Get Tied Up in Knots

My fishing trip is set for next weekend and I almost forgot an important part of getting ready, making sure I know how to tie my knots.  It seems silly, but before every fishing trip I go on I always sit down and give myself a refresher on the knots I'll need to use.  I say it seems silly, but one trip I wasted 45 minutes trying to remember how to tie a perfection loop on a new leader.  You can read about that experience here.  Since that trip I always make sure I remember two basic knots before I go fishing.  

PERFECTION LOOP

The simplest way I've found to put on a leader is the have a loop on the end of your fly line and loops on the end of your leaders.  To put on your leader you slip the end through the loop on your fly line and then through the loop on the other end of your leader.  Pull them tight and as long as your perfection loop is tied correctly they won't becoming apart until you're ready to switch leaders.  Then it's as easy as loosening the connection between the lines and pulling them apart.  Using this method to connect your leaders makes it easy to switch leaders as well as saves you line as you don't have to cut your leader to switch them out.

Moving down you line, you can also use the same method to attach your tippet to your leader.  I've never been able to grasp a Blood Knot so I use perfection loops on the other end of my leader and at the end of my tippet to connect them.

IMPROVED CLINCH KNOT

This is the simplest knot you can use to attach a hook to your line.  There is no other way to say it.  But if you don't tie the knot correctly then you'll lose a lot of flies to fish, trees, or just have them pop off the end of you line as your casting.  Even though it's simple, take the time to practice and make sure you have it right.

OTHER KNOTS

While these two are all you need there are other knots that can be useful to have in your arsenal.  The Blood Knot or Surgeon's Knot are both good for tying two lines together.  The Orvis Knot is another strong knot for attaching a hook to your line.  You can use a Dropper Loop to create a loop anywhere on your line. 

I could try to describe how to tie these knots, but without seeing it that would be fairly useless.  Here are some links to sites with animated descriptions of how to tie this know.

Animated Knots by Grog

NetKnots.com

Lake-Link.com