Five Knots Every Bayou Angler Should Know

Around here you're fishing tight to wood, and a bad knot loses you the fish of the day. Learn these five: the Palomar (your everyday line-to-hook, nearly 100% strength), the improved clinch (quick and reliable for lighter line), the loop knot (lets a jig or topwater swing free for more action), the uni-to-uni (joining braid to a fluorocarbon leader), and the snell (for flipping hooks into heavy cover). Skip the overhand granny knot you've been tying since you were a kid — it cuts your line strength in half. Practice them at home, not when a six-pounder is hooked in the laydown.