I mention this from time to time, because I feel it's VERY important, but I haven't posted on this for a while, so here we go....

I tie PLENTY of crappy knots. But they NEVER, EVER fail on me. Why ? Because what I'm really good at, is being able to tell a good knot from a bad one, and the latter never sees the water !

Your knots should always cinch down smoothly, and cleanly. If your tag end turns out to be pointing in the wrong direction.... or, if the knot doesn't seem to want to cinch all the way down, like to where you are tempted to grab it with your nails to help it.... Forget it ! I'd rasther sit and retie 50 lame knots in a row, than to lose just one monster fish ! {although 50 in a row would be a very bad streak ;-)

And if you didn't know already, even a lame knot will probably be okay with the dinks. It's that 1 monster that you have been fishing for all of your life, that will be most likely to cause a catastrophic failure of a lame knot.

I typically use bloodknots, improve clinches, and palomars..... and I screw them up fairly often ;-) but again, the thing is > I ALWAYS LOOK CLOSELY at the knot I just tied ! If it's not pretty and clean, it won't ever see the water ! I retie it immediatly !

I work too hard for the big fish I hook. Re-tying a knot here or their is a small price to pay, to prevent big losses !

Just a friendly reminder,

Peace,

Fish

"If it ain't perfect, it's not good enough."

8-)

This is something that I examine very closely, and when something fails, I try to zero in on the cause of the failure.  9/10 times, the root cause is wither a poorly tied knot, or some abrasion of the leader.  

The former issue can be easily resolved, just follow what Chris says above!

The latter can also be easily resolved, by inspecting your line every few casts when your bait has made contact, or retying after EVERY FISH!!!  The second bit of advice bites me in the butt EVERY TIME I don't follow it!

Great post, and great advice, especially now when big girls are within easy reach.

Speaking of knots...

I found this page after searching what a bloodknot was...  Yeah, I didn't do the boy scout thing so knots are not something I know.  I'm sure there are others like me so I thought I would pass this along.  I am not sure if this is allowed as I'm relatively new to the forum but here goes (I'm in no way affiliated with this website but found it to be very useful):

Google "Animated Knots by Grog" Then, click on the "Knot List" link found on the left of the page.

Being new to the forum I cannot post an active link...

The website is referenced often:

http://www.animatedknots.com/

There are several knots I recommend:

Generallly: Palomar Knot

For big treble hook lures:

Sixteen-Twenty (also called Duncan or Pitzen Knot)

http://206.210.94.83/collaterals/pdf/fhf_knot_sixteen_twenty.pdf

Line to spool: Arbor Knot

Line to line: Blood Knot

8-)

Never had a knot fail me and all i use is a trilene knot and occasionally and rapala knot.And yes the knot is 98% of importance >You can have the best floro,braid or mono and a $800 combo but if ur knot fails whats the use ?? like having a lambo with no oil

All I tie is the Palomar.  I could tie this knot in the dark easily.  I learned it when I was 11 watching Bill Dance.  I do check my knot after a few fish, not every time I catch one.

I use the Fish N Fool knot or the Palomar.

The Fish N Fool knot is tricky because the loop in the double pass through the eye wants to "jump" to the side, around the eye.  This happens with mono, fluoro, or hybrid, not braid.

It also requires a lot dexterity and/or practice to tie it without a struggle.  For me, that meant practice.  

For a while, I used the Palomar while fishing.  The Fish N Fool was too much of a struggle, especially with monofilament type lines, not to mention tiny swivels.

The swivels were the toughest challenge.  Once I mastered them, the rest was easy.

The Palomar is a great knot, and the Fish N Fool is probably overkill.  I like the finished look of the Fish N Fool better.

I've re-tied more leaders of 60lb Big Game then I care to admit. The stuff is a mofo. I use a bench vice to hold the snap, and both hands, some teeth and two pairs of pliers. What a production.