back to Education overviewBasic Knots for Flyfishing
- All good anglers know that properly tied knots are critical elements of the tackle system as important as a good rod, reel and flyline.
- Click on the links below to learn how to tie some of the most useful knots employed in flyfishing.
- The Arbor Knot
- The Nail Knot
- The Blood Knot
- The Albright Special
- The Surgeon's Knot
- The Clinch Knot
- The Uni-Knot
- You will need QuickTime to run these lessons on PCs or Macs.
- Click here for free QuickTime software.
The Arbor Knot
- Used to attach the backing to the arbor of the reel.
The Nail Knot
- Used for joining the backing to the fly line.
The Blood Knot
- Used to join a tippet to the leader. Also used to build leaders.
The Albright Special
- Used to join the backing to the fly line.
- Also used to join materials of greatly different diameters.
The Surgeon's Knot
- Used to join a tippet to the leader.
- Can also be used to make a loop at the end of a leader.
The Improved Clinch Knot
- Used to tie a fly to the leader.
The Uni-Knot or Duncan Loop
- Used to tie a fly to the leader.
- Can be used as a loop or can be drawn tight to the eye of the hook.