There are many ways to lose a fish, but there’s no way more disheartening than losing a fish to a faulty knot. Make no mistake, knot tying is a skill, and anglers who can tie good knots bring more fish to hand.
There are many great fly fishing knots out there, most of which are best suited for a very specific application. However, if limited to only one knot for the majority of our rigging, we’d opt for the uni knot every darn time.
Why? We’ll tell you..
The Uni Knot – One Knot to Rule them All
The uni knot is arguably the most versatile fishing knot of all time. Not only is it considered one of the strongest tippet-to-fly knots (yes, it’s stronger than the improved clinch knot), it also ties easily with everything from fine trout tippets to heavy tarpon shock tippet. Plus, when doubled up (i.e. the double uni-knot), its also one of the most versatile knots for connecting lines of similar and different diameters as well. Not many knots can do that.
We rely on variations of the uni-knot for a multitude of applications at our lodges including:
- Attaching flies, hooks, or swivels to leader/tippet material (when a loop-knot is not desired).
- Connecting monofilament to monofilament (i.e. building leaders, attaching tippet, etc.).
- Connecting braid to monofilament.
- Attaching barracuda and/or sharnk flies to knottable wire tippets.
- Connecting backing to the reel (instead of a traditional arbor knot).
That’s a versatile knot.. One we highly recommend having in your repertoire. Click the links to learn how to tie the uni knot and double uni knot today!
A versatile knot to be certain, but generally a second-best knot for the applications you list. Using a single uni-to-uni to join braid and mono is downright dangerous as the slippery braid can pull out. Instead, double the braid (and if the mono is thin, double it as well), and then tie-back-to-back uniknots.
Originally called the “Duncan Loop”