The Bowline Knot: A Useful Boat Knot

The Bowline Knot: A Useful Boat Knot

A couple of years ago, I brought a brand new Tornado Anchor to test on the Arkansas River for a couple of rowdy, early-season days of float fishing.

The problem was, I hadn’t used this specific anchor line and set up in quite some time and never with this anchor. When I went to clip the carabiner to the new anchor, it was far too long and would’ve dragged in the water (both unsafe and really annoying). We needed to loose about 4-to-5 inches of line length on the set up.

So, what did we do?

We tied the rope directly to the anchor (see above) with a bowline knot. Why that knot? Specifically, because it can sustain heavy weight loads and at the same time, it’s pretty easy to unite after weight is applied. Perfect for a boat anchor.

It worked like a charm. After a long day of setting up in heavy currents, casting to rising fish, I simply pulled the knot apart and unhooked the anchor. Many other knots would have been difficult to undo after that much stress. So, do yourself a favor and learn what some call the king of boat knots for this situation, or any others, you might find yourself in while rowing rivers and hunting for fish.

As Captain Quint says about the bowline knot in the movie Jaws, “The little brown eel comes out of the cave, swims into the hole, comes out of the hole, goes back into the cave again...”