Fishing Knots - Why Not Try The Trilene Knot?

By Bob Ives

If you need a good all-around fishing knot, you should learn how to tie the Trilene knot. It has many uses, including joining fishing lines crank baits, lures, spinnerbaits, hooks, snaps and swivels. The way the Trilene knot is tied makes it very strong and dependable, especially with the double wrap it has around the eyelet of the hook. Not only is it sturdy, but it resists slippage which helps to keep it from coming untied.

The Trilene knot is not very hard to learn, but it's also not the easiest fishing knot to tie. Once you've done it several times and it starts to make sense, you shouldn't have any problem tying this it, and it should serve you well in most situations. Again, one thing is for sure about this knot, it's tough and could save you when you hook a big fish.

TIP: When learning to tie fishing knots, it's a good idea to practice with a piece of cord. It's thicker than fishing line so you can better see what you are doing and it gives your fingers a chance to memorize the moves before you start trying to tie one on your actual fishing line.

How To Tie A Trilene Knot

To tie a Trilene knot, you would run the tag end of the line through the eye of the hook and then come back around the eye and go through it again in the same direction as the first time. Come back around again and this time wrap the tag end around the main line (called the standing line) starting from underneath it - going up and over it away from the hook. Wrap it about 4 times, then run the tag end right through the two loops that were created when you originally went through the eye. So the tag would go right through those loops causing it to touch the eye on one side, and the sides of the original loops on the other. Now, it's just a matter of slowly pulling on the main line and the tag end to tighten the knot. As with most fishing knots, you will want to moisten it before tightening. Click off the tag end close to the knot.

If you wanted to be creative, before you cinched the knot down, you could come back and run the tag end through the loop that was made after the last wrap around the main line. This would be variation of an Improved Clinch Knot and would give you more strength than the normal Clinch knot. You should experiment with this version and make sure you are comfortable with it before you do any critical fishing, like for bass tournaments and fishing charters.

There are a ton of great fishing knots available for all types of purposes and all types of fishermen. Each angler has his favorite, and will often swear by it. The best thing for you to do is take a look at some and figure out which one is going to be easiest for you to learn, and more importantly, remember. None of them will do you any good if you forget them when you get to your fishing hole. But one thing is for sure, you could hardly go wrong by making the Trilene Knot the first one you learn. When you consider everything it does, attach hooks, lures and other lines, it seems to be the boss of fishing knots.