They come in all shapes and sizes!
MY BAJA HANDFUL OF KNOTS
Originally Published the Week of June 26, 2013 in Western Outdoor News Publications
If you ever want to start up a conversation among a group of fishermen or suddenly get a room of yakking party-ing guys to stop talking and gather around, there’s one sure-fire way that I’ve found. It never fails. Instant focus.
Just start talking about fishing knots.
Instant Pavlov’s dog and the dinner bells with 100-percent success. It works even better if you happen to have a spool of line and some hooks. If the crowd is relatively inexperienced, there’s almost a hush.
If the gathering has more veteran fishermen, it’s instant debate. It’s like throwing bloody chum in the water or handfuls of live bait into boiling tuna. No one can resist plugging into the conversation!
I’m not even going to touch opening the subject with flyfishermen who’s knowledge and propensity toward complicated knot tying requires a PhD. In physics.
But for your average fresh and saltwater weekend warrior and occasional Baja and long-range guy, everyone has an opinion on knot tying or is certainly “all-ears” to see what’s new and exciting or missing in their knot-tying arsenal.
I think almost all of us who have spent even a little time on the water know or, at some time back-in-the-day, learned the clinch knot or the improved clinch knot. It’s the one they use to print on the back of packs of hooks and other accessories. If my fuzzy memory serves, it was printed on a lot of Berkely produces and some still call it the Trilene knot.
I’m pretty sure it’s the one my dad first showed me. Boy, did I practice and practice that one. In fact, I remember mom catching me in my bedroom floor long after bed-time. I was tying knots by the light of a flashlight and using my 2nd grade scissors to trim off the tag ends! Mom just said, “Oh Jonathan…” and left me alone! I know when she told dad, he cracked up.
I guess in the passing of time, I’ve learned quite a few knots. All serve their purposes. What great names! They sound like cocktails…The Bimini Twist…the Cat’s Paw…the Arbor…the Australian Braid…the Bristol…the Nail…the Blood knot…the Albright Special…the Orvis. There are hundreds!
I once had a friend who would spend hours trying to develop some new knot just so he could claim it and have his name on it…forever…his legacy sealed in angling lore. Terrible fisherman, but he sure knew how to tie knots!
Anyway, between you and me…frankly…the only reason to know that many knots is to impress people. Like a name-dropper at a cocktail party. People’s ears perk up when they hear names like the Palomar and the Spider Hitch. And, I admit, when I want to direct attention to myself…like I said, start talking about knots and throw in some fancy names and it’s like a magnet! Try it sometime.
Go get yourself a knot tying book or look up on the internet or youtube and there’s some great stuff to learn. Then pull out some fancy names next time you’re among friends. Like some guy who learned some card tricks, every fisherman within ear-short will be listening to you!
But, in full disclosure, for the several dozen knots I know, there’s maybe only a handful that I ever really use and maybe only 3 or 4 that I use 95 percent of the time. These are knots that you SHOULD know and with them under your belt, there’s not too much you can’t do.
It’s like rock ‘n’ roll. If you know 3 simple chords and a decent 12-bar progression, you can probably play…well…just about anything!
The most important knot that I use is the San Diego knot. I call it the most important because it’s the knot that joins my line to the hook. It’s the last line of attack and the part that attaches me to the fish. So it better be a good knot!
It’s a variation of the Uni knot (you can look all of these up) and I’ve also seen it called the Duncan knot and the San Diego Jam knot. It takes a few minutes to grasp the concept and a few more to learn it well. But it’s worth it.
It has never failed. The line might break but, in my experience, the knot has never broken, even on the largest fish I’ve tangled with. I’ve seen tests run and it’s pretty hard to beat it’s breaking strength. It’s variation called the Double San Diego knot (merely doubling the lines) is even better and a standard knot here in Baja and on the long range San Diego fleet.
If you learn it well, it is also a handy knot to join to lines together like a mainline to a leader.
Which leads to my 2nd most important knot which is the Overhand knot. It’s my personal favorite not only for joining lines, but especially to join lines of dissimilar diameter. When you’re in a hurry to join mono leader to braided line (not the best, but serviceable) it’s also handy. If you know how to tie your shoe, this knot is that easy. Learn it and remember it!
My last knot would be the Surgeon’s Loop. It’s pretty much as easy as over…under…and through. And you’re done! Like the ads on TV…”even a caveman could do it.” It’s great for …well…making loops to hold sinkers…to hold hooks. I use it a lot. I use it a lot more than the dropper loop if I’m tying the loop to a sinker.
Fishing in rocks, if the sinker gets stuck on the bottom, the dropper will break easier than the dropper loop and at least let you get your main line back.
If I need a loop to tie the hook to…then the Dropper loop is my choice.
And that’s it! Not much you can’t do with this handful! Learn them and it will cover almost everything but the most specialized situations.
That’s my story
Jonathan
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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004. Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico www.tailhunter-international.com. They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront. If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com or drop by the restaurant to say hi!
