Page 11 - Joseph B. Healy "The Pocket Guide to Fishing Knots"

me a chance to tie it—he volunteered to be my designated Albright tier

for a number of years when we worked together—I feel gratified by the
having the skill to do it, too.
I feel grateful to share the voices you’ll hear in this book—from anglers
such as Flip Pallot, Jimmy Houston, Tom Rosenbauer, Steve Pennaz,
Chico Fernandez, Jerry Gibbs, and others. Those interviewed for their
knot insights in this book are not only great anglers, they’re also great
human beings, and I am blessed to know them. Read and reflect on the

advice they give. And, most important, practice your knot tying, using the
illustrations in this book. It’s fun and gratifying (though maybe frustrating
at the start), and each time you land a fish, whether it’s a ten-pound
walleye or a hundred-pound tarpon, you’ll be pleased with the knot-tying
knowledge you possess.

When it comes to refining that knot knowledge and solidifying your
muscle memory of tying knots, I’m reminded of a fishing experience I had
while I was a journalist riding aboard Capt. Randy Towe’s flats boat in
Islamorada, Florida, as Randy was guiding angler Pat Ford in the Golden
Fly Tarpon Tournament one spring. Pat had caught a tarpon of about 155
pounds first thing in the morning, and hooked a second fish of probably
about 120 pounds when his connection failed and the shock tippet came

back with a curlicue. It happens, even to an angler of Pat’s vast
experience; he has held umpteen International Game Fish Association
records, including one for cobia that will likely stand for a long time—a
sixty-seven-pound, four-ounce cobia on fly tackle, in the eight-pound test
line class. He says the only things that connect you to a fish are the knots
in your fishing lines—and those connections are only as good as you

make them. He puts is plainly: “If you’ve got a bad knot anywhere in your
connection, the line is only as strong as that knot. There’s nothing more
important than your knots.”
Pat offers the recommendation that anglers learn three knots—or three
types of knots: a loop knot, an Improved Clinch Knot when you don’t use
a loop, and something that connects leader sections. “You need to figure
out a sequence for using those knots,” he says, “and you need to know

those knots really well. That’s all based on the premise that the only thing
connecting you to the fish are the knots.”
Here’s more input on knots—and a preview of the interviews in this
book—from an angling friend and a tremendous fly fisher.