Knots

Knot tying. Can you think of anything more prosaic? When I first started fly fishing, I'd lose half the fish I would hook to bad knot tying. Muy, muy frustato. In fly fishing you have at least five knots on your line: backing to reel - arbor knot, backing to fly line - nail knot, leader to fly line - needle knot, tippet to leader - blood knot, tippet to fly -half blood knot.

You will never see your arbor knot and probably never see your nail knot while fishing unless you get into a monstrous leviathan that spools you. It's the knots from the fish end of your fly line to your hook that cause all the problems.

Anywho, the long and short of my knot story is that my blood knots sucked, they're very difficult to tie correctly, so I switched to surgeons knots, which are pretty easy. Then I learned that you have to moisten all your knots when you tie them or they are nearly useless. The friction and heat created when you cinch them tight weakens the monofilament. Suddenly after two years or so of losing fish, I began to land them. Exciting isn't it?

After twelve years or so of satisfactory knot tying, I have started to question if I am using the best knots possible. I'm satisfied with most of them except that I'm contemplating changing from a single blood knot or improved cinch knot to a trilene knot or a palomar knot to attach my fly to my tippet and my lure to my line. It's quite the existential crisis.