TIE THE KNOT
Six crucial knots every fly angler needs to know—and know well
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HANDSHAKE LOOP
For connecting fly-line and leader loops
Many fly lines now come with a welded loop at the end, and most store-bought leaders have a loop at the butt. So, the quickest and easiest way to connect them is via the handshake loop. It’s simple and elegant—provided you do it correctly. That means sliding the leader loop up the fly line, and pulling the tag end through the fly-line loop, as shown in the diagram. This connection is tidy enough to easily slide through the guides on a fly rod, and extremely strong, since the force on the line is distributed to both sides of the loop.
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