About Knots Used in Fly Fishing

To properly set up a reel for fly fishing, backing, fly line, leader and tippet must be properly tied together and secured to the spool. Traditionally, fly fishermen have used a variety of knots to accomplish this.

  1. Backing

    • Backing is wound onto the spool so when the fly line is attached, the fly line is near the rim of the spool. A simple slipknot is used to attach the backing to the spool.

    Nail Knot

    • After the diameter of the spool has been built up with backing, the butt (thick) end of the fly line is attached to the backing with a nail knot. Next, another nail knot is used to attach the butt end of the leader to the end of the fly line.

    Tippet to Leader

    • To attach the tippet to the leader, fly fishermen often use two opposing barrel knots or the surgeon's knot.

    Fly to Tippet

    • To secure the fly to the end of the tippet, use the clinch knot or the uni-knot (also called the Duncan loop). The uni-knot has the advantage that it can be loosened like a slip knot, allowing the fly to move more freely on the tippet.

    Uni-Knot

    • Many fly fishermen use the uni-knot almost exclusively. It can be substituted for virtually every knot used to set up a fly reel. To replace the nail knot and barrel knots, two uni-knots are tied in opposition to one another, then pulled tightly so they butt up against each another. Fishermen who take this approach prefer to tie one knot very well than several different knots less well.