Chapter 3 - Knots and Casting Techniques | Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Knots

A good fishing knot is important to the success of any angler. Tying a fishing knot takes practice to learn but will help reduce the chance of losing a fish because of the line breaking or the knot coming undone. The purpose of a fishing knot is to provide a strong knot while not degrading the quality of your fishing line. Tying a regular knot in fishing line will reduce its strength significantly. If you are using 12 pound-test line and tie a simple knot in the line, the strength of the line at that knot will be much less than the advertised 12 pounds. An improper knot will easily result in a broken line and loss of the fish, bait and lure. The improved clinch knot is one of the easiest fishing knots to tie and is a knot many anglers learned when they were beginners. Read on for instructions on how to properly tie an improved clinch knot.

Practice tying a knot multiple times to help you remember it.

How to tie an improved clinch knot:

A hook and fishing line. — Step 1: Have your hook and the end of your fishing line.

Fishing line through the eye of the hook. — Step 2: Run the end of your line through the eye of the hook.

Twisting the fishing line around itself. — Step 3: Twist the line around five or six times.

The end of the fishing line going through the new loop created above the eye of the hook. — Step 4: Run the end of the line through the loop above the hook’s eye, but notice the new loop you are creating as you run the line through the loop.

Putting the end of the fishing line through the final loop. — Step 5: Now run the end of the line through the new loop you created in the last step.

Straightening the fishing line. — Step 6: Straighten your line for the next step.

Pinching the line and the eye of the hook together. — Step 7: Hold down the end of the line and the hook together with one hand.

Pulling the line and hook away from each other. — Step 8: With the end of the line and hook in one hand, gently pull the other end of the line away from the hook. Remember you have a hook in your other hand, so be careful not to pull too hard or you could hook yourself.

The knot tightening down on the eye of the hook. — Step 9: Once your knot is pulled down tight, this is what you should have. If you have excess line hanging from the knot, you can cut it. But don’t cut it too close to the knot or it will come undone.

When using monofilament line it helps to “wet” your line before pulling it tight. To “wet” your line either place the line in your mouth or water. The moisture provides a lubricant that will help the line cinch down easier, but will also protect the line from being damaged by the friction.

An image of an arbor knot. Commonly used to tie fishing line around the reel. — Another useful knot is the arbor knot. It can be used to tie your fishing line to your reel.

Casting

Knowing how to properly cast is an important part to becoming an angler. There are many different ways to cast, but the simplest and easiest to do is the overhand technique using a spincast reel. The key thing to remember when casting is SAFETY! Remember you have a hook swinging from the other end of the line! Make sure nobody is in the way to avoid any serious injury. And be aware of any other objects such as trees that could be hooked to help avoid damage to equipment and save time from possible tangles. Anyone who can drink a cup of water can cast. Before casting, practice this simple motion of drinking from a cup.