January 2006_WESTERN OUTDOORS 51

The importance ofwell-tied fishing knotsto the success of afishing trip is often

overlooked. Most anglers cantalk for hours of the habits offish, the pros and cons of dif-ferent rods, reels, line and ofcourse, lures and baits. Butwhen it comes to that all-im-portant bend in the line that ul-timately keeps a caught fishcaught, not too many fisher-men are losing any sleep beforea trip thinking about knots. Aproperly tied knot can, howev-er make the difference between

having a fish at the gaff or netand coming up empty handed.

My attitude about knotschanged one day on a tuna fish-ing trip many years back. I cameaway from the experience with anewfound interest in knots. I be-gan studying knots and testingknots and now illustrate andpublish several fishing knotguides. The story that had suchan impact on me follows, as wellas a new knot that you may wantto try next time you are tying inwith heavy monofilament.

It had been an uneventfulmorning for the 20 or so fisher-

men aboard the Cherokee Geisha,a party boat out of Fisherman’sLanding in San Diego, California.Five hours of trolling and severalkelp paddy stops had producedlittle more than a few skipjackand one small dorado, none ofwhich belonged to me or my fish-ing partner, Bob Barminski.

Barminski was a river guide innorthern California at the timeand he had reacted quickly to mycall in which I told him that tunawere being taken in big numberson one day trips out of San Diego.I told Barminski two to four yel-lowfin tuna could be expected per

rod. Two days after my hype callwe were getting on a boat togeth-er, relative tuna fishing novices,but not without first seeing thegrim faces of the fishermen off-loading from the previous day’strip. The fish count numbers hadplummeted for the fleet that dayand the boat we were boardinghad nearly been skunked. “Not agood sign,” I thought to myself,and that set the stage to cast someserious doubt onto the trip. Now,after a half day of fishing with noluck, I was starting to get thehairy eyeball from Barminskiwho had dropped everything to

50 WESTERN OUTDOORS_ January 2006

be here. I don’t know what’sworse, not catching any fish orhyping a friend into a trip that’snot catching any fish. It’s likegiving a friend a stock tip thatgoes the wrong way.

Well, things changed all atonce, as they can with fishing, atthe next paddy stop. “Hookup!” sounded the wake-up callacross the boat and into the halfasleep galley. “Fish on!” “Freshone!” Like soldiers to battle sta-tions, rods were grabbed, baitedand cast, then inevitably, hookedup. It was total pandemoniumwith rods bent over left and

right, sardines flying and freshfish slapping the deck. Nearlythe whole boat was hooked up atonce. We were obviously on abig school of fish. The fish weresmaller than what we had comefor, mostly skipjack with somedorado, but after the doldrumswe’d been through, I didn’t hearanyone complaining.

The next thing we knew thelines starting snapping off. Any-one that hooked up a new fishgot their line spooled, broken offor the consolation prize of askipjack. Something big hadcrashed the party and everyone

was outgunned. With mostlyfootball size skipjack beingcaught, no one had much morethan twenty five-pound-test linein the water. After I got bit offwith my 20-pound rig I ran tothe rod rack to get my next heav-iest set-up but Barminski yelledthat he just broke off with it andwas using our last ready rig.Three rigs down in five minutes.Sharing tackle can be toughwhen the bite’s wide open! I wasin a panic to get a line back inthe water. I needed to re-rigsomething and I chose our heav-iest set-up: a Sabre Californian

CA-50 with 50-pound test monoon a Penn Senator 113HLW -our trolling rig. As I cut thetrolling feathers off I told myselfto calm down and do this right. Iwanted to hook into a big tuna! Icarry a selection of hooks stuckin a cork and hung around myneck for just this type of situa-tion. I selected a 3/0 live baithook and proceeded to tie it onusing an Improved Clinch knot– one of the few knots I knewhow to tie at the time. While theclinch is an excellent knot, it canbe difficult to tie in heavymonofilament line.

RETIE

BIGEYEThe criticalconnection

between you andyour fish deserves thepatience of a monk

Feature by John Sherry

FOR

The most importantconnection betweenangler and fish is theknot. Many anglers makethe mistake of either notre-tying their knots afterlanding a fish orimproperly tying knotswhen excited due to awide-open bite. Eitherway, it is important tomake sure you haveconfidence in your knotprior to casting out -- younever know when the bigboys are going to crashthe party.

