In Step 1, thread the loop through the eye of the swivel. In Step 2, rotate the swivel vertically through the loop three times. Coat the prepared knot with saliva, as this helps lubricate the knot when making the final pull. Looping the swivel three times is recommended, however, you may need more wraps if using light line, and less wraps with heavy line. In Step 3, grab hold of the swivel in one hand and the double line in the other, pull the line against the swivel so that the twists gather. Finish off by working the twists down onto the eye of the swivel with your thumbnail, making sure that the legs of the double line are equal in length. Haywire Twist Haywire Twists are handy to use on dead bait that is to be trolled. The usage of wire infers that the species of fish being sought is either of a large nature, or has teeth that would normally bite through monofilament line. This is one of the most commonly used methods for linking solid wire leader to any connecting ring. The number of wraps and the two different kinds of wraps in the Haywire Twist are absolutely necessary to keep the wire from pulling apart. Twist the strands together. Keeping the wire tight, bend the loose end around the main strand. Twist or Cut the excess off.