QUICK DOUBLE LINE · MONO / BRAID
There’s a version of every trip where fish show up and the leader you need isn’t tied yet, and that’s exactly when I reach for this one instead of a Bimini. The Spider Hitch buys you a double line in a hurry: wrap a doubled section around your thumb or fingers, then pull the loop back through the wrap bundle. It trades some of the Bimini’s durability for speed, and it’s honest about that trade — I don’t pretend it’s the stronger knot, because it isn’t.
Five stages, most of them fast
What holds it
Monofilament and braid.
Wrap counts
About five wraps for mono; roughly fifteen for braid. Don’t borrow the mono count for braid — it isn’t enough.
What it’s actually best for
Speed, plainly. When fish are moving through and I need a double line now rather than in three minutes, this is what I tie. It’s not the knot I want under a long, hard fight on heavy tackle — that’s still the Bimini’s job.
Tradeoff
Generally less durable than a properly tied Bimini Twist. I don’t fight that fact, I just plan around it.
The wrap bundle pinches a doubled line into a loop
Wrap the doubled working section around a finger or thumb, over and over, then feed the large loop through the opening those wraps leave. Braid takes more turns than mono because braid is slicker. There’s less grip in each wrap, so you make it up in wrap count, and that’s the whole job of the extra ten turns. Count them. Guessing feels fine while you’re tying and a lot less fine once something is pulling on the bundle.
Thumb, a bundle of wraps, and the loop back through the middle
- Double the line to form the loop you want.
- Wrap the doubled section around a thumb, finger, or other safe support. About five turns in mono, more like fifteen in braid.
- Hold the wrap bundle together and open the passage through its center.
- Feed the large doubled loop through that passage.
- Slip the support out and pull both loop legs and the standing line gradually to close.
- Check the wrap bundle and that both legs load equally.
Failure clue
The mono wrap count went on braid — the easy one to commit when fish are up and your hands are moving faster than your head. The wrap bundle crossed over itself. The loop legs loaded unevenly, so one leg is carrying the fish and doing all the work while the other rides along for nothing. Or the line cut into your fingers while you were setting it under high tension. Take that last one seriously on heavy tackle. The support comes out of the wraps before you pull the knot down, and it closes on steady pressure across both legs and the standing line, not on a hard yank.
Fast double line, but not for a long fight on heavy tackle
Use: a fast double-line loop when field speed matters. Skip: a maximum-duration heavy-tackle system, where the Bimini or Plait is worth the extra work. Compare: Bimini Twist for a stronger, more controlled tie; Australian Plait for a long woven option.
How I check a fast one before I trust it
Because this knot exists for speed, the temptation is to skip checking it too. I don’t. Even rushed, I count the wraps out loud once and pull both legs by hand before it goes on the rod. Ten seconds of that is cheaper than finding a short count with a fish on. NetKnots’ Spider Hitch page is a decent quick reference if you need the wrap sequence refreshed in the moment, which is honestly the situation this knot is built for.
Open the deeper knot workflowJob, material, route, dressing, seating, pull-test checks and the standardized comparison record.
THE SIX-MOVE CHECK
Job → Material → Route → Dress → Seat → Test
- Job. Name what the connection has to do before choosing the knot.
- Material. Confirm the line, leader, rope, wire, and hardware actually suit this structure.
- Route. Trace every pass before tightening anything.
- Dress. Put strands, wraps, and loops in their intended order with no accidental crossings.
- Seat. Tighten in the order this knot needs. More force does not repair bad geometry.
- Test. Inspect the finished shape, load it by hand when appropriate, and retie if anything moves or fails the article-specific checks.
Practice / pass test. Tie this knot three clean times without rushing. A tie passes only when it matches this article’s What to check before you trust it geometry, shows none of the listed failure clues, and survives the stated load/inspection test. If you cannot tell why one attempt is better than another, keep practicing—the lesson is recognition, not memorization.
KNOT SPEC
Spider Hitch — the short answers
- ALSO CALLED
- The Spider Hitch. No widely used alternative name. Favoured by anglers who need a double line in a hurry — light and medium tackle, party boats, and anyone caught out with fish moving through and no double tied.
- KNOT TYPE
- Double-line loop knot — a bundle of wraps around a thumb or former with the loop drawn back through
- WHAT IT CONNECTS
- Makes a doubled section of main line ending in a loop, which then feeds a leader connection, a swivel or a loop-to-loop. It is not a terminal knot and not a line-to-leader knot on its own.
- LINE TYPES
- Monofilament is where it works best. Braid needs roughly three times the wraps and still slips more readily. Heavy stiff mono is its weakest ground, because the wraps will not bed down. Not for wire, not for fly line.
- STRENGTH BAND
- Moderate. Acceptable on light and medium mono, and clearly below a well-tied Bimini or Australian Plait under sustained heavy load, because everything rests on one bundle of wraps rather than a long shared column.
- DIFFICULTY
- Beginner to Intermediate. Much the easiest of the three doubles and the one a child can learn in an afternoon. The only real skill is counting wraps and closing the bundle evenly.
- STEPS AND WRAPS
- Six moves. About five wraps in mono, roughly fifteen in braid. That braid count is not optional — the mono count carried over to braid is the single most common way this knot fails.
