Knots
The Davy knot: small and fast
What it's for
The smallest, quickest fly knot there is — a figure-of-eight tuck you can tie in seconds, leaving almost no bulk at the eye of a tiny dry or nymph. The honest trade: instrumented testing has ranked the single Davy among the weakest common trout knots, and it is unforgiving of sloppy seating. Tied clean it holds; tied for real strength, add one wrap and make it a double Davy.
The steps
Thread
Three or four inches of tippet through the eye — that's all it needs.
Loose overhand
Tie a simple overhand knot around the standing line, just ahead of the eye — and leave it open.
The second pass
Bring the tag back through that same open loop once more, entering between the knot and the hook eye. That figure-of-eight is the whole knot.
Two pulls, then hands off
Snug the tag first to shape the knot against the eye, then seat it hard with the standing line. From now on the tag is untouchable — even a graze while trimming can start it slipping.
Common faults
A loose seat or a disturbed tag
The fly pings off on a fish or a hard cast, leaving a curled wisp at the tippet end — the signature of a slipped Davy. Worst on stiff fluorocarbon and where the hook wire is much thicker than the tippet.
Fix: The Davy lives or dies on its final seat: if a tiny loop is left at the tag as it draws down, the knot is substantially weakened. Seat it hard, never touch the tag again, and when strength matters — bigger fish, fluorocarbon, heavy-wire hooks — add one extra wrap. Independent tests put the double Davy close to an improved clinch; the single Davy tested near the bottom of the table.
When you'll use it
- Tiny flies — size 16 and down — where a clinch's bulk drowns the fly or blocks the gape
- Fast fly changes during a hatch window
- Maximising tippet: it uses a fraction of the material a clinch does
Related
Terms: tippet
Sources & how we know this (4)
- Davy knot: open overhand plus second pass between knot and eye; two-pull tightening order (tag first, then standing line)
NetKnots — Davy Knot · 2026-07-11 - Instrumented 2012 test (Chatillon force machine, ~2,500 pulls): single Davy ranked 14th of 15 tippet-to-fly knots, behind a wind knot in aggregate; worst cells ~52% of straight-pull strength on stiff fluorocarbon at diameter mismatch
Fly Fisherman / Yellowstone Angler — Tippet Shootout (PDF) · 2026-07-16 - Double Davy ranked near improved-clinch strength in independent index testing; extra wrap fixes the slippage failure mode at tippet-to-wire diameter mismatch
Anchor Fly — Fly fishing knot strength index · 2026-07-16 - Speed, minimal bulk and material saving as the knot's advantages; proponents' case that tying technique drives the strength variance
Troutbitten — Use the Davy knot, here's why · 2026-07-11