Simple fishing knots & rigs explained

This publication is intended to show a selection of fishing knots and how to apply them to rigs for different situations the angler may encounter. Of course there are many more than the examples shown here.

The author has tried as much as possible to avoid fishermen's vernacular, esoteric terms, advertising jargon and locality bias to both explain and show as clearly as I can how to tie various knots and splices and use them as the basis for sound rigging.

The whole idea of making a fishing rig, as distinct from simply tying a hook onto the end of a line, baiting it, dropping it into the water and hoping for the best, is to overcome obstacles faced by the angler in typical situations.

If the water is deep. or if there is a current running, a sinker may be required to take the bait to the bottom and keep it there. Likewise, the need to make a long cast to reach productive water with a baited hook also requires consideration.

Of course there will be many variations on the rigs shown here. For example, common sense may dictate that some situations require a longer hook trace or sinker length than is shown. This publication is more about the method of construction than proportions of the various rigs described.

While the engineering of fishing reels and construction of fishing rods has accelerated since I began fishing with my parents in the 1940s, particularly in the past two decades, my reading of general fishing literature and observations indicate that fishing line management skills have not kept pace. My hope is that this publication will help address that need.