How to Tie Fishing Knots

I can tie an improved Clinch knot in the dark behind my back in very cold weather. No feeling whatsoever in my fingers? No problem. Ditto what a lot of us call the "CanoeMan" knot. It was actually something that was first seen on Rapala literature in the days prior to the Internet. Mel Berman showed it to his friend Meryll Chandler, and from that point on Mel "let" the CanoeMan take credit for it. Or so the story goes. Until yesterday, I thought I had heard of every knot there was. Not so. I never tied a Cat's Paw or a Sliding Snell? Have you?

Oh Yeah? How about a Centauri? "A What?" you might ask?

In case you don't know it, we have a Video section. You'll find everything up there from Doug Hannon (ESPN's Bass Professor for many years) teaching the fine points of landing 10lb+ largemouth (something Doug's done more than any man, living or dead) to videos about fly casting, kayak fishing, and more. We're constantly looking for new content; it's what running a web site like this is all about. You're a room full of addicts needing a fix. We know your type.

That's how we found the Centauri. And the Slider. And more. Much more.

Check out the Video Section and the new Knot-so-Regular knots playlist. It's from an excellent fishing site from Down Under named AusFish.Com.Au. You should visit it -- it's worth being on your list of Favorites.

The Cat's Paw. Not an actual Cat's Paw, mind you -- but a small collection of videos from Down Under and a fishing web site called AusFish.Com.Au. It's a very cool, very interesting site. We've never personally fished in Australia, but from everything we hear, the place is loaded with manly (and WoManly) fish and equally Manly (and WoManly) men and women who chase them with the same passion (though lots more beer, we hear) then even we do.

The site offers downloads of their videos, and has a Playlist of some incredible knot animations the likes of which we've never seen. Check them out in our how to tie fishing knots section. The interesting thing about them is the fact that they're so very weird. Perhaps some of you knew every knot and won't be impressed by watching digital line tie itself together as if in the hands of the Invisible Man. But this library of knots from the land of the Koala Bear that once had a lion on it that weighed 800 lbs still impresses us, and we've watched them fifty times already.

We hope you have fun.

We're not big buyers of knot books. I've always figured if you couldn't save the universe from dismantling with duct tape and five basic knots, you were in trouble when the system breaks down like the nutcases say it's going to any day now anyway.