There are three knots that I use most of the time because they’re simple, quick to tie and dependable. When I’m fishing with monofilament and tying on a topwater lure, buzzbait, soft jerkbait, floating worm or frog, I’ll use the Palomar knot. If I’m fishing braid with a single hook for soft plastics, I’ll snell the hook. I’ll also tie a Palomar with braid or fluorocarbon.

The exception, and it’s been quite an exception this spring, is tying an umbrella rig to braid or fluorocarbon. To me, using a Palomar here is more difficult than it should be because you’ve got to make that big loop to pass over the rig. Instead, I use a double cinch knot: Double the end of the line, pass it through the rig eye, twist the loop around the line a few times, pass it through like you would with a regular clinch knot, and trim it close. You’ll wind up with three tag ends.

It’s been an umbrella rig kind of spring for me so I’ve probably used the double cinch knot 75 percent of the time, with the snell knot second at about 15 percent of the time and the Palomar third at about 10 percent of the time. The only other knot I tie is the double uni, which I use when I’m connecting line to line, such as braid to a fluorocarbon leader.

—- Rayovac pro Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla.