NanoFil Knot
Double Palomar for slick fused superline. A single Palomar is the usual slip.
Intermediate · Braid
Connection card
NanoFil Knot
For line → hook, line → lure.
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
Double Palomar for slick fused superline. A single Palomar is the usual slip.
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
- ·It is a Palomar with a double overhand. NetKnots says the second pass should make the Palomar more secure on NanoFil and other super braids.
- ·The eye has to take two strands of the line side by side without them twisting.
- ·Double about 15 cm (6 in) of line. The second pass through the overhand uses more line than a plain Palomar.
- ·Test it with a hard pull before trimming. Slick fused line that creeps under a hand pull will creep further under a fish.
Step 1 of 4. Double about 15 cm (6 in) of line into a loop and push the end of the loop through the hook eye.
No drawing of this exact knot yet. The written steps are the reference.
swipe to step
01
Double about 15 cm (6 in) of line into a loop and push the end of the loop through the hook eye.
Both strands pass through the eye together without twisting, and the loop reaches well past the point of the hook.
The two strands twisting around each other as they go through the eye. On fused line this shows as a crossed pair right at the eye.
Fix: Pull the loop back out, lay the strands flat side by side and feed them through again. Pull more line through if the loop will not reach past the hook.
Why: The loop has to pass over the whole hook or lure at step 4, and the extra pass in step 3 uses up more line than a plain Palomar, so start with the full length.
arrow keys work
Tying procedure — NanoFil Knot
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the NanoFil Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 01 / 4
Double about 15 cm (6 in) of line into a loop and push the end of the loop through the hook eye.
You should now see: Both strands pass through the eye together without twisting, and the loop reaches well past the point of the hook.
If it goes wrong: The two strands twisting around each other as they go through the eye. On fused line this shows as a crossed pair right at the eye.
Fix: Pull the loop back out, lay the strands flat side by side and feed them through again. Pull more line through if the loop will not reach past the hook.
Why: The loop has to pass over the whole hook or lure at step 4, and the extra pass in step 3 uses up more line than a plain Palomar, so start with the full length.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the NanoFil Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 02 / 4
Tie a loose overhand knot with the doubled line, letting the hook hang from the bottom of it.
You should now see: A loose overhand in the doubled line with a clear hole in its middle, the hook hanging below, and the end of the loop still free.
If it goes wrong: Pulling the overhand snug now, or letting the two strands cross inside it. A snug overhand leaves no room for the second pass.
Fix: Open the overhand with a fingertip until you can see a clear hole in the middle, with the two strands lying side by side.
Why: The hole in this overhand is where the second pass goes in step 3. Strands that cross inside it bed unevenly when the knot is tightened.
If wrong: Crossed doubled NanoFil in the eye — Walks like a failed Palomar.
If wrong: Hardware caught in the large loop — Cinch traps the lure; structure never forms.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the NanoFil Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 03 / 4
Pass the end of the loop through the middle of the overhand a second time, following the first pass, to turn it into a double overhand.
You should now see: Two parallel turns of doubled line through the overhand, and the end of the loop still hanging open below the hook.
If it goes wrong: Skipping the second pass, which leaves a plain Palomar, or taking the loop through the wrong opening, which shows as strands crossing instead of two parallel turns.
Fix: Back the loop out and pass it through the same opening it used the first time, laying the new turn beside the first one.
Why: The second turn gives the knot more grip on slippery fused and braided line. That extra grip is the whole difference between this knot and a standard Palomar.
If wrong: Single Palomar used on NanoFil — Will slip — that is the wrong knot for this fibre.
- Diagram in reviewA drawing of the NanoFil Knot itself is being made. Until then, follow the written steps.
Step 04 / 4
Hold the double overhand between thumb and forefinger, pass the loop over the hook and slide it above the eye. Wet the knot, pull the standing line and tag end to tighten, test it, then trim the tag.
You should now see: The double overhand sits on top of the eye with both sides of the loop drawn up evenly, and it does not move when you pull hard on the standing line.
If it goes wrong: The loop catching on the hook shank below the eye as it tightens, so the knot sets partly down the shank with one side of the loop longer than the other.
Fix: Loosen it, lift the loop back above the eye and pull again. If it creeps under the test pull, cut it off and tie it again.
Why: Test before you trim. Slick fused line that creeps under a hand pull will creep further under a fish.
Watch the tie
Best knot for tying Berkley NanoFilScott Turnage Unplugged · 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
- 06nanofil
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.
NanoFil Knot — finished-state checks, on the shared reference layout
When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.
NanoFil Knot — what fails and what to do
Wraps down the standing part, then a tuck that jams the barrel to the eye.
- !Wraps walked or crossed — load on one turn of the barrel
- !Barrel never jammed to the eye, so the tuck is decoration
- !Tag never tucked, or the extra Improved / Trilene pass missing
- !The loop caught on the shank below the eye, so the knot set partly down the shank with one side of the loop longer than the other
- !Only one pass went through the overhand, leaving a plain Palomar without the second turn's extra grip on slick line
- !The second pass took a different opening, so the strands cross and bed unevenly instead of lying as two parallel turns
- !The knot creeps under a hard test pull on slick fused line
Crossed doubled NanoFil in the eye
Walks like a failed Palomar
NanoFil wants the double Palomar path, not a single overhand · step 02
Single Palomar used on NanoFil
Will slip — that is the wrong knot for this fibre
The extra pass is why the NanoFil knot exists · step 03
Hardware caught in the large loop
Cinch traps the lure; structure never forms
Keep the hook/lure out of the tying loop until the passes are in · step 02
Walks under load like a failed Palomar
Check
- ?Two overhand passes visible
- ?Compact seat at the eye
Then
- →Retie the double Palomar
- →Do not fish a single Palomar on NanoFil
Doubled strands cross before the overhand.
Check
- ?Look for: Doubled strands cross before the overhand.
Then
- →Keep strands parallel; retie if crossed.
Overhand loop traps lure hardware incorrectly.
Check
- ?Look for: Overhand loop traps lure hardware incorrectly.
Then
- →Retie sending only the free loop over the hardware.
Knot sits crooked at the eye after the first pull.
Check
- ?Look for: Knot sits crooked at the eye after the first pull.
Then
- →Draw both legs evenly while seating.
Tag frays at the seat after a few casts.
Check
- ?Look for: Tag frays at the seat after a few casts.
Then
- →Inspect the eye, leave a safer tag, retie if abraded.
Finished check failed — ordinary single-overhand Palomar is substituted
Check
- ?fused line remains doubled through the Palomar-style structure
- ?double-overhand section is clean
- ?hardware passes through the loop without twisting the doubled strands
Then
- →Retie. slip in slick fused superline.
Crossed doubled NanoFil in the eye
Check
- ?Walks like a failed Palomar
- ?Inspect step 02
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Single Palomar used on NanoFil
Check
- ?Will slip — that is the wrong knot for this fibre
- ?Inspect step 03
Then
- →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Hardware caught in the large loop
Check
- ?Cinch traps the lure; structure never forms
- ?Inspect step 02
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
- ×When the manufacturer of a different line specifies another knot
- ×Tiny eyes that will not take doubled fused line
Strength, and where the number comes from
Not established
Berkley publishes the tying sequence for its own line's knot but no strength figure for it, and no independent test was found.
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 — NanoFil / Double Palomar
Berkley NanoFil knot guidance (Double Palomar)no link on file
- Hook the Horizon — NanoFil 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
- NanoFil Knot
Hook the Horizon
- Best knot for tying Berkley NanoFil
Scott Turnage Unplugged
Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.