Surgeon’s Knot
The Surgeon’s knot is a fast and strong way to connect two pieces of monofilament, as when building a leader or tying on a tippet. Learning this knot, and every new knot, with the rope kit helps you visualize the way the materials are aligned and manipulated to created the knot. Once this is understood, it’s much easier to tie the knot in mono. This is a great knot for connect wildly dissimilar diameters of material.
Step One: Point the two pieces of material in opposite directions with the ends overlapping.
Step One: Point the materials in opposite directions with their ends overlapping.
Step Two: Tie an overhand knot in the overlapped section. Note that you are pulling one short end and one long end of material through the knot.
Step Two: Tie and overhand knot in the overlapping section.
Step Three: Make a second turn through the knot. Again you are taking one short end and one long end through together. Two turns makes this just a Surgeon’s Knot, but some people call it a “Double Surgeon’s” to distinguish it from a “Triple Surgeon’s (how many turns do you think the material goes through the knot?). Jason likes the Triple Surgeon when adding sections of tippet material smaller than 3X.
Step Three: make a second turn of the materials through the knot.
Step Four: Pull all four ends tight. When tying with mono, lubricate the knot with a little saliva so it pulls more evenly and doesn’t burn. To fully seat the knot pull the two long ends and draw out all the stretch in the material. Hold for a couple of seconds. Trim away the short ends.
Step Four: Draw the knot tight.