The Canoe Man (No-Slip) Loop Knot

by Karl Klavon
(Fresno, California)

For Tenkara angling, here in the US giving motion to the fly during fishing presentations does not seem to be nearly as popular as it is in Japan. But for stillwater angling, where you do not have the current of a stream to move the fly and its materials in and through the water, you have to provide all the motion by pulsing or retrieving the fly in the water for yourself. And regardless of your fishing venue, the use of a No-Slip Loop Knot will greatly enhance the fly's action in the water - moving water or not. But it seems most T-anglers stick with the standard cinch-down knots for their angling most of the time.

There are a lot of No-Slip knots out there to tie, and which one to use can present problems of its own. In tying the No-Slip Knots, they often end up being big and bulky, and complicated to tie as well, with the loop turning out a lot longer than really needed for T-fishing. Here, the Canoe Man Loop Knot really comes to the rescue. It is a very quick, easy and compact knot to tie, and the loop automatically turns out to be small with no adjustments needed to tie it that way on your part. This is not the strongest No-Slip knot available, but it is more than strong enough, and so compact and easy to tie that it has great merit.

Tying the Canoe Man Knot is similar to tying a Perfect Loop Knot in that it is tied by making two loops, with the standing line being behind each respective loop, and the second loop being poked or pulled through the first one. But instead of the tag end line being run between the loops, it is stuck through the second loop and held down by the fly as the knot is drawn tight by the standing line. It can be tied with or without the fly already being on the line.

I realize that verbal knot tying instructions leave a lot to be desired visually, so just go to YouTube and type in Canoe Man Loop Knot Tying Videos in the Search Box, click on the magnifying glass icon, and you will get all kinds of videos to watch that explain it a lot better than I can....Karl.

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten” - Benjamin Franklin

"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.