With my recent decision to finally take the plunge and move into fly fishing, and the fact I do like the idea of being able to tie my own flies, while trawling the net looking for fly tying information, I came across a neat tool for tying knots.
The Nail Knot Tool.
Now I'm all for things that can make life easier, so I did a little digging around and found some 3D files available to print my own. Link for this can be found below.
Some might say they're a waste of time etc... "You can do just as good freehand" or "In my day......" :) and that is probably correct, I'm sure the knots I'm use to tying for Surfcasting will feature a lot too, I'm sure there will be some new ones, but I have to admit, for the couple of times I've used this so far for the couple of knots I've seen demonstrated with it, it is so much easier to get ones head around the looping line around this thing.
I'm not going to stop practicing freehand knots however, I can imagine if I get too reliant on this, I'll end up losing it down a river and knowing how to tie knots without it will be a requirement.
This loop tied with 40lb mono appears to have some strength to it. It was also far less hassle making a double uni knot to join 20lb & 40lb mono shock leader together too. I'll be giving one of these to my 5-year-old grandson to practice with too.
How easy or effective it is to use when out in the water is yet to be determined, but I'll put one in my Surfcasting tackle box as well as in my fly bag and will see if it's as useful in the wild.