Fishing Basics - Knot Tying - The Half Blood Knot

Following on from my recent post about tying the 5 Turn Grinner knot, this is another very reliable knot which can be used to attach hooks, swivels and clips to your line. The Half blood is a knot which ties down very small and is a good alternative to the Grinner. What’s more, it is easy to tie. Again for the purposes of post I will be attaching the line to a fairly large swivel.

      1.       Passing the line through the eye of the swivel bring the tag end back up to form a small loop.

      2.       Holding the eye of the swivel still twist the tag end of the line around the mainline 5/6 times. (this can be done more, but I have found any more than 6 may cause the line to coil when tightening up onto the knot)

       3.       Pass the tag end of the line through the small hole at the beginning of the twisted section of the monofilament (close to the eye of the swivel where the twists begin, as shown)

       4.       Pull the tag end through the hole and after lubricating the knot and holding the mainline tightly, tighten down onto the knot.

       5.       The tag end can then be cut very close to the knot, leaving a knot which shouldn’t slip is reliable and has a good strength.

There are some who will read this and know that this is not a true Half Blood knot. For those of you who wish to take this knot that step further, once the line has passed through the small hole left at the beginning of the twists, (stage 3) pass the tag end up and back through the second loop created between the twisted line and first initial loop. Please feel free to contact me if this last step does not make sense.

In my experience of using this knot, whether it has been coarse fishing, sea fishing or fly fishing this extra step can sometimes kink the line, making it “kick” slightly so that the presentation may be unnecessarily affected.