Tie a jerkbait on with a tight clinch knot, then tie an identical one on with a loop knot and swim them side by side. The difference is obvious enough that most anglers who try it once never go back. The looped bait darts wider, hangs and rolls on the pause, and recovers with a more erratic snap. The bait itself did not change. What changed is how much freedom the connection gives it.
That is the whole idea. A snug knot cinched down against a lure eye becomes part of the lure, restricting how it can pivot. A loop knot leaves a free ring of line at the eye that the lure hangs from, so it swings on its own axis instead of on the end of a rigid line.
This guide covers when that matters, how to tie the two loop knots worth knowing, and how loop knots behave in different line types.
What a Loop Knot Actually Does
Picture a lure eye. With a clinch or a Palomar knot, the knot sits directly against that eye and the line leaves in essentially one direction. Every twitch you put into the rod transfers straight into the lure’s nose along that line.
With a loop knot, the eye rides loosely on an open loop, typically a quarter inch or so across. When you twitch, the lure gets slack to rotate within before the line pulls it. The result is more lateral movement, a more pronounced glide, and a bait that keeps working during the pause rather than stalling as soon as the line goes tight.
Three categories of lure benefit most:
Jerkbaits and glide baits. These are built to dart side to side, and the width of that dart is the entire point. A loop knot noticeably widens the action and improves the roll on a slack-line pause.
Streamers and flies. In fly fishing this is close to standard practice for baitfish patterns and articulated streamers. A loop lets the fly swim, sink level, and turn on the strip instead of being dragged nose-first.
Jigs and soft plastics fished with slack. Hair jigs, bucktails, and swim jigs move more naturally on the fall with a loop. Anything you fish with pauses, hops, or slack line gains something.
Topwater walking baits. Also benefit, though many anglers use a small split ring here instead, which accomplishes something similar.
The Non-Slip Loop Knot (Kreh Loop)
This is the loop knot to learn first. It is often called the Kreh loop after Lefty Kreh, who popularized it, and it is also sold under names like the non-slip mono loop. It is strong, it holds its loop size under load rather than cinching down, and it works in mono, fluorocarbon, and with adjustment in braid.
The critical detail is in steps 3 and 5: the tag end must re-enter the overhand knot from the same side it last exited. Get that wrong and you have tied something else that will not hold.
How to tie it
- Tie a loose overhand knot in the line about 8 to 10 inches from the tag end. Leave it open and roomy. Do not tighten it.
- Pass the tag end through the hook or lure eye. Bring the lure up toward the open overhand knot.
- Run the tag back through the overhand knot, entering from the same side it exited when you formed the knot. You now have an open loop between the overhand knot and the lure. This loop is the finished loop size, so set it now, roughly a quarter inch.
- Wrap the tag end around the standing line 4 to 6 times, working away from the overhand knot. Use fewer wraps in heavy line and more in light line.
- Bring the tag back through the overhand knot one more time, again entering from the same side it exited. The tag should now be pointing back the way it came.
- Moisten the whole knot with water or saliva.
- Pull the tag end and standing line apart slowly to draw the wraps into a neat coil against the overhand knot. Go steadily and let the coils gather evenly.
- Seat it with the standing line. Pull firmly on the standing line so the overhand knot slides down and locks tight against the wraps. Hold the lure and pull, so you can feel it lock.
- Trim the tag to about an eighth of an inch.
A properly finished knot has a clean open loop, an even barrel of wraps, and the overhand knot jammed hard against them with no gap. If there is space between the overhand and the coils, it is not seated and it will slip.
The Perfection Loop
The perfection loop is a different tool. It makes a small, very neat loop that sits perfectly in line with the standing line, which makes it ideal for loop-to-loop connections rather than for lure action.
Its main uses are attaching a leader to a fly line or to a leader butt, building loop-to-loop leader systems, and creating a fixed loop on the end of a rig where you want a clean, in-line attachment point.
How to tie it
- Form a small loop by bringing the tag end behind the standing line. Hold the crossing point between finger and thumb. Call this loop A.
- Bring the tag end around again to form a second, larger loop in front of the first. Call this loop B. Hold both crossing points.
- Bring the tag end across between the two loops and hold it there, so it lies over loop A.
- Reach through loop A from behind and pull loop B through it. Only loop B passes through, not the tag end.
- Moisten the knot and pull loop B against the standing line steadily until everything draws down tight and neat.
- Trim the tag close.
Done right, the finished loop points straight down the line rather than off at an angle. If it sits crooked, you have passed the wrong part through and should retie.
Loop or Snug: When to Use Which
Loop knots are not universally better. Use one when the lure benefits from freedom, and use a snug knot when you want direct control or maximum strength in cover.
