Arbor Knot
Simple cinch to reel arbor — spool attachment, not a terminal fighting knot.
Beginner · Monofilament / Fluorocarbon / Braid / Backing
Connection card
Arbor Knot
For line → spool.
Line around the reel arbor; a sliding overhand to the spool and a stopper in the tag.
This card does not say how strong the knot is. A retention figure comes from a bench, in one material, at one diameter, tied by somebody who ties it all day — and the line in your hand is none of those. What it does tell you is whether the thing you have just tied is the thing the record describes.
What this plate is telling you
Simple cinch to reel arbor — spool attachment, not a terminal fighting knot.
Save this as a picture and it works with a dead signal and a nearly dead battery, which is when a joint is most often tied badly. The rest of this page — the steps, the seating sequence, the failure modes and the bench — is for the evening before.
Why this knot
What it earns its place with, what it costs, and what to reach for instead.
- Any load-bearing terminal or line-to-line job
- Backing-to-fly-line — this only grips a spool arbor
- Tying the first overhand in the tag alone, or around the arbor, instead of around the standing line
- Leaving the stopper overhand loose, or tying it far out along the tag
- Pulling the tag instead of the standing line to cinch the knot
- Tying braid straight onto a smooth bare arbor
- Uni KnotBeginner
Tying a hook, lure or other terminal tackle to braided or monofilament line
- Centauri KnotBeginner
Sliding-collar mono terminal that also serves as a simple spool attachment; low-friction close on nylon
Before you start
- ·On a spinning reel, open the bail before passing the line around the arbor, so the line does not catch outside it.
- ·Leave the first overhand loose until the final pull. It is the part that slides down and closes on the arbor.
- ·On a polished arbor, Animated Knots shows winding the line two or three times around the arbor before the first overhand, for more friction.
- ·Braid can slip around a bare spool even with the knot tight. A base of mono backing grips the arbor better; some anglers tape over the knot instead.
Step 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1. Open the bail, pass the tag round the arbor and bring it out beside the standing line
Space plays or pauses. Keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 set the speed. Arrow keys change the move.
swipe to step
01.1
Open the bail, pass the tag round the arbor and bring it out beside the standing line
- Hold:
- Left hand holds the reel, bail open, with the standing line running to the rod
- Move:
- Right hand takes the tag round the bare arbor and back out beside the line
You should now see: A loop of line round the bare arbor, with the tag and the standing line leaving the spool side by side.
On a spinning reel, open the bail first. Pass the tag end of the line around the arbor of the spool and bring it back out beside the standing line.
A loop of line around the bare arbor, with the tag and the standing line leaving the spool side by side.
Line caught outside the bail or around the spool lip instead of the arbor. The loop sits crooked and the knot cannot pull down onto the arbor.
Fix: Unwrap it, open the bail, and lay the line around the arbor itself.
Why: The knot works as a noose around the arbor, so the line has to go round the arbor itself for the noose to close on it.
- Overhands not around the arbor — Unreliable — you tied something else on the spool. Both overhands must capture the arbor path.
arrow keys work
Tying procedure — Arbor Knot
Step 01 / 4
On a spinning reel, open the bail first. Pass the tag end of the line around the arbor of the spool and bring it back out beside the standing line.
You should now see: A loop of line around the bare arbor, with the tag and the standing line leaving the spool side by side.
If it goes wrong: Line caught outside the bail or around the spool lip instead of the arbor. The loop sits crooked and the knot cannot pull down onto the arbor.
Fix: Unwrap it, open the bail, and lay the line around the arbor itself.
Why: The knot works as a noose around the arbor, so the line has to go round the arbor itself for the noose to close on it.
1Tag end, round the arbor2Standing line, to the rodStep 1 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Open the bail, pass the tag round the arbor and bring it out beside the standing line
Hold: Left hand holds the reel, bail open, with the standing line running to the rod
Move: Right hand takes the tag round the bare arbor and back out beside the line
You should now see: A loop of line round the bare arbor, with the tag and the standing line leaving the spool side by side.
