Page 27 - Joseph B. Healy "The Pocket Guide to Fishing Knots"

to cast, but often have surfaces that are slippery and don’t hold all knots

well; fluorocarbon lines are thin for their pound-test rating, are resilient
and abrasion resistant, yet sensitive because you can use a smaller
diameter line with the same pound-test rating as thicker mono, don’t
stretch as much as monofilament, are less visible underwater than
monofilament, but they sink so aren’t great for topwater fishing, hold
knots well, but develop memory when coiled and are expensive
compared to monofilament; and monofilament lines are the tried-and-true

fisherman’s friend that have stood the test of time and are still favored by
many anglers, despite some of the tradeoffs compared to the other two
types of lines. One bottom line to consider is that monofilament costs less
than fluorocarbon and braids, and still gets the job done. All three lines
certainly hold knots, so the choice is yours.

Nevertheless, to be a competent angler—and to achieve the enjoyment
of landing fish—you need to learn to tie dependable knots in all these
lines. The knots carry over from material to material, but you must take

care when tightening them so the loops don’t slip out of sequence,
causing the knot to collapse and fail. Get a supply of these materials so
you can experiment and tie the knots in this book, and others you come
across that look effective for your fishing, till you’ve got them fixed in your
muscle memory. A test I use when I feel I’ve learned a knot by heart is to
tie it in low-light conditions or in the dark, as if I’m fishing at night. Trust