Nail Knot
How to Tie a Nail Knot
Wondering how to tie a nail knot?
In just a few moments you'll be on your way to tying your first one.
This is a bit of a tricky knot to master for a beginner. It is used to tie your fly line to your backing and or your leader to your fly line. This is a very strong fly fishing knot which also has a smooth finish enabling it to slide through the eyes of your rod easily. To make this knot easier to tie you need a small tube like the barrel of a ball point pen.
Ready? Here we go...
Steps in how to tie a Nail Knot:
- 1. Place the small tube parallel to the backing or fly line depending if you are attaching fly line to backing or leader to fly line. Then place the fly line or leader parallel to the backing or fly line.
- 2. Now grasp all three between the thumb and forefinger at the left of the small tube.
- 3. With the right hand grab the fly line or leader and from left to right wrap it around all three materials about 6 to 8 times.
- 4. Now thread the leader or fly line through the small tube from right to left.
- 5. Very carefully remove the tube then snug the wraps.
- 6. Grab both ends of the leader or fly line and pull both ends at the same time. This will seat the knot on the backing or fly line depending on what material you are attaching.
As you probably have noticed I did not include any diagrams with this knot as it was a little to difficult to draw for me. If you would like to see a great animation of this knot click the following link and visit the Orvis animated knot series . Then scroll down the page a bit and click on the green "view animated knots" link.
There you go. Now you know how to tie a nail knot. Practice until you get it down, that way you'll spend more time fly fishing and less time trying to remember how to tie a nail knot.
See how to tie a blood knot