Step 02 / 4
With the tag end, tie an overhand knot around the standing line.
You should now see: A loose overhand in the tag that encircles the standing line and can still slide along it.
If it goes wrong: Tying the overhand in the tag alone, or around the arbor, instead of around the standing line. When you pull the standing line nothing slides and the loop does not tighten.
Fix: Undo it and tie the overhand again with the standing line running through its middle.
Why: This first overhand is the sliding part of the noose. Leave it loose so it can travel down to the arbor in step 4.
1Loop round the standing line2Standing line runs through itStep 2 of 4 · move 1 of 1
With the tag, tie a loose overhand around the standing line
Hold: Left hand holds the standing line straight out from the spool
Move: Right hand loops the tag round the standing line and puts the end through that loop
You should now see: A loose overhand in the tag with the standing line running through it, still free to slide along the line.
Step 03 / 4
Tie a second overhand knot in the tag end alone, about 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) past the first, and pull this one tight.
You should now see: A small, hard overhand in the tag a short way past the first knot, while the first knot stays loose on the standing line.
If it goes wrong: Leaving the stopper loose, or tying it far out along the tag. It pulls through the first knot or holds it short of the arbor, and the loop stays loose on the spool.
Fix: Untie the stopper and tie it again, pulled tight, closer to the first knot.
Why: The stopper is what the first knot jams against. Animated Knots notes that pulling on the stopper loosens the first knot, which is how the knot is undone later.
1Stopper, in the tag alone2First overhand, still looseStep 3 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Tie a second overhand in the tag alone, a short way past the first, and pull it tight
Hold: Left hand pinches the first overhand so it stays loose on the line
Move: Right hand ties an overhand in the tag end and pulls it hard
You should now see: A small, hard overhand in the tag a short way past the first knot, while the first knot stays loose on the standing line.
Step 04 / 4
Pull the standing line so the first overhand slides down onto the arbor and the stopper jams against it. Trim the tag close.
You should now see: Both overhands butted together against the arbor, and the line does not move around the spool when you hold the spool and pull.
If it goes wrong: Pulling the tag instead of the standing line, which loosens the first knot. With braid on a smooth bare arbor, the whole loop can turn around the spool even when the knot is tight.
Fix: Pull only the standing line to cinch. If braid turns on the arbor, put a strip of tape or some mono backing on the arbor and tie the knot over it.
Why: Animated Knots also shows taking two or three turns around the arbor before the first overhand, which adds grip on a polished spool.
Step 4 of 4 · move 1 of 1
Pull the standing line so both knots slide down onto the arbor, then trim the tag
Hold: Left hand holds the spool
Move: Right hand pulls the standing line until the knots jam against the arbor
You should now see: Both overhands butted together against the arbor, and the line does not move round the spool when you hold the spool and pull.
What this is based onReference review, not yet tied
- Record
- Reviewed 2026-08-10. 2 sources are cited for this record.
- Drawing
- Checked against published references and found to be this knot. Not yet tied from the drawing. Recorded 2026-09-21.
- Known limits
- None that stop a reader following it were confirmed in the plate audit of 2026-09-24; smaller findings were not all re-checked.
- Strength
- Not established. No credible, comparable strength data exists for this knot, so no figure is shown.
Watch the tie
How to tie the Arbor Knot — line to spoolFishing Tutorials · Opens on YouTubeExternal video from a creator we follow — not produced by us. Nothing on this page loads from YouTube until you follow the link.
Seating sequence — where failures are born
The step list compresses the finish. Run these phases in order, one at a time.
01 Moisten
Wet the structure before any load reaches it.
Zero. Nothing tightens yet.
02 Load
Take up slack slowly until the wraps begin to gather.
Light and even — both ends moving together.
03 Dress
Watch the wraps stack in order; stop and back off if any cross.
