The slim beauty knot is one of the best fishing knots for tying two pieces of line together that are either different diameters and/or different materials, such as mono leader to fluoro tippet, or even braided line to mono.
The slim beauty knot gets its name from its low profile once tied. When completed the slim beauty knot is compact and will run straight through your rod guides when you’re fighting a fish and it won’t break either.
The slim beauty knot is, however, not an easy knot to learn to tie. It is quite fiddly and if you want to be able to tie it quickly when fishing, you’ll have to learn it well and put in some practice.
How To Tie A Slim Beauty Knot
Step 1
First, take your main line, the thicker leader when attaching your tippet, and tie and double overhand knot. You do this by first creating a loop in the main line and then wrapping the end around it twice.
Step 2
Semi tighten your main line so it looks a bit like a figure of eight. It should look like two loops side by side with a crossover in the middle. Now take your tippet line, double it, then thread the line through the two loops that form the figure of eight.
Step 3
Wrap your smaller tippet line up around the main line 4 times. Now wrap it back down the mainline 3 times.
Step 4
To close the slim beauty knot and ensure its strength, tuck the end of the tippet between the leader and the tippet above the figure of eight.
Step 5
To fully close it wet the knot and pull the main lines of both the two lines, tippet, and leader. Once complete, trim off the tag ends and you have completed tying the slim beauty knot.
Tips
- In Step 1, tighten the double overhand knot down gently or the knot will not be easy to tie.
- This is a hard knot to tie in low light conditions so prepare some leaders at home if you know you’ll be fishing in cloudy or rainy weather.
Here is a video for you to watch so you can learn the slim beauty knot with ease.
FAQs
What is slim beauty knot used for?
Slim beauty knot is a type of decorative knot used in jewelry making, macrame and other crafts. It is often used to finish the ends of a piece of jewelry, or to add an extra bit of detail or texture to a piece. It can also be used to join two pieces of jewelry together.
How strong is the slim beauty knot?
The slim beauty knot is a very strong knot and retains close to 100% of the line’s strength you’ve used. This means if you use a line with a strength of 10 lbs the slim beauty knot may break under 9.8 lbs of pressure.
When would you tie and use a slim beauty knot?
The slim beauty knot doesn’t have many uses, it’s simply an excellent compact knot for tying two pieces of line together.
The best thing about this knot is you can join any line materials and different line diameters to make your leaders. This means you can tie a braided line to mono, mono to fluoro, fluoro to braid, and even add a shock leader.
Why is the slim beauty knot so good for fishing?
The main reason so many fishermen learn this knot for tying their leaders is that it sits straight making fly casting easy, and the knots have a low profile so the knot runs through your rod guides with ease.
On top of this, these knots are also super strong but tying them is not easy and you may have to practice tying them a lot to get the knot into the low profile you desire.
You can also see our post here on Snell Knot if you are interested.
What is the best knot to join two lines?
There are quite a few knots that are great for joining two lines of different types and diameters and the best ones would have to be the surgeons knot, the double uni knot, and the slim beauty knot.
The slim beauty knot is by far the best to choose if you’re targeting big saltwater species. In fact, it was actually made popular by tarpon fishermen as it’s a quicker knot to tie than the bimini twist knot they would usually use in their leader.
You should also use the slim beauty or the double uni knot if attaching braid to mono or fluoro but do not use the surgeon’s knot as it will slip.
As the slim beauty is a little fiddly, I wouldn’t recommend using it if you’re going after smaller species like trout. There is no point wasting time on the bank trying to tie a tricky knot to build your leader when you can tie a surgeon’s knot within a couple of seconds.
