Untangling Knots and How to Prevent Them

By Ethan Hollifield

The most common adage of the fly fishing guide is “half my job is untangling knots.” And well, to an extent this is true. I would be lying if I said I don’t get a pretty bad bird’s nest of line from time to time. I have learned a few tricks in my guiding career that allow for those instances of frustration to become less common over time, and what to do when a bad tangle does happen.

Firstly, I think it’s important to identify that the main problem with many fly anglers and tangles lies predominantly with casting proficiency. Joe Humphreys once said that there’s no such thing as a wind knot, only a “bad cast knot,” and I can’t help but agree.

Narrowing it down, the most common issue is that most tangles are caused by trying to force a cast, rather than allowing the rod, fly line, and leader to transmit energy out in an efficient manner. Forcing a cast increases the rod speed too greatly and causes tailing loops on false casts. In addition, moving the rod at wide angles on the forward/ back casting stroke can also cause tangles.

The easiest way to remedy this is to shorten the casting stroke and “tap” the rod by squeezing the cork handle. There are some wonderful videos of Joe Humphreys and George Harvey explaining this online, and I would highly recommend studying them to become a more proficient caster overall. Another remedy is to extend the butt section of the leader by adding two to three feet of 25lb maxima hard mono. The stiffer butt section then allows for leaders to turn over more smoothly with less effort.

Now, when the inevitable tangle does happen, here are the steps to follow:

1. When fishing nymph rigs or dry droppers, start by removing the bottom fly. 80% of the tangles I run into on guide trips can be undone relatively quickly without too much effort once this is done, and the fly can simply then be retied onto the tippet.

2. If you see frays, line twist, or nicks in the leader/ tippet, cut it off and retie everything completely. These are weak points in the line that, even if undone, can result in fish breaking off and/ or more tangles in the future.

3. Limit the amount of back casting and line that you are throwing. I generally try to teach most of my clients to make their casts in one smooth motion, since most of the fishing you’ll run into within the Southern Appalachians is close quarters, high sticking anyways. You shouldn’t be throwing 30’ of line to hit a pocket 10’ away. By limiting the number of false casts, you also prevent yourself from ending up in as many branches.

4. Tie your own leaders. The premade leaders work okay in

Continued, see UNTANGLING KNOTS Page 32