Kime’s Clincher
I had some comments about the Belize Knot that Jeff Parker showed me, and so I thought I’d go back and work through some similar knots that have been developed over the years.
Harry Kime was one of the originals. Salt water flowed in his veins, and he never missed a chance to take is 16 foot pram out into the Sea of Cortez in search of anything that would take his fly. One of the problems that he addressed early on in his angling career was the problem of changing the fly—especially when that fly was attached to 80-pound, Mason hard mono. For those who have grown up in the day of fluorocarbon, let me note that 80-pound Mason is about as stiff as coat hanger wire. It’s a great material for a “shock” tippet (really an abrasion tippet) but boy is it ever tough to tie any reasonable knot in. Harry came up with a knot that is absolutely secure in the hard mono. In addition, the hard mono holds the shape of the knot and every kink that’s put into it allowing the knot to be untied and retied many times without having to cut the shock tippet material. It’s a knot that anyone who fishes the blue water or the flats will find highly useful. And like all the non-slip loop knots it’s built on an overhand knot tied in the tippet before the fly is threaded on.
Start with an overhand knot in the shock tippet.
Thread the tippet through the eye of the fly--up or down, doesn't matter.
Run the end of the shock tippet back up through the overhand knot.
Wrap the tag end of the tippet under the tippet. Look carefully at the direction of the end relative to the overhand knot.
Now go back through the overhand knot with the end of the tippet. Again, look carefully at the way the end of the tippet wraps around and goes back through the overhand knot.
Pull the overhand knot tight before snugging the end of the tippet down against the overhand knot. Clip the tag end of the tippet so that it's about as long as the knot. This makes it easy to untie and tied the knot over and over. One can make the loop small by making the overhand knot as small as possible before tying the knot.
FYI – This knot is also known as Clifford’s Knot. Do a search and you’ll find several references.