What Knots Do I Need and How Do I Tie Them!?

We're so close to hitting the water and we have all our basic gear ready but now… how the heck do we tie it all together (literally). Hands down my least favorite part about fly fishing is knots. I only know the very basic of basics about knots, I can tie my tippet to my leader with one knot and my tippet to my fly with another knot, that’s it. 2 knots that I know of in a world of zillions of knots. So today I’m just going to paste an infographic of those two knots because they’ve never failed me (unless I failed at them, then they come apart).

Leader to Tippet Knot  (Surgeons)       Tippet to Fly Knot (Improved Clinch)           

Below you can see our Ambassador Landon wetting his knot so it doesn't come undone or weaken the mono or fluorocarbon. This is a crucial step to make sure the knot stays tight!

If you’re going to be using two flies you would use the same knot above (tippet to fly knot) and attach it to the bottom of the hook of the top fly and use the same knot again to the bottom fly. I would recommend using the internet to YouTube this in order to see the whole process in the act. And of course, every angler has different preferences and uses different knots, this is simply what I have been taught and what works for me! Overall, I have to say this is the most time-consuming part of the sport, besides the actual fishing itself, and can be very frustrating. I struggle with my knots every outing but eventually I get it and it pays off when you land a monster on your very own knot and it didn’t come undone! As goes with everything PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!

Now ladies and gentlemen you are ready to hit the water! Congrats! You bought your gear and tied on your flies! Next is learning how to cast, set the hook, fight the fish, land the fish and snap a pic! Thank you for joining us on our #basics series we really hope it helped! See you on the water!

All Pictures by Black Mountain Cinema