Page 55 - Geoffrey Budworth, Jason Dalton "The Little Book of Incredibly Useful Knots"
P. 55
Nail knot
The nail knot is an adaptation of snelling (see pages 222–223) and is used in fly-fishing to join the
fly line to the butt section of the leader. Its name is said to have originated in the 1950s when a
noted American fly-fisherman named Joe Brooks learned the knot in Argentina using a
horseshoe nail.
Place a doubled length of the thinner line alongside the thicker one and, prior to tying, add a nail
(although a drinking straw, or the hollow case of a ballpoint pen, works even better) (1). With the
working end of the fly line, make between six and eight turns around both leader and nail (or
tube) and its own standing part (2). Next, pass the working end back through the space preserved
by the nail (or inside the tube) (3); when the end emerges, withdraw the nail (or tube) (4). Remove
all unwanted slack from the wrapping turns, and pull both working end and standing part in
opposite directions to tighten them (5). Finally, snip off the tag end close to where it protrudes
from the knot (6).