- TIE TIME
- A boat knot, and that is the entire reason to own it. Fifteen to thirty seconds once learned, against a minute or more for a Bimini.
- POOR CONDITIONS
- Better than a Bimini in bad conditions because it is short and needs no tension anchor. Cold or wet fingers still make the bundle hard to hold together and easy to cross, and heavy line under load hurts bare skin.
- THROUGH THE GUIDES
- Compact — a short bundle rather than a long column — so it clears rod guides easily. Whatever leader knot sits beyond it is usually the larger obstruction.
- LUBRICATION
- Yes. Wet it before closing. The wraps slide across each other as the bundle compresses, and tightened dry that friction burns the line at exactly the point that carries the load.
- TAG END
- Trim close at the base of the bundle, roughly an eighth of an inch, once it is fully seated. Leave a fraction more on braid, which creeps under load. A long tag does nothing useful here.
- TOOLS
- None, and that is part of the appeal. Your thumb is the former. On heavy line use a smooth former, a rod butt or a gloved finger instead of bare skin. Nippers to trim.
- BEST SUITED TO
- Light and medium tackle where a fast double matters — school tuna, dolphin, striped bass, snapper drops, general party-boat work. Not the choice for a long fight on genuinely heavy tackle.
The strength bands are rough on purpose. Published knot tests don’t agree with each other — the same braid-to-leader knot has tested near ninety percent of line strength on one machine and under half on another, because the line brand, its diameter, how fast it got cinched, whether it was wet and whose hands tied it all move the number more than the knot does. Use the band to compare this knot with the others, not as a number to quote.
FIELD INTELLIGENCE
Where it earns its place, and where it costs you
Advantages
- Fast enough to tie inside a bite window, which is the whole reason it exists.
- Needs no tension anchor and no long column, so it can be tied standing up in a crowded cockpit.
- Few moves and no long count, so a rushed one is still recognisably the knot rather than a half-finished mess.
- Compact, so the finished double runs through guides without fuss.
Disadvantages
- Weaker and less durable than a well-tied Bimini or Australian Plait under sustained heavy load. It is the quick compromise, not the equal of either.
- Everything rests on one bundle of wraps. If that bundle crosses or slips there is nothing else holding the loop together.
- Under heavy load the line can cut into the thumb or finger you wrapped it around, which is a real injury on heavy tackle rather than a nuisance.
- On braid the wrap count roughly triples, and the mono count carried over is the standard failure.
- It does not stretch the way a Bimini twist column does, so it gives back less shock absorption at the boat.
Use a different knot when
- Bimini Twist — when the fish will fight long and hard and the double has to survive all of it
- Australian Plait — when heavy mono and abrasion are the problem and you have the time to weave one
- Surgeon’s Loop — when you only need a loop for a loop-to-loop and no real double-line strength
WHAT TO CHECK BEFORE YOU TRUST IT
The Spider Hitch shines inside a narrow window: fish are up, the double you need is not tied, and the minute a Bimini costs is a minute of fishing gone. Treat it as what it is — a quick compromise on light or medium tackle, checked carefully and replaced with a Bimini when the job calls for the longer-built double. Grade the bundle itself: short, tidy, wraps stacked rather than crossed, with enough grip for the material in front of you. The tradeoff is durability. It gives you a double now, and asks you not to expect it to be the double that survives an hour.
What actually makes it fail
- A mono wrap count used on braid, which leaves nowhere near enough grip to hold the bundle.
- Crossed wraps, so the turns cut across each other instead of stacking side by side.
- Closing it with a hard yank instead of steady even pressure, which pulls the bundle out of shape before it seats.
- Uneven loop legs, so one strand takes the fish alone and the double is a double in name only.
- Sustained heavy load over a long fight, which is simply outside what this knot was built to do.
How to test it, and how it ages
Close it slowly on steady pressure across both loop legs and the standing line together, then look at it. The bundle should be short and tidy with the wraps stacked side by side, none crossing. If you tied it in a hurry, count the wraps again before you fish it — recounting after a fish is on is too late. Then load both legs by hand, harder than you expect the fish to pull. A bundle that shifts, or a leg that goes slack while the other tightens, means cut it off and tie another. Because this knot exists for speed, the temptation is to skip the check, and that is exactly when it costs you.
Over a session: Fair. It comes through a short fight intact but loses ground under repeated heavy loading, and the bundle can work loose over a session. Re-tie it sooner than you would a Bimini, and always after a long fight.
Troubleshooting
Why does it keep slipping on braid?
Braid is slicker and needs roughly three times the mono wrap count. Five turns is a mono number. Count out around fifteen and close the bundle slowly.
Is this really as strong as a Bimini?
No, and nobody should tell you it is. It is the quick compromise. On light and medium tackle it does the job; under sustained heavy load the Bimini or the Plait is worth the extra minute.
Why does the line cut into my thumb?
Your thumb is taking the closing load. On heavy line wrap a smooth former, a rod butt or a gloved finger instead of bare skin, and close on steady pressure rather than a snatch.
Why do the loop legs come out uneven?
One leg was drawn ahead of the other as the bundle closed. Take both legs and the standing line together and pull them down as one unit.
Can I leave one tied all day?
You can, but check it. The bundle works loose with repeated loading. Re-tie after any long fight, and at least once through a hard session.
