How To Tie Fishing Hooks: Loops & Tags

Many hobbyists agree that the hook and bait make a world of a difference when getting ready for a successful day of fishing. As such, one of the first things you’ll want to make sure you learn is how to tie fishing hooks without accidentally stabbing yourself or losing your bait.

Fishing as an activity has been around since the Upper Paleolithic age, and little has changed with regards to the design of the equipment as well as how it’s done over the centuries. While it was originally associated with survival and providing for oneself and the family, and in some communities it still is, recreational fishing and big game fishing have risen in popularity.

This rise in popularity coupled with the steady demand for fish in fish trading has made way for many technological advances. These include pieces of equipment that have the same basic design but made to be better and more efficient and accessible.

The Fish Hook

An obvious part of the basic rod, line, and hook design that could be altered and improved is, of course, the hook.
Fishing hooks have been around for nearly as long as fishing itself has been. Throughout the centuries, fishing hooks have been made from many different materials, but their function has never changed. It can seem like there are as many types of hooks as there are types of fishes, as the hook is an integral part of the basic fishing gear design that can be easily swapped out, altered, improved, as advances are made.

Moreover, hooks, such as the treble hook with its three legs and the baitholder hook are both drastically different and yet very similar to each other. They both perform the same function and share the same basic design, yet have been altered to provide peak efficiency given different circumstances.
A good fisher will know when exactly to bring out what kind of hook, with what kind of line and what kind of rod. Suffice to say, that same good fisher would know how to place that hook onto the line securely. The last thing one would want is to let the line fly, only to realize they didn’t properly tie the hook onto the line, and lose it in the middle of the sea.

Like how there are many different kinds of hooks, there are many different ways to tie fishing hooks as well. When to use these methods depend on many different factors, including what technique you’re aiming to use, what hook and bait set up you have, and the like.
Listed below are some of the tried and true, most widely used fishing hook tying techniques that will make getting started and learning more complicated knots much simpler.

How To Tie Fishing Hooks: A Brief Guide

There are many different techniques on how to tie fishing hooks, and these methods have been tested to provide at least 90% of the original line strength when you’re trying to tie a tackle to a line.

If you’re just getting into the hobby, or if you are simply looking to pick up fishing as a way to relax rather than to get too deeply involved in the sport of it, then these basic knots should get you through most of your adventures. Learning these knots will certainly provide you with a gateway to learning more complex knots in the future. For now, getting the basics down and simply enjoying your new hobby is what’s important.

• Clinch Knot

The simplest knot and the best for beginners is the ever popular Clinch Knot. This knot provides up to 95 percent of the original line strength, and is perfect for a wide variety of hooks: it can be used to secure your line to a lure, an artificial fly, a clip, or a swivel.

The important point to remember when tying this knot is to create five turns of the tag end around the standing end, which you have to do prior to running the former back through the loop that you just created.

Step 1: Thread the line through either the lure or the eye of the hook, leaving around a line six to 12 inches long. Also, leave a tiny space between the eye of the hook and the line, and twist five times the tag end around the standing line.

Step 2: Pass the tag end back through that small space that you left earlier, near the eye of the hook and run the tag end back through the second loop. Pull both the tag and the standing line away from the hook, slowly to avoid any tangling.

Step 3: Moisten the lines and pull the standing line only away from the hook.

• Uni Knot

The Uni Knot, sometimes also known as the Duncan Knot, is another fishing knot that’s easy to learn and great for beginners. This knot works well with monofilament or braided fishing lines and can be used to tie lines together that have unequal diameters. It’s also great for nervous beginners because you can be sure that even if you cut the end short, it will hold.

Step 1: Pass the line through the hook eye and double back, parallel to the standing line.

Step 2: Create a loop by laying the tag end over that double line you just created, making sure both lines are facing the same direction.

Step 3: Take six or five turns with the tag end around the double line through that loop you made earlier.

Step 4: While you’re holding your hook in one hand and both ends of the line in the other, pull them apart slowly and gently. Do not tie the knot just yet, make it so that it is almost tied but not quite tight enough.

Step 5: Moisten the lines and pull the standing line firmly away from the hook, and trim the tag to complete.

These two tying methods are great for a variety of situations and should be enough to allow you to simply pick up the hobby and enjoy it. But should you want to learn more complicated knots in the future, these two will still remain useful and provide you with some background on tackling the more complex ones so be sure to keep them in mind.