The most widely used fishing knot in North America. It is quick, it is easy, and it holds well on monofilament and fluorocarbon — but it has a hard ceiling on braid, and knowing where that ceiling is will save you fish.
Pass the tag end through the hook eye, swivel or lure eye. Leave roughly six inches of tag to work with — shorter than that and the wraps get cramped.
Lay the tag end parallel to the main line. From here on you are wrapping the tag around both, so keep them touching.
Wrap the tag end around the standing line five to seven times. Five turns for heavy line, seven for light line. More turns is not stronger — it just makes a bulkier knot that seats badly.
The small loop sits right at the eye where your first wrap began. Push the tag end through it. This is the step the "improved" part adds over a plain clinch knot.
Now pass the tag through the large loop you just created. Miss this step and you have tied a plain clinch, which is measurably weaker.
Lubricate the knot — water or saliva, not dry friction. Pull the standing line so the coils slide down and seat against the eye. Trim the tag to about an eighth of an inch.
| Line | Improved clinch | Palomar | Uni knot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monofilament | 87% | 95% | 90% |
| Fluorocarbon | 83% | 93% | 88% |
| Braid | 75% | 95% | 90% |
On 20 lb monofilament that 87% means about 17.4 lb of actual breaking strain at the knot — which is why your drag should be set from the knot figure, not the number printed on the spool. Run your own numbers through the Knot Strength Calculator and set the drag from there.
The palomar knot beats it on every line type, and is no harder to learn. It is worth knowing both.
The clinch is genuinely the fastest knot to tie one-handed in cold weather, and on monofilament under about 25 lb it is completely reliable. If you are running light mono for panfish or trout and re-tying often, speed matters more than the last 8% of strength.
It is also the knot most older anglers already know, which makes it the one to teach a kid. Learn it, then add the palomar and the uni knot.
For joining two lines rather than tying to hardware, none of these apply — that needs a blood knot, a double uni, or for braid to fluorocarbon an FG knot.
A clinch knot needs nothing but line, an eye, and something to trim the tag with. These three cover it.
The line type the clinch knot performs best on. Stiff enough to hold the coils, thin enough to seat cleanly.
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The improved clinch is quick, but it gives up more strength than the Palomar. The knot strength calculator quantifies the gap, the knot strength chart ranks it against alternatives, and the Palomar knot is the one to switch to for braid.
On monofilament and fluorocarbon under about 25 lb, yes — it retains roughly 83 to 87% of line strength, which is more than enough for most freshwater fishing. On braid it drops to around 75% and is prone to slipping, which is where a palomar or uni knot is the better choice.
Five turns for line above about 20 lb, seven turns for line below 10 lb, and six in between. More turns makes a bulkier knot that does not seat cleanly against the eye, which costs strength rather than adding it.
Two reasons: braid, and dry tightening. Braid is too slick for the coils to grip, so the knot creeps and then pulls free. On mono or fluoro, pulling the knot tight without wetting it first creates heat that damages the line and lets the coils slide.
The improved version adds one step: after wrapping the tag around the standing line, you thread the tag back through the small loop at the eye before passing it through the big loop. That extra pass through the small loop is worth roughly 10 to 15 percentage points of retained strength.
No. The clinch ties line to an object with an eye — a hook, swivel, snap or lure. Joining line to line needs a blood knot, a double uni knot, a surgeon’s knot, or for braid to leader an FG knot.
How to tie a Palomar knot · Knot Strength Calculator · Drag & Leader Calculator · Fishing line strength chart
How to Tie a Palomar Knot · How to Tie a Uni Knot · How to Tie an FG Knot · How to Tie a Blood Knot · How to Tie a Double Uni Knot · How to Tie a Surgeon's Knot · How to Tie a Snell Knot · How to Tie a Non-Slip Loop Knot · How to Spool a Spinning Reel · Spooling Without Line Twist · How to Set Drag on a Reel
Numbers to go with it: Knot Strength Calculator · Line Diameter Converter · Shock Leader Calculator
Estimates only: the values shown are a starting point, not a guarantee. Products of the same stated size differ between makers, so your own result will vary. TackleCalc is not affiliated with any manufacturer, and these figures are a guide rather than a guarantee.