The Davy Knot (created by Dave Wotton) is amazingly simple to tie. Follow this link to the instructions.
It is much easier to tie than a clinch or improved clinch, which I normally tie using forceps.
Now…. the website with the instructions claims that the knot retains almost 100% of its breaking strength based on the fact that it is used in competitive flyfishing.
The “2012 Tippet Shootout” article by Lee Wulff did applied testing and discovered that, in general, the Davy Knot is not as good as the other common options. The best tippet to fly knot was the “San Diego Jam,” but it is more complex to tie. As I looked at the results, the difference in breaking strength was more pronounced on heavy tippet.
Let’s consider a practical example: the TroutHunter Floro 2X, with a raw breaking strength of 10.45 lbs. The San Diego knot would break at 7.38 and the Davy at 6.28. However, when we drop to 6X, the raw breaking level was 3.83 and the San Diego failed at 2.75 and the Davy at 2.46. It’s worth noting that the difference between a break at 2.75 and 2.46 might not be noticeable in real-world fishing conditions.
Ultimately, the Davy Knot’s key advantage lies in its simplicity and speed. Unless you’re dealing with heavy-duty line and targeting large fish, the benefits of a more complex knot are minimal.
Beyond the knot issue, this was a great article on tippet strength. You should read it – the tippet-to-tippet connection strength loss is staggering, with the joint reducing the breaking strength by over 50%… so who cares about the tippet to fly? Makes you think twice about building your own leaders.
In fact, you should switch to a furled leader—they last forever, and you can avoid a lot of tippet-to-tippet connections. I love the furled leaders created by John Quigley—low-cost, robust, top gear!
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Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore