Surgeon’s Knot

How to tie the Surgeon's Knot. This knot ranks as one of the best and easiest to tie knots for joining lines of equal or unequal diameters. In low light conditions or with cold hands or when time is of the essence (during a hot bite and you need to get back in the water quickly), join your lines with the Surgeon's instead of the more cumbersome to tie Blood Knot, Double Uni or J Knot. It can also be used to join lines of different materials. It is simply two overhand knots with the entire leader pulled through the knot each time. When properly tied, the Surgeon’s Knot approaches 100-percent line strength. It must be tightened by pulling on all four strands to properly seat the knot.

To tie the Triple Surgeon's Knot, proceed to do a total of three (hence the triple in the name) wraps of the loop through the overhand knot. There is some measure of added security with the Triple Surgeon's, but the knot does get a bit bulky.The Surgeon's Knot is one of 12 great fishing knots included on the Pro-Knot Fishing Knot Cards (click to see).

Scroll to see Animated Surgeon's Knot below the illustration and tying instructions.

 

Surgeon’s Knot Tying Instructions

• Lay the line and leader on top of one another overlapping each other by several inches.


• Form a simple loop


• Pass both the tag end and the entire leader through the loop 2 times.


• (Optional) Pass both tag end and leader through the loop an additional time to tie the 'Triple Surgeon's Knot'.


• Moisten knot and pull all 4 ends tight.