While many fishing tools have more to do with tackle storage and management, or with handling a fish, there is a whole subset of tools that are dedicated to line management. These are among the best of them.
Knot-Tying Tools
Most of us slow pitch jiggers fish with braid as our main line and fluoro as our leaders. It’s a great setup; braid is strong and doesn’t stretch, and fluoro is basically invisible in water as it has the same refractive index as water.
There’s just one problem - the connection. You could use a barrel swivel as a connection point and cinch both the braid and fluoro to each end, but that introduces another point of failure in the form of the swivel.
Many fishermen instead go tie their braid right to their fluoro leader, but tying the knot properly, and cinching it down without damaging the line, is crucial.
Knot-tying tools like the PR Bobbin Line Knotting Tool are specifically designed to streamline braid to fluoro leader connections, and feature a rubber clamping slot with two rubber rings to hold the line securely. It even makes it easy to cinch down on the line without damaging it.
Tying PR knots has never been easier with one of these fishing tools.
Knot Cinchers/Knot Pullers
A knot is only as good as the person who’s tying it, and even a knot that offers significant strength can lose quite a good bit of potential if it isn’t properly cinched down.
With that said, horsing a knot or forcing a cinch can bite into, stretch, and weaken the line - which produces the opposite effect. It weakens the line rather than strengthening it.
Knot pullers (also called knot cinchers) are special fishing tools that are remarkably simple. Most of them are just durable cylinders; you wrap your line around them (some of them have points to secure your line to prevent it from slipping) and then pull, cinching down on the line without damaging it or slicing right into your hand.
Also, knot pullers can be used for double duty as break-off tools. Simply wrap and secure your main line and yank to break free. Doing so once again not only liberates your hand from the risk of a deep slice, it also protects your rod and reel from stress-induced damage.
Line Nippers
Line nippers are a special category of fishing tool that basically consist of a set of opposed, sharpened jaws, typically connected to a leaf-spring bar that’s held open. You place your line in the middle and squeeze to close the jaws, nipping the line off cleanly.
Line nippers are convenient, affordable, lightweight, easy to stash, and easy to use. Since the design is so basic they’re pretty failure-proof, too. They also produce clean cuts with both mono and fluoro, and can be used for trimming knots, tag ends, and for general line cutting utility.
In addition, many line nippers also feature a small spike in the design somewhere, which is useful for clearing out jig eyelets that still have paint covering them.
The one drawback with line nippers is that they don’t tend to produce the cleanest cuts with braid, which makes braid scissors generally more effective for that office.
Braid Scissors
Braid scissors pick up where line nippers leave off. There are two main selling points of braid scissors; one is that they are more effective at cleanly cutting braid. The other is that since they are less specialized than nippers, they can be used for other general cutting and trimming applications.
Also, another selling point of braid scissors is that some of them feature split ring pliers built into the tips of the jaws, so they can be used for opening split rings so you can replace hooks on the water without frustration. (Split rings are a pain to work with, if you don’t know yet, just wait. You’ll see.)
Line Cutterz
Lasly, we have Line Cutterz, which were selected as “Best of Category” (among cutlery, hand pliers, or tools) at ICAST 2020 Online.
Line Cutterz are hybrid fishing line cutters with both stainless steel serrated scissors and ceramic-blade cutting slots, capable of cutting all types of fishing line up to 100 lbs cleanly and efficiently.
Carry is a snap, too, since you can easily attach Line Cutterz to your lanyard or even to your hat bill. Forget fumbling with knives or your teeth - there’s only one line cutter you need, and it’s aptly named.
Explore These and Other Fishing Tools for Line Management here
These are among the most essential of fishing line management tools, but there are others that some carry on the water. Check them all out (and others) in our full collection of fishing tools at the previous link.