Get all knotted up — with the slim beauty knot

A ‘how-to-tie’ guide for some of the most popular fishing knots

When fishing braided main line inshore or heavy main line offshore, it’s often necessary to add a leader that is a different diameter — and that can create problems getting the lines joined with a knot that can withstand the pressure of a fighting fish.

Enter the slim beauty, which is particularly well suited for joining together two different diameter lines made of different materials.

It’s strong and relatively easy to tie, and is a convenient alternative to the Bimini twist knot.

Remember to always moisten your line before pulling it tight, especially for fluorocarbon line that’s easily damaged by heat from friction.

Here are the steps to tying a slim beauty knot:

1. Form a loop in the leader line, making two wraps inside the loop to tie a double overhand knot.

2. Slowly pull the leader line from both ends until it forms a figure-eight in the loop.

3. Pass about 8-10 inches of the tag end of your braided mainline through both loops in the figure-eight.

4. Moisten the figure eight knot. Then pull both ends of the leader line to tighten the figure-eight around the braided mainline.

5. Wrap the braided mainline around the leader line eight times going up.

6. Then eight times on top of the first wraps going back down.

7. Tuck the tag end of the braided mainline into the first loop between the leader and mainline.

8. Moisten and steadily pull the tag end to tighten. Trim tag ends.