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Seaguar Knot

Seaguar paired-loop join for similar-diameter mono/fluoro.

Intermediate · Monofilament / Fluorocarbon

Tie it · 4 stepsCheck the finishAll diagramsApplications

Connection card

Seaguar Knot

For leader → tippet, leader → leader.

Seaguar Knot — finishedFinished structure. A loop in each line twisted together three times, tag and leader fed through, cinched into a figure eight.

A loop in each line twisted together three times, tag and leader fed through, cinched into a figure eight.

What it joins Leader → tippet · Leader → leader. In monofilament, fluorocarbon.
Turns 3 to 5. Count them before you seat it; afterwards you are guessing.
Shape Completed join or loop structure
Tag end Tags short and correct path
Seated Fully seated
Start again if Too few twists on fluoro. The join walks

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

Seaguar paired-loop join for similar-diameter mono/fluoro.

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.

Best for
Leader to tippetJoining lines
Not ideal for
  • Extreme mismatch
  • Primary braid-to-heavy-leader (use FG/Slim Beauty family)
Common mistakes
  • Holding the loops so the strand from the left ends up underneath in one of them
  • Losing count of the twists, or letting them unwind before the pass
  • Feeding only part of the leader through, or through a different opening than the finger held
  • Pulling only the line and leader instead of alternating with the tag ends
Alternatives
  • Orvis Tippet KnotIntermediate

    Joining tippet to the end of a leader

  • Blood KnotIntermediate

    Joining two lines of about the same diameter, such as sections of a fly-fishing leader or tippet, with matching turns on each side of the centre

  • Surgeon’s KnotBeginner

    Joining a tippet to a leader, including lines of moderately unequal size

Before you start

  • ·NetKnots gives it for joining a fluorocarbon leader to monofilament line.
  • ·Cut the leader to length before you start. The whole leader passes through the twisted loops, so it cannot still be attached to its spool.
  • ·Make three full twists. The closed knot should show a clear figure eight; if it does not, cut it off and tie it again.
  • ·NetKnots notes it is tied the same way as the King Sling, using two separate lines instead of a doubled end.
Line + hardware: Monofilament main line, A cut length of fluorocarbon leader

Step 1 of 3 · move 1 of 1. Form a loop in the line and a loop in the leader, side by side

Space plays or pauses. Keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 set the speed. Arrow keys change the move.

How to tie it — Step 1 of 3 · move 1 of 1
Form a loop in the line and a loop in the leader, side by sideThe line and the leader, held side by side, make one loop together: the pair from the left crosses on top and runs round the top of the loop, and the line's tag and the leader come back underneath and leave to the left.

swipe to step

01.1

Form a loop in the line and a loop in the leader, side by side

Hold:
Left hand holds both standing parts
Move:
Right hand folds a loop in each line and lays the loops together

You should now see: Two loops, one in each line, lying together as one, the strand from the left crossing on top.

Written step 01

Make a loop in the line and a loop in the leader and hold the two loops side by side, with the strand running from the left on top in each loop.

You should now see

Two loops lying together as one, the strand from the left crossing on top in both, and the leader's full length hanging free.

If it goes wrong

Letting the loops separate or cross differently, so the strand from the left ends up underneath in one of them.

Fix: Lay the loops together again and check the left-hand strand is on top in both before you twist.

Why: The two loops are twisted as one in the next step, so they need to lie the same way.

What fails if this is wrong
  • Forced diameter jump through this family — Slips — mismatch is a different join. Do not use Seaguar as a step-down join.
What this is based onChanged, not yet re-reviewed · 2 known limits
Record
Reviewed 2026-08-14. 3 sources are cited for this record.
Drawing
Changed to fix faults found in its pictures or its film, and checked by the drawing checks. No person has looked at the change. Not yet re-reviewed, and not yet tied from the drawing. Recorded 2026-09-26.
Known limits
No audit has looked at this drawing since it was changed, so it may have faults that are not listed here.
Strength
Not established. No credible, comparable strength data exists for this knot, so no figure is shown.

What the drawing does not show

  • Step 2, move 1 of 1: Partway through the film the loop breaks into pieces and the twists are drawn as a zigzag, before they close round each other.
  • Step 3, move 1 of 1: Partway through the film the line's tag and the leader travel as one straight bar across the loop and the twists, before they are drawn through the loop.