______________
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
Website:
http://www.tailhunter-international.com
Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
U.S. Mailing Address: Tailhunter International, P.O. Box 1149, Alpine CA 91903-1149
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report: http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
That's My Story 
“FINALLY READING BETWEEN THE LINES”
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Despite what many think, Mexico actually has one of the fastest growing tourism economies in the world as more folks are discovering Mexico as a great destination with Americans still comprising the majority of tourists with more than 24 million visitors expected this year.
“FINALLY READING BETWEEN THE LINES”
Originally Published the Week of March 20, 2013 in Western Outdoor News
It’s been an uphill battle.
Turn back the time machine about 2-3 seasons ago and it seemed that every other persons was asking me about the “violence in Mexico” or telling me they’d “Never go there again” or “I’d be in fear of my life!”
It seemed everyone had seen the news clips. Everyone had read the headlines. Everyone had a friend-of-neighbor-of-an-uncle-of-a-classmate who knew someone else who had been beaten, robbed, killed or eaten a bad taco.
Speaking at seminars and appearing at countless trade, travel, hunting and fishing shows over the years, it seemed the negativity was endless. Protest as I might…how could any of us who enjoy living and working in Mexico ever overcome the omnipotent power of the broadcast and print media?
We’re just little old us…mom and pop operations in Mexico…
How does one prove a negative? How do you prove something is NOT happening? How do we go up against CNN and FOX and the others and say, “Hey, thousands of tourists are NOT getting murdered!” “Hey, 200,000 Americans crossed the border today and NOTHING happened to them!”
Sigh…wring hands…shrug shoulders. Exhale. And hope.
But maybe things are changing. Lately, people specifically ask me if Baja is safe. Or is La Paz (where we live) or Cabo San Lucas safe. Things like that.
I tell them yes. Maybe show them some statistics and they’re fine with that. “I thought so,” they’ll usually say. Then, they move onto the good stuff like, “So, when’s the best time to come fishing?”
A few years ago, people would argue with me. Not so now.
Or, in the alternative, they affirm what we’ve been telling everyone.
They come out and pointedly tell me, that they’ve visited Cancun and Cozumel and Puerta Vallarta and Loreto and other tourist destinations and found them to be safer or at least as safe as being home. And enjoy travelling to Mexico. It’s a great value. The people are great. Love the food. Blah…blah…blah! Stuff we’ve always known, right?
Now, no one is saying Mexico doesn’t have a problem. Far from it. Mexico has some serious crime problems. But folks have been quick to point out that, “Hey, it’s not directed at tourists.”
“It’s in places we shouldn’t go anyway…like back alleys of Ciudad de Juarez!”
“Don’t do things you shouldn’t be doing and going to places you shouldn’t be going and you’ll be fine…like American cities. Every place has it’s bad areas. Don’t be an idiot. Stay out of bad areas!”
“I go to Mexico all the time. I feel safer there on the beach in San Carlos or Los Barriles than I do where I live in Phoenix and my car gets busted into all the time and several of my neighbors have been burglarized.”
“I’m tired of all the negativity. It’s in the news every time an American or tourist gets his wallet stolen in Mexico. How often does that happen in downtown New York and it never makes the news.”
It’s kind of refreshing in a strange way to have people trying to convince ME that it’s OK to be in Mexico. People are figuring it out on their own.
Unlike many tourist destinations, Mexico took 3 big strikes to it’s travel sector. First, was the economic downturn that seems to have hit the whole planet.
Second, of course, is the nervousness over violent crime.
Third, was the swine-flu scare. (Don’t get me started on that fiasco! Again… everyone knew a friend-of-a-friend-of-friend who had been stricken…sheesh).
But, Mexico’s on the rebound.
I’m not completely convinced yet that it’s due to an overall economic recovery for everyone. There’s still alot of bad stuff going on and we’re far from over. But, maybe folks are just adjusting to it all. Maybe they still know Mexico’s a good value and it’s close and yea…they’ve adjusted to the fact that it’s a pretty safe place to hang out with the bro’s and the family.
Indeed, statistics show that Mexico has one of the fastest growing tourist economies in the world. In excess of 24 million visitors take to Mexico yearly now. Americans make up the majority of Mexico’s tourism base as something like 4-8 million Americans visit annually. And suffer nothing more serious than a self-induced margarita hangover or a bad sunburn.
As a matter of fact, the fastest growing segment of Mexico’s tourism is coming from places like China, Russia, Columbia, Brazil and the Ukraine. And for years, having lived in Baja, the Italians, French and Japanese have been constant visitors as well.
This is all good news for Mexico and should be an assurance to those contemplating a trip south of the border where the most violent thing you encounter might be in the salsa you spoon into your tacos! Andale!
That’s our story!
Jonathan
_______________
Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004. Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico www.tailhunter-international.com. They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront. If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com or drop by the restaurant to say hi!
______________
Jonathan Roldan’s
Tailhunter International
TAILHUNTER FISHING FLEET #1 Rated on Trip Advisor
TAILHUNTER RESTAURANT BAR #1 Rated in La Paz on Trip Advisor
Now follow us on FACEBOOK TOO
Website: www.tailhunter-international.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Drive, Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico Office: 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico
Phones:
from USA : 626-638-3383
from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863
.
Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:
http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/
Tailhunter YouTube Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate
“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”
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