You don’t need to be able to tie dozens of knots to fish effectively. In fact, you only need to become proficient at tying a few of the strongest knots and you will be able to cover most fishing situations. Once you have mastered these you won’t have to worry about that big one getting away because you selected the wrong knot or used poor handiwork.

In these pictures we have used large diameter yellow cord and an oversized eyelet which represents a hook or a swivel, to make it easier for you to see how the knots are tied. Each knot has a starting position shown in Fig A. At the end of tying each knot the tag end of the line will need to be shortened to an appropriate length.

Using the tag end, make a loop around the main line.

Repeat Step 1 between two and four times, giving you up to four loops.

Insert the tag end through the centre of the loops, pulling it out the other end.

Pull the tag, main line and the hook/swivel tight, creating the basic shape of the knot.

Slide the knot down to the eye of the hook/swivel and tighten by pulling the tag end and then the main line.