Fly Fishing Knots

Best Snug Knot for Flies: The Pitzen
Best Loop Knot for Flies: The Perfection Loop
Best Knot to Attach Leader to Tippet: The J Knot

Fly anglers need knots to connect main line to leader, leader to tippet, and tippet to flies.

The Improved Clinch may not be not be your best choice for attaching a worm hook to braided line, but in slender tippet, it holds a fly like it owes it money. Fast and easy to tie on the water, the Improved Clinch is among the best snug knots for attaching flies.

Jack’s Knot is a relative newcomer, first introduced in 2012 by Jack Miller. It’s fast, easy, and very secure, making it a fantastic choice as a terminal fly knot.

Knots to connect leader to tippet are easy to find, but none are as strong as the J Knot. Reaching as much as 100% of your leader and tippet’s test strength, the J Knot is simply unequaled as a line-to-line knot in fly fishing. It’s also very fast and very easy to tie on the water in a hurry, getting you back in the action quickly.

Not initially designed for fly angling, the Seaguar Knot has proven to be an amazing choice for joining leader to tippet. Capable of knot integrity as high as 97%, it’s reasonably fast and very easy to tie.

The Pitzen Knot, also known as the 16-20 knot and the Eugene Bend, is a great choice if you’re looking for a snug connection to your fly. As easy and fast as the Improved Clinch, it’s the stronger of the two, offering as much as 95% of your line’s test strength when tied properly.

The Perfection Loop is the fly angler’s best choice for a loop knot. As good as the Improved Clinch and Pitzen Knot are, they’re both snug knots, and that tight connection can and does deaden the action of delicate flies. The Perfection Loop Knot, by contrast, leaves the fly free to move naturally while still offering 95% of your tippet’s test strength. It’s fast and easy to tie, too, making it one of the first knots every fly fisherman should learn.

The Loop to Loop Knot is a simple way to attach two lines with preformed loops, whether they come from the factory that way or whether you’ve tied a Perfection Loop in each end. By pre-tying tippet and leader with the Perfection Loop, you can be ready to connect them immediately with the Loop to Loop Knot, a task that’s as simple and fast as you can imagine.