Non-slip loop

What it connects

The non-slip loop ties a fly, lure, jig or hook to the end of a leader or line and leaves a small fixed loop through the eye, so the fly hangs free and swings. Animated Knots describes it as a very strong fixed loop that does not grip the lure, which makes a flexible attachment and a more natural action. It is a terminal knot only; it joins nothing to anything else.

Its names: the non-slip mono loop, the Kreh loop and Lefty Kreh's loop knot, after the angler who worked it out during a series of tests to make a strong loop knot and published it with Mark Sosin in Practical Fishing Knots. Animated Knots calls it a higher-strength version of the Homer Rhode loop, the older loop knot in which the tag was hitched once around the standing line; Rhode's name is spelled "Rhodes" on some pages and "Rhode" on others, including MidCurrent's profile of the man himself.

Basis: consensus (Animated Knots, NetKnots, MidCurrent, Orvis News)

Compatible lines

• Monofilament and fluorocarbon tippet and leader: yes. This is the knot's home, and Kreh's turn table runs from 8X tippet to line over 60 lb.
• Braid: Kreh gives six turns for gel-spun and braided lines. On this site the loop is tied in the fluorocarbon leader, not the braid, because the leader is where the fly or lure is; the streamer fishing page says the same.
• Wire and very heavy mono: Kreh's table gives two turns above 60 lb and one turn in plastic-coated braided wire; an Orvis News contributor finds it ties stronger than alternatives from wire to the fly.

Basis: consensus; Kreh's table from Fly Fisherman

Best uses

• Streamers, on a fly rod. MidCurrent's streamer rigging piece recommends it so the fly dances up, down and side to side while it drifts or is stripped; Orvis's panel of guides use it almost exclusively on streamers and on bonefish, smallmouth, pike and musky flies.
• Poppers and sliders, which Art Scheck says get more side-to-side movement on a loop.
• Nymphs fished where you want them to swing or hang at an angle, and large terrestrials.
• On conventional tackle, any lure or jig that should swing freely on the line: jerkbaits, topwaters, and a jig or Ned rig fished for a freer action. The published sources speak of flies and lures in general; the jerkbait and topwater application is ours.

Basis: consensus; editorial on the conventional-tackle list

Difficulty

Moderate the first few times, then easy. Scheck's line is that it is not difficult, just different: the tag end goes through the overhand knot twice, and the second pass has to enter the same side it left. Once that is automatic, it ties as fast as a clinch. The part that takes practice is controlling the loop size, which is set by how far the overhand knot sits from the eye and cannot be changed once the knot is tight.

Basis: consensus (Orvis News, Animated Knots); editorial

Strengths

• Action. The whole reason for the knot.
• Strength in light line. The published comparisons put it at or near the top of terminal knots in nylon and fluorocarbon; the numbers are below.
• The tag end points toward the fly. Animated Knots and Kreh both note that the tag faces the hook so it does not gather grass on the retrieve.
• Ties in heavy mono and wire where a clinch will not seat.

What the tests show, with each method:

Kreh's own statement, carried by Animated Knots, Fly Fisherman and Fly Fishing Traditions, is that tied correctly in mono it has almost 100 percent line strength and in some of his tests the strand broke rather than the knot. That is a reported claim with no published method, so it sits beside the tests rather than among them. Note Salt Strong's finding that four turns tested weaker than three on 20 lb mono: more turns is not always better in heavy line, which is what Kreh's table says too.

Basis: official on the test figures; editorial on the reading

Weaknesses

• The loop is fixed. Set it too big and it gathers grass and can foul the hook on the cast, which Kreh warns about; set it and tighten, and it cannot be resized.
• Not for dry flies, or for flies smaller than about size 12, where Kreh says the loop is too large. A snug improved clinch is the dry-fly knot.
• It uses more line than a clinch. Scheck used 6 inches of line and got a 2 inch loop when he started; with practice he ties loops under half an inch.
• Trimmed flush, the tag can pull through under a sharp load. Leave a stub; Fly Fisherman's Kreh piece says the same, and Scheck leaves about 1/16 inch.
• In braid the wraps have less to bite on than in mono. Tie it in the leader.

