Three Uncommon Knots Trusted by the Pros
The knot you use is one of the most vital pieces in all of bass fishing. There are countless ways to attach a hook or lure to your line or to connect two lines, and it often comes down to personal preference.
Once a knot fails you, it can be hard to trust it again, and if it has worked for years, it is hard to go away from it. With that being said, here are a few different knots that you may not currently be using that professional anglers are relying on when big money is on the line.
Shaw on Knots
Shaw Grigsby is one of the most recognizable professional anglers due to his many years on the top professional bass circuits and because of his time as a TV show host.
Those years of experience translate to both fishing and knots.
Living in Florida, he has also had plenty of experience chasing big saltwater fish that put more strain on line and knots than our prized freshwater bass will.
He does things a little different and says two of his favorite knots are the Double Pitzen and Double Improved Clinch Knot.
Both of these knots include doubling the line, and both result in three tag ends to clip at the end of the process. Shaw uses these knots for all of the Seaguar fluorocarbon lines when connecting them to lures or directly to hooks.
Fluorocarbon: The Double Pitzen
Grigsby swears by this knot due to its’ strength and ease of tying.
First, double the line and stick that section of line through the eye of the hook. From there, he makes a circle with the line that went through the hook eye and holds it with his index finger. Then he wraps the loop around the circle formed in the line three to four times and then inserts the loop through the gap created by his finger.
Watching him tie the knot, you can see how easily it comes together. After some practice, it can be tied as quickly as more popular knots like the Palomar.
WATCH RELATED: Tying the Double Pitzen and Double Improved Clinch Step-by-Step
Fluorocarbon: Double Improved Clinch Knot
The improved clinch is the knot that many of us learn first. It is simple to tie and nearly impossible to mess it up. The problem with the standard Improved Clinch is that it can unravel and also reduces line strength. Grigsby has found a solution, and it is the Double Improved Clinch.
The Improved Clinch requires inserting the line through the hook or lure and then wrapping five times upwards. The next step is to insert the tag end through the hole just above the hook. The double version that Grigsby uses follows the same steps but includes two segments of the line. He doubles the line, inserts the loop through the hook or lure and then completes it with five wraps upwards and finishes it by entering the loop below the wraps.
WATCH RELATED: Tying the Double Pitzen and Double Improved Clinch Step-by-Step
Braid to Fluorocarbon: FG Knot
This knot is hardly an unknown, but it is one of the most difficult to tie for some anglers. Anglers either love it or hate it. Even professional anglers like Mark Daniels, Jr. were resistant to it at first. He just recently switched over after years of combining braid to fluorocarbon with the Modified Albright knot.
His go-to braid to fluorocarbon is Seaguar’s 20-pound Smackdown braid with a six to 10-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon for spinning applications. He adjusts his leader selection based on the cover he is fishing, the lures Daniels, Jr. is using and size of the fish he is around.
“The Albright always worked fine and was easy to tie, but I did some line testing with some of the other pros, and the FG Knot beat it…hands down,” he said.
Like all knots, it takes practice to perfect, and this one takes a little more time than most.
“I have got it to where I can now tie it in about two minutes. I’ll tie up all of my braid to fluorocarbon connections the night before I fish and the great thing about is that it will not break,” he says. “It is also the thinnest knot I have ever tied, and the knot goes through rod guides very easily.”
There are many videos on YouTube explaining the process for tying the FG Knot. Like anything else, practice makes perfect for this one.
Fishing knots are one of the essential things in all of fishing. They can make or break your shot at landing a big bass and knowing which knot to use is crucial. If the knot you are using is working just fine then stick with it, but these three knots are trusted by two of the top bass anglers in the world.
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