Knots
Knots are extremely critical when it comes to fishing because they are the weakest connection between you and the fish. There is nothing more agonizing than losing a big fish, reeling in the line, and seeing the tell-tale curlycue indicating that your knot came undone. That's what I've been told anyway; never experienced it myself (yeah, right). Knots weaken the breaking strength of the line, so your goal should be to tie a knot that maintains as much of the breaking strentgh of the line as possible. The knots below all maintain high breaking strength if tied properly. A couple general pointers on knots:
-Always moisten your knot with saliva before pulling it tight. If you do not, it will not tighten as well and you might actually damage the line when you are pulling it tight.
-Practice tying your knots at home so that you can tie them quickly when you need to. Sometimes an extra 30 seconds can be a lot during a hot bite when the fish are moving through, and you want to be able to tie fast and securely when in a hurry on a rocking boat.
-After you have practiced and become proficient at some good knots, try to stick to those. A decent knot tied well is better than a fantastic knot tied poorly.
-The thinner the line, the more wraps you should make. Thin line knots slip much more easily than thicker line knots.
-Pull the knot as tight as possible.
-If you are in doubt about the integrity of a knot, always retie. A weak knot will slip at the absolute worst time, ie when you have a monster fish hooked.
-Always moisten your knot with saliva before pulling it tight. If you do not, it will not tighten as well and you might actually damage the line when you are pulling it tight.
-Practice tying your knots at home so that you can tie them quickly when you need to. Sometimes an extra 30 seconds can be a lot during a hot bite when the fish are moving through, and you want to be able to tie fast and securely when in a hurry on a rocking boat.
-After you have practiced and become proficient at some good knots, try to stick to those. A decent knot tied well is better than a fantastic knot tied poorly.
-The thinner the line, the more wraps you should make. Thin line knots slip much more easily than thicker line knots.
-Pull the knot as tight as possible.
-If you are in doubt about the integrity of a knot, always retie. A weak knot will slip at the absolute worst time, ie when you have a monster fish hooked.
Monofilament/Fluorocarbon Line Knots
Knots for monofilament/flurocarbon line are much easier to tie than braided line knots. I've been able to get by with the following knots:
Line-to-Lure Knots
Palomar Knot - a good non-bulky knot. It is one of the easiest knots to tie and with a little practice can be tied quickly on a rocking boat without looking. It maintains a very high breaking strength. I tend to use it on anything between 6lb to 60lb test line. See here for how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/palomar_knot.html
Rapala Loop Knot - This knot is not as strong as the Palomar, but it allows for more freedom of movement for the bait or lure, which is sometimes important when fish are finicky. See here for how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/rapala_knot.html
Uni Knot - This is the knot I go to for everything above 60lb test line. It is very easy to tie and very strong. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/uni_knot.html. I do 4-6 wraps depening on how heavy the line is. With very heavy line it can be hard to get more than four wraps.
Trilene Knot - This is the knot I use for smaller diameter lines up to around 15lb test. It takes a little longer to tie and you need to make sure you make enough wraps or else it will fail. If tied correctly it is a good strong knot though. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/trilene_knot.html
I can't remember the last time I had to use a knot other than one of those four when tying monofilament line to a lure or hook. Flurorcarbon is a little stiffer than monofilament but you can still tie all these knots with it.
Line-to-Line Knots
Whenever I have to connect one segment of monofilament to a segment of fluorocarbon or other monofilament, I use a uni-to-uni knot. It is easy to tie and holds well.
This site explains how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/double_uni_knot.html
Other Knots
Dropper Loop Knot - This is very useful when you are fishing on the bottom. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/dropper_loop.html
You can either put the hook on the loop and hang the weight off the bottom or do the reverse if you are fishing for something like halibut that sit right on the bottom.
Drop Shot Knot - This is a very specific knot used for drop shotting (usually for Largemouth Bass). I do not know any other knot to use for this technique. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/drop_shot_rig.html
Bimini Twist Knot - This is used for creating a double line connection. It is very popular with the pros especially in Florida but I find it cumbersome to tie and have not really felt the need. However, it is so widely used that I would be remiss if I didn't include it. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/bimini_twist.html
Line-to-Lure Knots
Palomar Knot - a good non-bulky knot. It is one of the easiest knots to tie and with a little practice can be tied quickly on a rocking boat without looking. It maintains a very high breaking strength. I tend to use it on anything between 6lb to 60lb test line. See here for how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/palomar_knot.html
Rapala Loop Knot - This knot is not as strong as the Palomar, but it allows for more freedom of movement for the bait or lure, which is sometimes important when fish are finicky. See here for how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/rapala_knot.html
Uni Knot - This is the knot I go to for everything above 60lb test line. It is very easy to tie and very strong. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/uni_knot.html. I do 4-6 wraps depening on how heavy the line is. With very heavy line it can be hard to get more than four wraps.
