Fishing tackle, gear, and rigging methods is all a matter of personal preference and finding out what works best for you. Most anglers end up sticking to what they were taught when they first started fishing. Perfecting knots takes countless hours of practice. As a kid nothing frustrated me more than losing a fish due to a poorly tied knot leading to a perfectionist mentality when it comes to knot tying. It is one thing to be able to tie something together sitting on a comfrotable stable dock or at your favorite rigging station. It’s a whole new ballgame trying to rig lines when the wind is blowing and the boat is rocking.
Having a wide range of knots in your arsenal certainly allows you to do more things, but it is just as important to master your basic knots first before venturing outside of your comfort zone. The Uni knot is a simple yet highly reliable knot that can be used in a variety of situations. What makes the uni knot so special is that it is easy to tie, yet is exceptionally strong. The uni knot can be used for the most basic of fishing rigging: tying a line to a hook.
Simply pass the line through the eye and loop the tag end of the line back onto the running line. Wrap the tag end over the running line and through the loop six times. Pull the tag end, but do not tighten the knot. Moisten the knot (saliva works great) and pull on the running line sliding the knot down to the eye of the hook, tighten, and boom you’re ready to catch fish.
Alter the number of loops based on line diameter. For example 80 lb leader only requires about 4 loops, this is because it is harder to slide the knot down to the hook and tighten the more wraps you make. Another neat trick with the uni knot is to leave a little loop when tying on a hook or a lure to allow for more play. The only difference is when you slide the knot down to the eye, do not tighten it all the way with the running line. Once the knot meets the eye just pull on the tag end and it will tighten away for the eye leaving a tight knot, but with a loop.
The uni knot can also be used to tie your initial line onto a spool (although if you get to this point while hooked up to a fish its usually game over anyway). Another application is tying your running line to a leader, or just a basic line-line connection. This can be accomplished by tying two uni knots together so that the tag ends face away from each when the knot is complete. This knot is just as effective as the popular blood knot.
Few knots are as versatile as the uni knot. It can be used on braided line as well as mono and can double as tying the two together. It can be tied to swivels, which works great for the angler who has not mastered the albright when using wire. Just tie a uni knot to a swivel and then a haywire twist to the swivel and hook, which is just wrapping the wire on itself. Perfection of your knots and sound gear preparation will put the angler in a position to land more fish.
The uni knot is a great knot to learn for the novice angler, but yet is also used by high end tournament anglers around the world.