How to tie the Blood Knot?

Use cases: leader to tippet, tippet to tippet

Y’know, the Blood Knot. That old workhorse. Gets mentioned every time someone’s fumbling with a broken tippet or staring down at that juncture between leader and fly line like it’s suddenly written in hieroglyphics. Jim was muttering about it just last week at the truck, remember? After that big brown snapped him off right at the leader. "Shoulda retied that Blood Knot," he grumbled, kicking a tire. "Been meaning to for days." Classic Jim. Always learns the hard way.

So yeah, leader to tippet. That’s prime real estate for the Blood Knot. You’ve got that thicker butt section, maybe 20 or 25-pound, meeting up with the delicate stuff, say 4X or 5X. That’s where it shines. It just slides together smooth, if you do it right. Not like some bulky monstrosity that’ll spook every trout in the pool. Tippet to tippet? Absolutely. Broken off on a snag and your tippet’s suddenly too short? Boom. Blood Knot. Two lengths of 6X? Tricky, yeah, but doable with young eyes or strong readers. Makes a neat, almost seamless join. Won’t catch the water like a sloppy overhand would.

How do you tie the darn thing? Okay, picture this. You’re standing there, line in hand, probably feeling rushed because the hatch is coming off. Don’t rush. That’s mistake number one. Take your two ends – leader and tippet, or tippet and tippet – lay ‘em side-by-side, overlapping maybe six, eight inches? Honestly, longer is better when you’re learning. You need room to work.

Now, take the tag end from your left piece. Wrap it around the right piece, five times. Or four? Heck, I usually do five. Solid number. Wrap ‘em away from you, tight little coils, stacked neatly. Like winding thread on a spool, but smaller. Much smaller. Here’s the bit people mess up: don’t let those coils slide over each other. Keep ‘em snug and parallel. Pinch ‘em between your thumb and forefinger once they’re wrapped. Feels… coiled. Secure.

Alright, now the other tag end. The one from the right piece. This one wraps around the left piece, same number of times – five – but towards you this time. So, you’re wrapping in the opposite direction. Again, neat coils. Pinch those too. Now you’ve got these two sets of coils kinda facing each other, nestled close in the middle where the lines overlap. Looks a bit like a skinny little bow tie before you tighten it.

Here comes the slightly fiddly part. You gotta get both tag ends pointing towards the middle of that overlap. So, gently, carefully, thread the left tag end back through the gap between the two sets of coils you made. Then thread the right tag end back through that same gap, but from the other side. Sounds worse than it is. You’re just poking each tag end back through the little tunnel formed where the coils meet. Moistening the lines helps immensely here. Spit works. Don’t be shy. A quick lick. Makes everything slide easier.

Now, the satisfying bit. Hold both main lines – not the tags, the main lines leading to your reel and to your fly – and pull them slowly and evenly. You’ll feel resistance. Watch those coils bunch up, slide together. Listen for a kind of… faint zipping sound as they cinch down. That’s the good stuff. Keep pulling steadily until those coils are tight and snug against each other. Then, and only then, grab the tag ends and give ‘em a good tug. Trim ‘em close, but not too close. Leave a tiny nub, maybe an eighth of an inch. You don’t want the knot unraveling because you got scissor-happy. Snip!

Feels surprisingly compact, doesn't it? Sleek. Like it belongs there. Pete over at the saltwater flats swears by it for light leaders to fluoro tippets when those permit get finicky. Said it’s the only thing that doesn’t kink funny when you’re double-hauling into the wind. Never forget watching him land that 30-pounder down in Islamorada on 16-pound fluoro joined with a Blood Knot to the leader. Shut us all up, that did. Proof’s in the tying, as they say. Or the landing. Whatever. Just don’t be like Jim. Retie it before you lose the big one.