fishing knots

Thirty miles out of Pensacola, my fishing partner watched a 40-pound yellowfin tuna take his line to the backing. The fish struck, the drag sang, and his connection simply separated at the knot. He’d threaded a basic clinch directly onto his double-line leader, and under load it gave way completely. That fish never made it … Read more

Run your thumbnail across the oxidation bleeding from a cleat where someone wrapped a bow line three weeks back, and you’ll feel the grit—that chalky corrosion that forms when salt air meets steel. In twenty years of marine work along the Gulf, I’ve developed opinions about a lot of things, but few are as rock-solid … Read more