Tying knots are one of those things that every new angler struggles with. I spent a ton of time learning different knots and figuring out which ones were the easiest and fastest to tie. I’m going to show you three easy fishing knots of tie for beginners.
The three knots I’m going to cover in this post are the Palomar knot, the Pitzen knot,(or the magnet knot), and the Alberto knot. They are super easy to tie, super fast, and they work for me and keep me on the water.
How to tie a Palomar Knot
So the first knot I want to start with is the Palomar knot. The Palomar knot is a very easy knot to tie, and probably one of the fastest knots to tie. It’s super strong, and you can use it with any kind of line, braid, mono, a fluoro. You generally want to use it on bigger hooks, you can use it on smaller hooks, but it gets a little bit difficult to tie when you have those smaller eyelets in the hook.
Step 1 – Run your line through the eye of the hook
You’ll want to give yourself a good amount of tag end, because you’re going to need it for the next step.
Step 2 – Make a loop
Take your tag end and run it right back and create a loop on one end. In one hand you’ll have the loop and in the other the tag end and the mainline. Feel free to use your dominant hand to hold your main line and your tag end, whatever feels more comfortable for you. So next step is you’re going to want to pinch your loop, and you’re going to want to pinch your main line and your tag end.
Step 3 – Tie an overhand knot
That’s right, you’re tying a knot to tie this knot. Silly I know, but trust me it’s going to make sense in a minute. The same knot that you use in your first step in tying your shoes, so cross your lines over and make an X. Take the loop you created and run it right through the middle and make the loop bigger. This is important for the next step.
Step 4 – Run your hook through the loop
Yup, that simple, run your hook through the loop you just made. Now you’re getting close to the end of finishing or knot, you have all of your line on one side and you have your hook on the other.
Step 5 – Wet your line and cinch your knot
Now you want to wet your line, spit, water, whatever. This is important because once you tighten your line the friction from a dry line damage the line and cause the line to break.
When you cinch your line I pull the tag end first because the tag end line is getting friction is going to get thrown away anyways. Once you’ve pulled your tag end as much as you can, pull your mainline to tighten it down.
Step 6 – Cut your tag end
Final step is to cut your tag end, you don’t want to cut it too close, you do want to leave a little bit, but not too much just in case you do hook into something and it does need to tighten down a little bit your knot wont come loose.
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The second knot is called the Pitzen knot. The reason I like this knot is because you can use it on smaller hooks, like a Mule Jig or other ultralight jigs for ultralight fishing. It’s a fun knot to tie, it’s a little bit scary the first time you tie it, but I promise you, as long as you’re careful, you’re not going to hurt yourself.
Step 1 – Run your line through the eye of your hook
Give yourself a good amount of tag end and in one hand run make a finger gun and run your mainline up your hand and line it up with your index finger
Step 2 – Pinch your tag end
Now you want to reach over with your hand holding the mainline and pinch your tag end. Now your jig is hanging below your hand holding the main line loose and free for step 3
Step 3 – Wrap your jig 5-7 times around your tag end
Your next step is where things get fun, you want to wrap your jig 5-7 times around your tag end and you do this by flipping your jig over your tag line. The thicker the line the less wraps you’ll need.
Step 4 – Pull your tag end through the loop
When you pinched your tag end in step you you made a little loop. Now that you’ve wrapped your jig around your tag end you want to take whats left of your tag end and run it through that little loop. This will create your final knot.
Step 5 – Wet your line and cinch your knot
This is a very crucial step, tighten your knot a little bit, but not enough to cinch it down. Because this knot is normally used with very light line, it is important to lubricate it before cinch it. So wet your line and then pull your main line to cinch the knot. If you are using mono or fluorocarbon line you will occasionally hear a little pop to let you know your line is tight
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Final step, cut your tag end. You want to leave a little bit of line just in case your line slips, but don’t leave too much.
How to tie the Alberto knot
The Alberto knot is my go-to knot whenever I need to tie a leader. Whenever I’m using braided line, I’ll use this knot to connect my braid to a mono or fluorcarbon leader. It like it because its pretty fast to tie once you’ve gotten the hang of it and you only need to tie one knot, not two like with most joining knots. It’s super strong and I’ve never had an Alberto knot slip or break on me unless I didn’t tie it properly.
Step 1 – Create a loop with your leader line
Doesn’t matter what type of leader line you are using, you’re going need to make a loop with your leader line. So simply double your line over and make a decent sized loop.
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Next you’re going to take your mainline, which is usually braided line, and run it through the hoop you created with your leader line. You want to give yourself a good amount of tag end for the next two steps.
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Now depending on the diameter of your leader line and your main line, you’ll want to wrap your mainline 5-9 times. The thinner diameter line you are working with, the more wraps you want to have. Take your time with this part, do it slow. This will make step 4 easier.
Step 4 – Wrap your mainline around your leader line in the opposite direction 5-9 times
Now that you’ve wrapped your leader line 5-9 times, you’re going to want to wrap it 5-9 times in the opposite direction. It’s important that you do the same amount of wraps as you did in step 3. If you wrapped your line 7 times in step 3, you’re going to want to wrap it 7 times the opposite direction now too.
Do your best to hit the gaps between your original wraps. This will lead to a cleaner knot, with a lower profile.
Step 5 – Run your mainline right through the loop in your leader line again
Now that you finished your wraps you’ll want to run your mainline through the loop in your leader line. Pay attention to your line and make so you are going out of the loop in the same direction you went in. If you go the opposite direction your line could slip.
Step 6 – Pull your mainlines and tag ends to slowly tighten the knot
So you now technically have 2 tag ends and 2 main lines. One each for your leader and braided line. Slowly tighten your knot by pulling the tag ends and and both mainlines of your knot. Take your time in this step too making sure your knot does not bunch up on itself causing the knot to be too big. If it does bunch up you can adjust it down slightly before you fully tighten your knot. Pull tight towards the end to cinch your knot.
Step 7 – Trim your tag ends
This is a crucial step because if you do this part wrong it can lead to a bad time on the water. You have two tag ends that you need to cut down, but one is more important than the other.
The tag end to your leader needs to be cut as close as possible to the knot. If you leave too much tag end it will hit your guides as you cast it out and cause issues in the long run. So make sure you trim it as close to your knot as you can. I like to use snips or nail clippers for this.
Your mainline you don’t need to trim it as close and in fact I leave a little tag end on my knots. That way if hook into something big, the extra tag end allows it not to slip.
The easiest fishing knots to tie for beginners
I hope you guys learned some knots that you can use on the water that’ll keep you fishing and spending less time tying complicated knots. If you have someone who you’re constantly tying knots for, send this post to them so they can learn how to tie their own knots or share my youtube video with them.
Hope you get out there and start hammering them! Tag me on IG if you do!
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