Use a loop knot for:
- Jerkbaits, glide baits, and twitchbaits
- Streamers, baitfish flies, and articulated patterns
- Hair jigs and bucktails fished with pauses
- Small lures on heavy leader, where a stiff leader would otherwise kill the action
- Any presentation where the bait works on slack line
Use a snug knot for:
- Crankbaits and lipless baits fished on a steady retrieve, where the diving lip already dictates the action
- Texas-rigged and other cover-oriented soft plastics, where a loop can catch debris
- Heavy cover fishing generally, where you want the highest possible strength and no open loop to snag on
- Drop shot and other rigs that depend on a fixed hook orientation
- Situations with abundant weed, since an open loop collects it
Use a split ring instead when the lure came with one, or when you want loop-like freedom with a knot you can tie tight. A Palomar to a split ring gives you both, at the cost of an extra hardware failure point.
Loop Knots in Different Line Types
The non-slip loop was designed around monofilament, and how it behaves changes meaningfully with material. Our fishing line types guide explains why these materials differ.
Monofilament. The ideal case. Mono has enough stretch and surface grip that the knot seats easily and holds well. Use 5 wraps for line in the 8 to 12 pound range, 6 or 7 for lighter line, and 4 for heavy leader above about 30 pounds. Heavy mono is stiff, so fewer wraps seat more cleanly.
Fluorocarbon. Works well, with two cautions. Fluoro is stiffer and less forgiving, so wet it thoroughly and seat it slowly, because friction damage is a real risk. Also, stiff fluoro leader is exactly where a loop knot pays off most, since a snug knot in heavy fluoro can noticeably deaden a small lure. Use one fewer wrap than you would in mono of the same test.
Braid. This is where loop knots get awkward. Braid is slick, has no stretch, and the coils of a non-slip loop can work loose under repeated load. If you want to tie one directly in braid, add wraps, typically 7 or 8, seat it very carefully, and pull-test it aggressively before trusting it.
The better answer for braid is usually to run a mono or fluorocarbon leader and tie the loop knot in the leader. That gives you the action benefit in a material the knot was designed for, plus the abrasion resistance and reduced visibility of a leader. Connect braid to leader with a dedicated line-to-line knot. Our braided line guide covers the material’s behavior in more detail, and the essential knots guide covers the connections worth knowing.
Practice and Habit
Loop knots take more repetitions to learn than a Palomar, mostly because of the same-side rule. Sit down with a length of heavy cord and a large ring and tie the non-slip loop twenty times in a row. The sequence is not hard, but it needs to be automatic, because you will be tying it with cold hands in low light at some point.
Two checks before you fish it, every time. Look at the knot: even coils, overhand locked tight against them, no gaps. Then pull it: hold the lure with pliers, point the rod, and pull with steady force well past what you would expect from a fish. Anything that is going to fail will fail there rather than at the boat.
Common Questions
Does a loop knot really improve lure action, or is it marketing?
It measurably changes how a lure moves, and the effect is largest on baits that depend on lateral movement and slack-line behavior. Jerkbaits dart wider, streamers swim and turn instead of being dragged, and small lures tied to stiff heavy leader regain action they would otherwise lose entirely. The effect is smallest on lures whose action is dictated by their own hardware, like a deep-diving crankbait with a large lip. The honest summary is that it matters a lot on some baits and barely at all on others, which is why watching your specific lure both ways is worth the thirty seconds.
How big should the loop be?
Roughly a quarter inch across is the working default for most freshwater lures. Big enough that the eye can swing freely, small enough that it does not collect weeds or tangle with the hook. Larger loops give slightly more freedom but increase snagging and can let the loop catch on a treble during casting. Smaller loops start restricting the eye and defeat the purpose. Set the loop size at step 3 when you first pass the tag back through the overhand knot, because it will not change after that.
Will the loop close up when I hook a fish?
Not if the knot is fully seated. The whole point of the non-slip loop is that the overhand knot locks against the barrel of wraps and holds the loop open under load, unlike a slip loop that cinches down. If your loop is closing on a hookset, the knot was not seated hard enough before you started fishing. Pull firmly on the standing line while holding the lure until you feel the overhand jam against the coils, and confirm there is no gap between the two.
Final Thoughts
A loop knot is one of the few changes that improves a lure’s performance without costing anything or adding hardware. Learn the non-slip loop until your hands know it, keep the perfection loop for leader systems, and be honest about when a snug knot is the better call.
Tie it in mono or fluorocarbon leader, seat it properly, check the loop is open, and let the lure do what it was designed to do.
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