Tie an Orvis Knot

The Orvis knot is easy to tie. A strong fishing knot that you can use for attaching a fly to tippet or attaching a hook to your fishing line.

Orvis Fly Fishing Knot

The Orvis knot was invented by Larry Becker in a tying contest held by fly fishing retailer Orvis, with the goal of finding the best fishing knot to use when attaching a fly or hook to line. For this reason, you might also hear this knot referred to as the Becker knot.
 


When to Use this Knot

You may want to learn how to tie the Orvis fishing knot because it’s among the easy and strong fishing knots you can use for attaching a fly to tippet. The knot has a small profile and works well with light line or tippet as well as with fishing line diameters up to 30-pound test.

While this knot is considered to be one of the strongest fly fishing knots, it is not limited for use only when fly fishing. You can use the Orvis knot when fishing with spinning tackle to connect your line to a swivel or to connect line to a hook or lure. You might consider this knot to be one of your favorite fishing knots once you practice tying it a few times.

How to Tie the Orvis Knot

Learning how to tie the Orvis fly fishing knot won’t take long. You can look at Orvis fishing knot diagrams or watch a video online while following the simple steps below (be sure to practice tying the knot a few times so that you can tie it quickly and easily while on the water).
 

  1. Run the tag end of your line through the hook eye and wrap behind the standing line.
  2. Cross over the standing line and bring the tag end through first loop formed, creating a figure eight.
  3. Feed the tag end through top of loop on right from behind and repeat for a second pass through the loop.
  4. Pull the tag end of the line to cinch down the knot.
  5. Pull the standing end until the knot slides down to sit on top of the hook.
  6. Trim the tag end.

Once you’ve mastered this fishing knot, you can get instructions on how to tie one or two new line joining knots.