When is a knot not a knot?
When is a knot just not a knot?
“I’ve lost some great fish in the past to failed knots.”
With the holidays around the corner, a lot of us head to the beaches and rivers and out onto the big blue to chase a fish or two. Great fun indeed! However, how many of us lose fish because we tied an inadequate or faulty knot? It happens to us all at times, and this was illustrated most dramatically on the High Country-opening week. A good friend, who incidentally is an excellent fisherman, blotted his copybook most emphatically.
To save embarrassment we’ll call my friend Don (not his real name). Now Don’s a very experienced angler, but he hadn’t been chasing the wily trout for a while due to work pressure. Maybe his knot problem stemmed from opening-day nerves or just inattention when he rigged up. Whatever, I was still tending to my gear when on Don’s third cast he hooked a rainbow that ran about 2.5kg. Two spectacular leaps and it was gone. At first Don thought he’d broken a tippet. No, the curl at the business end of his tippet clearly revealed he’d tied a faulty knot.
Don tied on another bead head and a few casts later he was back in action. Again, another good fish vanished downstream. The air was more than a little blue, especially when the very frustrated fisherman realised that in fact that the knot joining the leader to tippet had failed. Strike two!
Now, I’ve lost some great fish in the past to failed knots and these days, even when the fish are rising all around me, I fight the natural urge to rush a set-up. I really pay attention to my knots and I test them hard before I start fishing.
There’s no reason to get complicated regarding your choice of knot. There are a million of them and some are very complex. I keep it simple and generally use only 2 or 3 basic ones. A simple Loop Knot is appropriate for a quick release connection of fly line to leader. To tie a fly to the tippet, I always use the tried and true Clinch Knot, however like most of the guys I fish with I put in 7 winds instead of the usual 5. To get the knot nice and tight (and tiny) wet the tippet before tightening it. To tie on a new section of tippet the Blood Knot which is basically a double Clinch Knot is first choice, being very effective and simple. I use the Box Knot if I’m making up a leader, connecting lines of various thicknesses, whether on a river or saltwater rig. Yes, it can be a bit of a handful to tie, especially on a rocking boat but it’s worth doing.
To check out the popular knot choices go to the Flyshop.co.nz website or any one of the other online fishing sites, or invest in a knot book from your local fishing store.
Incidentally the fishing down around Twizel at opening was reasonably good. Overall fish condition was excellent. We caught many more browns than rainbows. Last year I landed 52 in three days on the water, this year I netted 32 over the same time span. My regular fishing buddy Karl landed about the same. We both agree there were fewer fish in the rivers, specifically fewer rainbows. They could still have been waiting to push up from the lakes, who knows? Didymo has ravaged the Tekapo; it’s a shadow of the beautiful river it was just a decade ago – such a terrible shame.
Anyway, this summer on the water remember to check those knots and you’ll catch more fish. Of course once you’ve got a feed, catch and release should be mandatory. Have fun; I certainly will be giving it my best shot. Mapua and hopefully a snapper or two might be on the agenda.