Watch the tie

Tying the Seaguar / Lefty Kreh knotRichZFishes! · Opens on YouTube

External 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.

  1. 01 Moisten

    Wet the structure before any load reaches it.

    Zero. Nothing tightens yet.

  2. 02 Load

    Take up slack slowly until the wraps begin to gather.

    Light and even — both ends moving together.

  3. 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.

  4. 04 Set

    One continuous pull to full seat — no sawing, no jerks.

    Firm, single direction, standing line against the terminal end.

  5. 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

Seaguar Knot, finishedSeaguar Knot, finished

Drawn from a rope model of this knot: which strand passes over which comes from where the rope actually lies.

Structure
Completed join or loop structure
Standing line
On-axis load path
Tag end
Tags short and correct path
Wraps
Even, no crossings
Seating
Fully seated

Verify before you load it

Every line is pass or fail. One fail means retie — do not load a knot you argued with.

  • 01Completed join or loop structure
  • 02Fully seated
  • 03Tags short and correct path
  • 04Even, no crossings
  • 05None
  • 06seaguar
Something failed → open Diagnose

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.
HTH · Reference layout

Seaguar Knot — finished-state checks, on the shared reference layout

Seaguar Knot — finished-state checks, on the shared reference layout
Hook the Horizon reference plate
Failure modes

When this family fails, it fails as these. The recovered end still outranks the name.

HTH · Advanced failure modes

Seaguar Knot — what fails and what to do

Seaguar Knot — what fails and what to do
Hook the Horizon reference plate
Albright family

Bight in the heavier leader; lighter line wraps the bight, then tucks.

  • !Bight in the lighter line — the wraps have nothing to bite
  • !Wraps walked off the bight instead of packed against the fold
  • !Tag never tucked back through the bight, so the wraps dump
Fails when
  • !Fewer than three twists, so the knot can pull apart
  • !Tags left out of the cinch, so they slip back and the knot closes into a lump
  • !Twists or pass made wrongly, which shows as no figure eight in the closed knot
Geometry

  • Too few twists on fluoro

    The join walks

    Seaguar grip is twist count plus an even seat, not a single overhand · step 02

  • Forced diameter jump through this family

    Slips — mismatch is a different join

    Do not use Seaguar as a step-down join · step 01

  • Dry fluoro seat glazed the twists

    Scored before it ever sees a fish

    Wet the seat; heat is a retie · step 03

If you saw this

  • Slips or breaks at join

    Check

    • ?Twist count
    • ?Even seat

    Then

    • →Retie
    • →Use Blood/Orvis Tippet for closer diameters

  • One side twists more than the other.

    Check

    • ?Look for: One side twists more than the other.

    Then

    • →Retie with matched twist counts.

  • Braid used where mono-main is required.

    Check

    • ?Look for: Braid used where mono-main is required.

    Then

    • →Use the verified material pairing for this knot.

  • Finished junction shows a sharp cutting angle.

    Check

    • ?Look for: Finished junction shows a sharp cutting angle.

    Then

    • →Seat so the join is compact and square.

  • Outer strands abrade after guide contact.

    Check

    • ?Look for: Outer strands abrade after guide contact.

    Then

    • →Dress tags; consider a slimmer join.

  • Finished check failed — braid is substituted for the mono-main system

    Check

    • ?mono and fluorocarbon loops twist together evenly
    • ?both line ends/leader pass through the shared opening as required
    • ?figure-eight-like finished junction is compact

    Then

    • →Retie. unstable mono-to-fluoro junction.

  • Too few twists on fluoro

    Check

    • ?The join walks
    • ?Inspect step 02

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Forced diameter jump through this family

    Check

    • ?Slips — mismatch is a different join
    • ?Inspect step 01

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.

  • Dry fluoro seat glazed the twists

    Check

    • ?Scored before it ever sees a fish
    • ?Inspect step 03

    Then

    • →Retie. Do not dress a defective structure and call it seated.
Same family

Same failure class, different geometry. Open the plates — Diagnose still starts from the symptom.

This failed — start Diagnose
The bench · rep 1

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.

Conditions for this rep
What went wrong, if anything

Nothing marked. Log it clean, or mark what happened first.

Strength, and where the number comes from

Not established

Seaguar publishes no strength figure for the knot that carries its name, and no independent break 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.

Sources for this record

Record reviewed 2026-08-14

Vetted references

Related knots

Already tied it?

Check the finished knot against what correct looks like before you load it.