Improved Clinch Knot

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This knot is easy to tie with thinner lines such as the lighter weight monofilaments.  Braded lines or brands such as Fire Wire can be a little trickier as the knot is only good if one can pull the coils tight to the eye of the lure / hook. 

Instructions:

  • Position the rod so that there is gentle tension on the line.  Not too much as you don’t want the rod to pull the line out of your hands – you want the rod to serve as a 3rd hand;
  • Give yourself about 6 feet of line from the rod’s tip;
  • Thread the line through the eye of the hook and pull the end through so you have about 8 inches of excess.
  • Place your index finger of your dominant hand over the eye of the hook between the line going in and out of the eye of the hook.  Have the hook itself resting gently in the palm of your hand.
  • With the same hand that your holding the hook with, use your thumb and middle finger to pinch the line just before and after the eye of the hook.  You should end up with the line from the rod being pinched between your middle and index fingers, and the end of the line that was threaded through the hook pinched between your thumb and index finger.
  • With your free hand take the end of the line and wrap it once around the line leading from the rod tip to the hook resting in the palm of your other hand.  This means letting go of the end of the line with your thumb and index finger first;
  • Re-grasp the end of the line with your thumb and index finger so that the end of the line is now wrapped around the line leading from the rod’s tip once.  Be sure to keep your index finger between the wrap and the eye of the hook at all times;
  • Repeat wrapping the end of the line around the main section of line until you have wrapped it a total of about 7 turns;
  • Holding the end of line with your free hand, slide your index finger up the line away from the eye of the hook making a large loop between the seven wraps and the eye.
  • While holding the end of the line between your thumb and index finger of the hand holding the hook, twist your hand so that the end of the line makes its way through the loop you just created between the wraps and the eye of the hook.
  • Grab the end of the line again with your free hand and repeat the process of feeding the end through the loop so that the free end has passed twice through the loop;
  • Hold the end of the line with your free hand again and remove your index finger from the loop that you formed between the eye of the hook and the wraps.
  • Grab the hook firmly between your thumb and index finger of the hand that you used to hold the hook up until now.
  • Wet the twisted line with your tongue being careful not to release the hook or to pull to hard on the line coming from the rod –you don’t want an accidental hook set.
  • Once the wraps are wet, begin to pull the end of the line tight while at the same time using the nails on your thumb and index finger to draw down the loops towards the eye of the hook.  Do not pull on the hook or you will cause the line coiled around to overlap resulting in the knot being prevented from tightening.  The entire knot needs to be pulled tight so that the coils line up evenly.
  • Once the loops have been pulled down tight to the eye of the hook and the end of the line has also been pulled tight, Take the line leading from the rod tip in one hand and the hook in the other and test the knot by pulling.  Now take the line in one hand and the end of the line in the other and pull again.  Do not pull on the hook and the end of the line as this will not tighten the knot, but cause the wraps to become over-lapped.  You want the wraps to be tight, one next to the other, and even.
  • You can test to make sure the wraps are lined up by running your finger nail along the knot.  It should feel like a stacked up pile of rings.  Poorly tied Clinch knots have the habit of pulling apart so make sure the knot is tight.
  • Once you are sure the knot is tight and the loops are stacked up in a row, cut off the extra end of the line.  Leave about ½ inches of extra line after the hook just to be on the safe side.
  • You know your knot has failed if the hook comes off and the line has a twisted kinky feel at the end. 

The End.