How do you tie a Davy knot?

How do you tie a Davy knot?

1. Through the eye

   Pass about two inches of tippet through the hook eye. You need far less tag than a clinch requires.

2. Form an overhand

   Bring the tag end around the standing line and make a loose overhand knot, leaving the loop open.

3. Back through the loop

   Pass the tag end through the open overhand loop, going over the standing line on the way.

4. Second pass for a double

   Pass the tag through the same loop a second time. This is the double Davy, and it is the version to learn.

5. Wet and seat

   Lubricate, then pull the standing line steadily while holding the fly. The knot snugs down against the eye.

6. Trim

   Cut the tag close. A correctly seated Davy is remarkably small.

The knot looks wrong the first few times, because it is so much smaller than what you are used to. Test it by pulling hard against the hook bend before you fish it — a badly formed Davy fails immediately rather than later, which is the one genuinely useful thing about its failure mode.

Why it is worth learning

On a nymphing day you might change flies fifteen times. Each improved clinch costs three or four inches of tippet, and by mid-afternoon the section you started with is too short and you are re-tying the whole thing. The Davy uses about an inch, which means the tippet section you tied on at breakfast is still long enough at dusk.

It is also fast. Once it is in your hands it takes a few seconds, which matters more than it sounds when a hatch is happening and you have the wrong fly on.