Centauri Knot
Three-loop sliding collar on nylon. Mono terminal or simple spool attachment — not a braid knot.
Beginner · Monofilament
Connection card
Centauri Knot
For line → hook, line → lure, line → spool.
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
Three-loop sliding collar on nylon. Mono terminal or simple spool attachment — not a braid 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.
Before you start
- ·NetKnots gives it for any size of monofilament and does not cover braid. Cast and Spear says braid can slip through the wraps.
- ·Form all three loops the same way round and hold them open. A loop that closes early leaves no room for the tag.
- ·Close the collar with a gentle pull on the tag. A hard yank kinks the mono.
- ·NetKnots also uses the same sliding collar to attach line to a reel, closing it onto the arbor instead of a hook eye.
Step 1 of 4. Pass the line through the eye of the hook and, with the tag end, form a loop around the standing line.
No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.
swipe to step
01
Pass the line through the eye of the hook and, with the tag end, form a loop around the standing line.
One open loop of tag around the standing line a short way above the eye, with the tag end free to form the next loop.
Pulling the first loop snug as you form it, so it grips the standing line before the other two are made. The loop shrinks into a tight turn.
Fix: Open the loop back up with a fingertip and hold it open while you make the next two.
Why: All three loops close together at the end. A loop that closes early leaves no room for the tag to pass through it in step 3.
- Loops closed out of order — No collar — the usual Centauri failure. Three loops in order make the sliding collar; a flipped first loop will not form it.
arrow keys work
Tying procedure — Centauri Knot
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Centauri Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 01 / 4
Pass the line through the eye of the hook and, with the tag end, form a loop around the standing line.
You should now see: One open loop of tag around the standing line a short way above the eye, with the tag end free to form the next loop.
If it goes wrong: Pulling the first loop snug as you form it, so it grips the standing line before the other two are made. The loop shrinks into a tight turn.
Fix: Open the loop back up with a fingertip and hold it open while you make the next two.
Why: All three loops close together at the end. A loop that closes early leaves no room for the tag to pass through it in step 3.
If wrong: Loops closed out of order — No collar — the usual Centauri failure.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Centauri Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 02 / 4
Make a second loop around the standing line the same way as the first, then a third, and hold all three open together.
You should now see: Three open loops of tag lying side by side around the standing line, about the same size and all turning the same way.
If it goes wrong: Forming the second or third loop the opposite way round, or letting the middle loop collapse. The loops cross each other instead of lying side by side.
Fix: Let go of the loops that are wrong and form them again the same way as the first, holding each one open as you add the next.
Why: Loops formed the same way close into an even collar. A reversed or collapsed loop leaves a crossing that stops the collar closing and sliding cleanly.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Centauri Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 03 / 4
Run the tag end through all three loops, then pull gently on the tag so the loops close onto the standing line.
You should now see: A neat collar gripping the standing line, with the hook hanging from a loop of line below it.
If it goes wrong: Missing one of the loops with the tag, or yanking the tag hard. A missed loop hangs open beside the collar, and a hard yank kinks the mono.
Fix: Loosen the collar, pass the tag through the loop it missed, and close it again with a gentle pull.
Why: NetKnots notes this knot puts little friction on the line, so it does not distort the mono the way some more complex knots do. A gentle pull lets the three loops close evenly.
If wrong: Hard pull before the collar formed — Kinks nylon and the collar never seats.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the Centauri Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 04 / 4
Slide the collar down the standing line until it sits on the eye of the hook, pull it firm, then trim the tag.
You should now see: The collar resting on the eye with no loop of line left between them, holding its place under a firm pull, and a short tag.
If it goes wrong: Trimming while the collar still sits up the line, leaving a small loop between the knot and the eye. The collar can creep under load.
Fix: If the tag is still long, slide the collar down and pull again. If it was already trimmed, cut the knot off and tie it again.
Why: The same collar can be slid down onto a reel arbor instead of a hook eye, which NetKnots gives as an alternative to the arbor knot.
If wrong: Used on braid — A nylon collar on braid will not hold.
Watch the tie
The BEST knot for heavy line! (tie the Centauri Knot)Just The Lip Fishing · 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
No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.
- ·Terminal wrap or lock at the eye or along the shank
- ·Fully seated to eye or shank
- ·Tag exits clean and short
- ·Even structure, no crossings
Verify before you load it
Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.
- 01Terminal wrap or lock at the eye or along the shank
- 02Fully seated to eye or shank
- 03Tag exits clean and short
- 04Even structure, no crossings
- 05None
- 06centauri
Field notes — dark, cold, gloves
- ·Retie by feel first, light second — the seat is a tactile event, not a visual one.
- ·Gloves off for the dress phase. Fabric hides a crossing wrap.
- ·Wrong twice in a row means the material or the hardware is fighting you. Change one, not your technique.
Centauri 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 compact hitch or jam at the eye — fewer wraps, a different lock than a clinch barrel.
- !Lock never jammed to the eye — it is a loose hitch in disguise
- !Used on a small eye that cannot take the bulk of the jam
- !Confused with a clinch: the tag path is not a barrel tuck
- !The tag was trimmed with the collar still up the line, leaving a small loop above the eye, and the collar creeps under load
- !A loop was reversed or collapsed, and the crossing stops the collar closing and sliding cleanly
- !The tag missed a loop, which hangs open beside the collar instead of closing into it
- !The tag was yanked hard to close the collar, kinking the mono
Loops closed out of order
No collar — the usual Centauri failure
Three loops in order make the sliding collar; a flipped first loop will not form it · step 01
Hard pull before the collar formed
Kinks nylon and the collar never seats
Form the collar, then seat; a yank is not a Centauri · step 03
Used on braid
A nylon collar on braid will not hold
Centauri is a mono knot — braid needs a different terminal · step 04
Collar walks or opens under load
Check
- ?Collar butted to the eye
- ?Three-loop stack visible
Then
- →Retie on nylon
- →Do not transfer this collar to braid
Finished check failed — Misdrawn final geometry
Check
- ?Distinctive Centauri geometry seated
- ?Clean tag exit
- ?No open loops
Then
- →Retie. A misdrawn Centauri loses the geometry that gives it strength.
Loops closed out of order
Check
- ?No collar — the usual Centauri failure
- ?Inspect step 01
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Hard pull before the collar formed
Check
- ?Kinks nylon and the collar never seats
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Used on braid
Check
- ?A nylon collar on braid will not hold
- ?Inspect step 04
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
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.
Not ideal for
- ×Braid-first terminals
- ×Fluoro-first use that has not been verified for this collar
Strength, and where the number comes from
Not established
No published break test; NetKnots documents it without a strength claim.
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.
- NetKnots — Centauri Knot
- Hook the Horizon — Centauri Knot
Recovered from the same record’s historical Hook the Horizon resource URL.
- NetKnots fishing knot references
Recovered from this record’s historical modelSourceId registry.
Record reviewed 2026-08-14
Vetted references
- Centauri Knot
Hook the Horizon
- The BEST knot for heavy line! (tie the Centauri Knot)
Just The Lip Fishing
Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.