Basis: consensus

When another knot is better

• Dry flies and small flies: the improved clinch.
• A hook or jig you want held snug and in line, on braid or fluorocarbon: the Palomar, which tested a point behind the loop knot on fluorocarbon in Field and Stream and is faster to tie.
• A loop knot on heavy conventional tackle where the Rapala knot is already in your hands: NetKnots calls the two equally reliable and the Kreh loop easier for some; Salt Strong's ranking puts the loop a tad weaker than the Rapala.
• Joining two lines: never a loop knot. The Alberto, double uni or double surgeon's.

Basis: consensus; editorial on the recommendations

How to tie it

Pick the turn count first, from Kreh's table in Fly Fisherman: 7 turns for 8X tippet up to 6 lb test; 5 turns for 8 to 12 lb; 4 turns for 15 to 40 lb; 3 turns for 50 to 60 lb; 2 turns above that; 6 turns in braid. Animated Knots prints the same table with its lightest row at 6 to 8 lb; Orvis simplifies to 6 turns under 8 lb and 5 up to 40 lb; NetKnots says 4 or 5. The bands differ at the edges; the rule does not: lighter line, more turns.

The steps assume a right-handed tier with the standing line, the part running back to the rod, in the left hand and the tag end and the fly to the right. The sequence is NetKnots' three steps and Animated Knots' description, with the detail Orvis and Bass Pro add on the second pass.

Watch it tied. Animated Knots' Non-Slip Mono Knot page steps through the loose overhand, the tag through the eye and back through the overhand, the wraps, and the final pass, and it prints the turn table. We read it alongside the steps below, and the two agree.

1. About 10 inches from the end of the line, tie a loose overhand knot. Leave the hole about the size of a pencil; a smaller overhand makes a smaller loop. The tag end comes out of it to the right.
2. Pass the tag end through the hook eye and pull 5 or 6 inches through. The fly hangs on the tag to the right of the open overhand.
3. Bring the tag back and push it through the overhand knot, entering through the same opening it came out of in step 1, so the tag ends up running alongside the standing line, pointing left. Orvis and Bass Pro both put it this way: it must re-enter the overhand on the side it exited. The line between the overhand knot and the eye is now the loop.
4. Set the loop size now, while everything is loose. Slide the overhand toward the eye for a smaller loop or away for a larger one. Animated Knots: the size must be adjusted while the turns are still loose, because once tightened it is fixed.
5. Wrap the tag end around the standing line the number of times you chose, each wrap laid beside the last, all turning the same way, moving away from the overhand knot.
6. Bring the tag back to the overhand knot and pass it through once more, entering again through the same opening it came out of in step 3, so it finishes pointing right, toward the fly, lying along the loop. NetKnots: entering from the same side it exited from before.
7. Wet it. Pull gently on the tag to draw the wraps together against the overhand, then, in Kreh's words, pull on the fly, the standing line and the tag end to close the knot firmly. Trim the tag to a short stub pointing at the fly.

Basis: consensus (NetKnots, Animated Knots, Orvis, Bass Pro, Fly Fisherman's Kreh pages)

Testing and trimming

• Pull hard between the fly and the standing line. A good knot is a compact barrel with the loop standing open; if the loop closes under load or the barrel slides on the standing line, cut it off and retie.
• Check the tag points toward the fly. If it points back up the line, the second pass went through the wrong side.
• Leave a stub, about 1/16 inch; never flush.
• Keep loops small: well under half an inch for flies, a little more for a lure that needs the swing. Kreh's warning about large loops gathering grass is the reason.
• Retie after any fish of size and after a snag in rock or wood.