Trilene Knot - This is the knot I use for smaller diameter lines up to around 15lb test. It takes a little longer to tie and you need to make sure you make enough wraps or else it will fail. If tied correctly it is a good strong knot though. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/trilene_knot.html
I can't remember the last time I had to use a knot other than one of those four when tying monofilament line to a lure or hook. Flurorcarbon is a little stiffer than monofilament but you can still tie all these knots with it.
Line-to-Line Knots
Whenever I have to connect one segment of monofilament to a segment of fluorocarbon or other monofilament, I use a uni-to-uni knot. It is easy to tie and holds well.
This site explains how to tie it: http://www.netknots.com/html/double_uni_knot.html
Other Knots
Dropper Loop Knot - This is very useful when you are fishing on the bottom. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/dropper_loop.html
You can either put the hook on the loop and hang the weight off the bottom or do the reverse if you are fishing for something like halibut that sit right on the bottom.
Drop Shot Knot - This is a very specific knot used for drop shotting (usually for Largemouth Bass). I do not know any other knot to use for this technique. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/drop_shot_rig.html
Bimini Twist Knot - This is used for creating a double line connection. It is very popular with the pros especially in Florida but I find it cumbersome to tie and have not really felt the need. However, it is so widely used that I would be remiss if I didn't include it. See how to tie it here: http://www.netknots.com/html/bimini_twist.html
Braid to Monofilament/Fluorocarbon Knots
This is one of the trickiest connections to manage. Some people use the uni-to-uni knot for this because it is easy to tie (rule of thumb is to use twice as many wraps for the braid side as you do for the mono). This works ok but is not ideal in terms of strength. However, if your leader is much lighter test than your braided line it doesn't matter too much. For example, if you are using a 15lb leader with 50lb braid it doesn't matter if your knot breaks at 30lbs of pressure because your leader would have broken by then anyway and you would never be fishing with that much drag with a 15lb leader to begin with.
I generally like using the Pena Knot. It is kind of a long knot, but it is not that bulky so it doesn't hinder casting too much. It maintains a high breaking strength and is good for a wide range of diameters of line. I have caught some very large tuna and marlin with this knot and not had problems. There are many other knots that have a higher breaking strength, but most of them are bulkier and don't withstand repeated casting as well as the Pena knot. I have had many knots fail on casts because the repeated friction against the guides when casting weakens them dramatically. I have not had that occur with the Pena knot. See how to tie it here: http://rovingangler.com/sample_articles/basic_knots_to_know
When casting heavy poppers for GTs or doing something else that requires a large diameter leader (150lbs or more), the FG knot is very popular. This is a complicated knot to tie and it is easy to tie it wrong, but if you tie it right it is very strong. See a video on how to tie it here: http://215fishspot.blogspot.com/2010/01/tying-fg-knot-explained.html
I generally like using the Pena Knot. It is kind of a long knot, but it is not that bulky so it doesn't hinder casting too much. It maintains a high breaking strength and is good for a wide range of diameters of line. I have caught some very large tuna and marlin with this knot and not had problems. There are many other knots that have a higher breaking strength, but most of them are bulkier and don't withstand repeated casting as well as the Pena knot. I have had many knots fail on casts because the repeated friction against the guides when casting weakens them dramatically. I have not had that occur with the Pena knot. See how to tie it here: http://rovingangler.com/sample_articles/basic_knots_to_know
When casting heavy poppers for GTs or doing something else that requires a large diameter leader (150lbs or more), the FG knot is very popular. This is a complicated knot to tie and it is easy to tie it wrong, but if you tie it right it is very strong. See a video on how to tie it here: http://215fishspot.blogspot.com/2010/01/tying-fg-knot-explained.html
Braided Line Knots
I tie these pretty rarely as I usually prefer to use a flourocarbon leader when fishing braid both to reduce visibility in the water and also for increased abrasion resistence. Even very heavy braid doesn't have much abrasion resistence. However, there are occasionally circumstances when I will tie braid directly to my hook or lure. In those instances I use a Palomar and reinforce it with a few half hitch knots. Whatever you tie with braid, you can add a few half hitches for less slippage and more peace of mind.
Here are some other resources for knots:
http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.html
This site has quite a few fishing knots as well as helpful guides on how to tie them. They even have an app you can download for your phone. They also have other types of knots you might need such as rope knots.
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php
Another good resource with over 170 fishing knots.
http://mysterytacklebox.com/learn/ever-fishing-knot-you-need-to-know
Another good source for knots with step by step instructions and videos.
http://www.epicwilderness.com/infographic-fly-fishing-knots/
This site has some great fly-fishing knot resources.
Here are some other resources for knots:
http://www.netknots.com/html/fishing_knots.html
This site has quite a few fishing knots as well as helpful guides on how to tie them. They even have an app you can download for your phone. They also have other types of knots you might need such as rope knots.
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfishing.php
Another good resource with over 170 fishing knots.
http://mysterytacklebox.com/learn/ever-fishing-knot-you-need-to-know
Another good source for knots with step by step instructions and videos.
http://www.epicwilderness.com/infographic-fly-fishing-knots/
This site has some great fly-fishing knot resources.