BIG

EY

EThe first effort at the knot was

a little less than perfect with thecoils all bunched up on one anoth-er. I was tempted for an instant togo with it, just get the line back inthe water before the school movedand I’d be left with a slack linesoaking a sardine. But it was thenthat I made the best decision of theday. Despite the frenzy going onaround me and the interminabledelay I was experiencing, I mademyself cut and retie the knot.When I was satisfied with the sec-ond, more carefully crafted knot,I baited up and cast my line intothe melee. The hit was nearly in-stantaneous. There was a blue-green flash. Then the rod with meattached, slammed into the railand bent over hard. Line was be-ing sucked off the reel like noth-ing I had ever felt before. One ofthe boat’s mates was at my sideand asked what line I had on.When I told him 50-pound test hesmiled and said, “We’re going toget this one!” Nearly one hour lat-er the reward of retying that knotcame when 100 pounds of vibrat-ing bigeye tuna came over the railand hit the deck like a torpedo.

There is no doubt in my mindthat the first knot I had tied wouldnever have lasted the battle withthat mighty fish. I still have thegood knot. I cut the line andpulled the hook from the cornerof the fish’s mouth with pliers andsaved it. I’ve even looked at it witha magnifying glass. The line is

nicked and scratched but the coilsof the knot are perfect and theknot held and that made an im-pression on me. Through that ex-perience I gained an appreciationfor fishing knots and have learned

as much about them as I can.Some of the things that I think areimportant to remember are:

Always retie a questionableknot. Many faulty ties are made un-der pressure, when you need to tie

quickly or in adverse conditions. Ittakes only seconds to cut and retiea knot and it can make the differ-ence between success or lost fish.

Pull all knots as tight as possi-ble. Studies show that a knot willslip just before it fails. Monofila-ment line needs only to slip a frac-tion to melt over itself at the pointof contact. For this reason alwayswet a knot before tightening it. Thiswill lubricate the line and allow theknot to set tight without damage.

Learn to tie a variety of knotsfor different requirements. Practiceat home until you can tie themquickly and from memory.

Certainly not all fish are lost byfailed knots, but every knot tied be-tween you and the fish is an oppor-tunity for failure. It makes sensethen to use as few knots as possible,make sure you are using the rightknots and that they are carefullycrafted to ensure dependability.

Author John Sherry lives inSan Luis Obispo, California, andmakes handy knot packs availableat www.proknot.com.

WO

52 WESTERN OUTDOORS_ January 2006

Terminal Tackle and the Perfection Loop Knot

Most fishermen know the Improved Clinch or perhaps the Palomar and will tiethese knots when tying on terminal tackle. Problems arise, however, when ty-

ing any knot in monofilament lines above 30-pound test. An easy and reliable solu-tion can be found by tying the Perfection Loop Knot with your hook or other terminaltackle incorporated into the knot.

The Perfection Loop, also known as the Bolan Knot and/or the Mexican Speed Knot,is most commonly used to form a loop at the end of a line. It is very effective for mak-ing loop-to-loop connections and can be tied very small if needed. However, a hookor other terminal tackle can be easily tied into the knot and it also works well in heavymono – even in up to one hundred-plus pound leader! It is quick and easy to tie andhas proven very reliable.

Once learned, the tying of the knot is simplicity itself. The directions in the accom-panying diagram will guide you through its tying. After tying the knot it is necessary tosecure the hook or lure (in the side of the boat or on a cleat) and pull the standing linevery firmly to set the knot in heavy mono. Once pulled tight, this knot will not slip.Note that the hook actually hangs from a non-slip loop. This is a benefit when usinglive bait as the free swing hook allows for a more natural bait behavior.

>>

2) Run the free end of theline across the front of the

first loop and behind therunning line to make the

second loop. Pinch betweenyour thumb and finger andpull the tag end until this

loop is considerably smallerthan the first.

4) Secure the hook to a stationaryobject and pull the main line tight. The result

should be a knot that looks uniform and strong.

1) Form a loop about oneto two feet from the end ofthe line. Slide the hook tothe base of the loop and let it hang freely while tying the rest of the knot.

3) Repeat the last step to make a third loop. Slide the hook to the top of the first loop and pass thehook over the middle loopandunder the top loop. Pull theknot snug.

Clockwise, bigeye tuna can putboth anglers and their knots tothe ultimate test. Theargument over what’s the bestall-around knot has been tossedaround the bait tank manytimes. However, the bottom lineis that many knots, includingthe perfection loop (a.k.a bajaknot), get the job done. In fact,the actual knot used might notbe as important as taking yourtime in both tying tying andinspecting your knot no matterwhat you’re fishing for, as younever know when you’re goingto hook the fish of a lifetime.