Basis: consensus (MidCurrent, Fly Fisherman, Animated Knots); editorial on the loop size

Rigs and techniques that use it

• Streamer fishing: the fly-to-tippet knot of the whole setup, tied out step by step on that page as well.
• The fly-rod counterparts named on the jig, Ned rig and drop shot pages: crayfish and sculpin patterns crawled on the bottom.
• A jig or Ned rig fished for a freer swimming action, as an alternative to the Palomar.
• Jerkbaits and topwater lures on fluorocarbon or mono, where a snug knot damps the action.

Basis: consensus on the streamer use; editorial on the rest

Sources and how confident we are

Sources

• Non Slip Loop Knot (Kreh Loop) — NetKnots — the three tying steps, 4 or 5 wraps, re-entering the same side, wetting and seating by pulling loop and standing line apart, Lefty Kreh's name, the Rapala knot comparison.
• Non-Slip Mono Knot — Animated Knots by Grog — the tying description, the turn table, Kreh and Practical Fishing Knots, the Homer Rhodes loop, the loop size being fixed once tight, the tag end facing the hook, Kreh's strength claim.
• Lefty's Fishing Knots 101 — Fly Fisherman — Kreh's own turn table (7, 5, 4, 3, 2 and six for braid, one for coated wire), not for dry flies or flies under size 12, the three-way closing pull.
• Lefty's No-Slip Loop Knot — Fly Fisherman — five turns as the standard for 20 lb and lighter, the dry-fly caution, leaving a tag, the small loop at the eye.
• Non-Slip Mono Loop — Orvis — a strong loop that lets the fly hang free, re-entering on the exit side, the overhand's distance from the fly setting the loop, 6 turns under 8 lb and 5 to 40 lb.
• Pro Tips: The Only Two Terminal Knots You Really Need — Orvis News (Art Scheck) — the knot's strength in light nylon and fluorocarbon, what it does for streamers, poppers and sliders, "not difficult, just different".
• Ask the Experts: What Knot Do You Use to Tie on a Fly? — Orvis News — guides' uses on streamers, bonefish, smallmouth, musky and pike flies.
• Pro Tips: Secrets of a Knot Junkie — Orvis News (Drew Price) — turn counts by line, wire to fly, the steady pull after seating.
• Fly Fishing Knots: The Last Link — MidCurrent (Art Scheck) — the hand-pull comparisons against the Duncan loop, clinch, Palomar and Trilene; loop sizes with practice; the 1/16 inch stub; action on a Clouser and a popper.
• Rigging Streamers for Trout Fishing — MidCurrent (Landon Mayer) — the loop so the streamer dances while drifting or stripped.
• Profile: Homer Rhode Jr. — MidCurrent (Ed Mitchell) — the man behind the earlier loop knot, and the spelling.
• Homer Rhode Loop Knot — NetKnots — the predecessor knot and its variants.
• Q&A with Lefty Kreh: Best Loop Knot — Saltwater Sportsman — the tag end toward the fly, large loops gathering grass, the almost-100-percent claim, ease in heavy mono and wire.
• Lefty Kreh's Loop Knot — Fly Fishing Traditions — Kreh's turn counts as reproduced there, small loops, the near-full-strength claim without a method.
• How to Tie the Non-Slip Mono Loop — Bass Pro Shops 1Source — the turn table, the 3/16 inch overhand for small loops, re-entering the same way, tightening carefully.
• The Strongest Fishing Knots for Each Type of Line, Tested — Field and Stream (John Merwin) — non-slip loop 83 percent against the Palomar's 82 and the improved clinch's 75 on 10 lb fluorocarbon.
• Non-Slip Loop Knot: How Many Turns Should You Do? — Salt Strong — 20 lb mono, three pulls at two, three and four turns, 20.50, 21.72 and 19.35 lb.
• The Best Fishing Knots of All Time — Salt Strong — the loop ranked behind the Rapala knot by a tad, the tag end pointing down as a plus.

Related

Species

• Smallmouth bass
• Rainbow trout

Techniques

• Streamer fishing
• Ned rig
• Jig

Knots

• Palomar knot
• Improved clinch
• Double surgeon's

Line

• Leaders and tippet