A few years ago I re-invented this knot and now most of the fishing club here uses it. Along with another member we taught it at the Toronto Fly Fishing show in a seminar on leaders. The makers of one of the knot tying tools calls it the “6” knot which is very descriptive. Here are the written instructions for tying it with hemostats. In this way I can change a fly in 20 seconds - which is a VERY good reason to learn it.
Hemostat Knots
In a normal Pitzen knot the tag end is wrapped around both the (reversed) loop and the standing line, and then is put through the remaining portion of the loop. http://teosinte2.agron.missouri.edu/flyfishing/pitzen.html
If you look only at the portion of line that has gone through the eye of the hook and formed the knot, you will see that the knot itself is a cinch knot. A Pitzen Knot is a Cinch Knot (back) around a standing line. (The knot shown is called a sixteen/twenty knot. Perhaps the distinction between it and a Pitzen is the direction that the tag goes through the knot loop. It does not matter here.)
I do not wrap the tag end around the loop with either my fingers or hemos as many knots are tied. In this version, the hemos act like a stick to wrap/twist a loop around the standing line (while coincidentally wrapping the standing line around the hemos too). Then the hemos are opened slightly to grasp the tag end and pull it through the wrapped mess.
I am right handed. When doing the following knot I hold the fly in my left hand. Your fly line and rod are on considered to be on your right.
Put the fly on the tippet and pull about 5" of material through the eye.
Bring the end of the tippet (tag) back to the right, parallel to the standing line and hold both standing line and tag end with your right hand. This allows you to momentarily let go of the fly and reposition your left hand.
Pinch the eye of the fly between your left thumb and forefinger or palm of your left hand, which at the same time secures the tippet in the bent (returned) position. When you pinch the fly and tippet, do so with the fly more towards the middle of your thumb & finger pads or palm.
Now with your right hand, take the tag end and make a (circle) loop back toward the
hook (left thumb pinch) and lay the tag end in the crack between your thumb and forefinger, near the hook eye, with about 3/4" of the end tag protruding upwards from the pinch. You are now holding the fly and all tippet in your left hand. The tippet should be forming a “6” image/figure.
To clarify,[ol]
[li]You will probably not see your fly because you are crushing it in the pinch of your left thumb and forefinger (or in the palm of your left hand).[/li][li]To the right of the pinch will be the standing (incoming) line and a loop about 1+1/2" across.[/li][li]Sticking up above the pinch will be about 3/4" of tippet. Do you see the “6”?[/li][/ol]Take your hemos (in your right hand, obviously) and unsnap them, but keep the tips together. Engage the standing line with your right pinkie finger, or between your right ring finger, this will be about 7" to 10" from the fly, and gently draw your hands apart horizontally. The purpose of this is to keep the standing line parallel to the hemostats. The concern now is to keep a light tension between your left and right hand to ensure the standing line between your hands doesn’t sag so much that you are chasing it when you do the next step.
With the hemo tip closed, insert the tip into the loop at your left thumb about 1", but not past the hinge on the hemos. The standing line should be lying alongside the hemos. You have not grabbed (pinched) anything with the hemos yet ? keep them on your fingers.
Next, act as if you are trying to wrap (twist) the tip of the hemos (+ loop) around the standing line - by rotating your right wrist (mildly) 3 times (no more - and it doesn’t matter whether clockwise or counter-clockwise). The loop and the standing line BOTH wrap (twist) around the hemos and make what looks like a mess. Leaving the hemos in the ?mess?, open them very slightly and grasp the tag end (which should be readily accessible above your left thumb/pinch). Gently pull the tag end THROUGH the mess. Open your hemos slightly and carefully and extract them (mostly backwards) from any line still around them. Return the hemos to their ‘home’.
Holding the fly in your left hand and the standing line in your right, moisten the knot and pull your hands apart thus tightening the knot, you should feel the knot do the ‘Pitzen lock’.
Why this works:
In this version the loop and the standing line are wrapped together and the tag end is pulled through everything, including the remaining portion of the loop. It works because when the hook and the standing line are pulled, the standing line becomes stiff and slick, and the wraps sort themselves out because they are at that point the only supple part.
Not to brag but, using this method I can do a Pitzen knot in 20 seconds (and you soon will too), so I have ceased to care about absolute knot strength. It is the only knot I use because I can get back to fishing.
Now realizing that you have tied a knot around a standing line, it is easy to move on to the next step. Use the same knot routine to tie a knot around a line that is different than the line that makes the knot. Then we can have back to back Pitzens and create leaders or join tippets to leaders. It is much faster for me than the Blood Knot.
Hoping this helps - I wish I could send a video. There is a brass tool that does this job and other knots. It can do a cinch knot very easily, but not an ‘improved’ one. It costs $20 Cdn and is just another thing to carry, but if you have a fly shop in your area you could go and look at the instructions and then use your hemos instead of the tool. [url-http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jhtml;jsessionid=JSMHFI3YW3IEYCWQNVDSCPIK0BWUKIWE?id=0001323312797a&navCount=0&cmCat=srchdx&cm_ven=srchdx&cm_ite=srchdx&_requestid=45296] Cabelas