Palomar Knot

The Palomar knot forms a knot with two lines passing through the eye or hook and is considered very secure.  Learning to tie this knot will prepare you for situations when you are hoping a for a chance to catch a lunker.  The steps are relatively few and easy to learn.  This knot is considered one of the strongest knots for securing hooks and lures.

Tying the Knot - Step One

Palomar Knot Palomar Knot Step One

The first step in making this knot is to double up your fishing line back upon your working end. Pass the loop formed by this doubling through the eye or ring of your lure. Immediately you are able to see that you will have twice the security by having a double line passing through the eye. The end of the loop now becomes your working end.

Tying the Palomar Knot - Step Two

Palomar Knot Palomar Knot Step Two

The next step in making the Palomard knot is to form an overhand knot with working end as in the picture above (formed using the looped line) There is really only one more important step so this overhand knot can be relatively tightened against the eye of your hook or lure. You should be left with a loop that is large enough to reach over your hook or lure. In my example I chose a large lure because of its large eye. The loop I began with and still have needs to be large enough to go over the large lure in the picture.

Tying the Palomar Knot Step Three

Palomar Knot Step Three

This third and final step is to pass this loop over the hook or lure. In the picture above is the beginning of this process and the picture below shows the loop passing back down along the lure body.

Palomar Knot Bring Loop Back to the Knot

The only thing left to do is to tighten the knot and trim the extra loose line.

Palomar Knot Tighten Your Knot - Trim the Loose Line

Fishing Knot Guides

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These four resources come highly recommended.  We at PFT each carry the freshwater knot guide in our tackle.  Several of us use the knot tying tool on the right.  I have a knot tying book like this one on my desk, but in addition have downloaded a knot tying app on my phone, which I use regularly.

Understanding Knot Terms

There are many terms used when describing tying fishing knots, marine knots, and other types of knots. Two words I will use in the descriptions of my favorite knots will be

  • Standing End
  • Working End
The working end is the end of the rope or fishing string that you are actually working with. You are usually not working with both ends of the fishing line. When tying your shoes you are in reality working with both ends of your shoe string so both ends would be considered working ends. With fishing line you normally have one end you are working with and the other end is usually fastened to the arbor, hook or lure. The standing end is the end of the line tied to the arbor. The standing part is the part of the line from the standing end to the knot. Remember these definitions when reviewing how to tie my 10 favorite knots.

Understand the Working End

When beginning to learn to tie fishing knots, you will need to learn to leave enough extra line on your working end to finish the knot. With practice you will learn to estimate this very closely. As you progress through tying the knot you will quickly learn to tell if you will run out of line on your working end. Sometimes you will need to just start over because you will not have started with enough extra line on the working end to finish the knot. The rope used in these pictures is of course much bigger than fishing line - as a result the knots in these pictures are much bigger than you will make with your fishing line.. When done tying any knot trim any excess line on the working end so that it will not be in the way.