Hold, do not pull. Correction happens here or not at all.
04 Set
One continuous pull to full seat — no sawing, no jerks.
Firm, single direction, standing line against the terminal end.
05 Trim
Cut the tag square, leaving a short stub proud of the knot.
None. Never trim under load.
Finished structure — what correct looks like
Drawn from a rope model of this knot: which strand passes over which comes from where the rope actually lies.
- Structure
- Cinched around spool arbor with locking overhand
- Standing line
- Onto spool
- Tag end
- Overhand on tag around standing
- Seating
- Tight to arbor
Verify before you load it
Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.
- 01Cinched around spool arbor with locking overhand
- 02Tight to arbor
- 03Overhand on tag around standing
- 04Not applicable
- 05None
- 06Arbor cinch
Field notes — dark, cold, gloves
- ·Trim close — the tag will otherwise print through the spooled line.
- ·Braid on a bare aluminium arbor will slip whatever you tie. Use tape or a mono backing.
- ·Check it once at first spooling and never again.
Arbor Knot — finished-state checks, on the shared reference layout
When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.
A grip on a spool arbor or a lead-core sheath — not a join of equals.
- !Too few turns on a slick arbor
- !Sheath cut while the core is pulled
- !Overhand missing on the leader so the trap never sets
- !No stopper overhand tied in the tag end
- !Stopper left loose, so it pulls through the first overhand
- !Knot not pulled down onto the arbor, leaving the loop loose on the spool
- !Braid on a smooth bare arbor, where the whole loop turns around the spool
Cinch never took the spool arbor
Spool spin / dumped backing
An arbor knot that does not cinch to the spool is not finished · step 03
Missing lock overhand on the tag
May slip around the arbor
The tag overhand is what stops the cinch walking · step 02
Overhands not around the arbor
Unreliable — you tied something else on the spool
Both overhands must capture the arbor path · step 01
Left loose on the arbor
Slip on the first run
Cinch to the spool, then lock; a floating arbor knot dumps · step 03
Whole spool of line spins on the arbor
Check
- ?Pull the line hard and watch for arbor rotation
Then
- →Strip the spool, add tape or a mono underlay, respool under tension
Finished check failed — Missing tag stopper overhand
Check
- ?Overhand on standing line seats against the spool arbor
- ?Tag overhand stops slip under spool tension
- ?Line cinches to the arbor without spinning free
Then
- →Retie. A bad arbor knot slips and dumps the spool under the first run.
Cinch never took the spool arbor
Check
- ?Spool spin / dumped backing
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Missing lock overhand on the tag
Check
- ?May slip around the arbor
- ?Inspect step 02
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Overhands not around the arbor
Check
- ?Unreliable — you tied something else on the spool
- ?Inspect step 01
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.
Get it right with everything in your favour0/5 clean
Nothing logged on this knot yet, so it starts on the bottom rung.
Good light, dry hands, a table. Until the sequence is automatic here there is nothing for the harder rungs to test — you would only be learning that difficult conditions are difficult, which you already knew.
How · Tie it, check it against the list, log it. Five clean and the ladder opens.
Nothing marked. Log it clean, or mark what happened first.
Strength, and where the number comes from
Not established
Not a load-bearing connection — it holds line to a spool — and no publisher states a retention figure for it, which is the right answer rather than a missing one.
Percentages come from published tests on their own line, their own knot-tyer and their own pull rate. Yours is a different system. Treat a figure as a reason to test, not as a result you already have.
- Animated Knots — Arbor Knot
- Fishing Tutorials — How to tie the Arbor Knot — line to spool
Cited tying video already attached to this record.
Record reviewed 2026-08-10
Vetted references
- Arbor Knot — Animated Knots
Animated Knots by Grog
- How to tie the Arbor Knot — line to spool
Fishing Tutorials
Take the Foundation quiz — can you recognise this knot's finished state and failure modes?
Related knots
Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.