Knot guide · Beginner

Knotless Knot (Hair Rig): How to Tie It

The knotless knot is how every hair rig gets tied: it whips the hooklink down the hook shank while trapping a hair that presents the bait behind the hook rather than on it. It has caught more UK carp than every other rig combined, and the whipping angle helps the hook flip and take hold.

Hair rigsCarp fishingBarbel and specimen rigsBraided and coated hooklinks

Published by the GilledIt editorial team · Last reviewed 2026-07-07 · Part of the fishing knot library

Step by step

How to tie the knotless knot (hair rig)

  1. 1

    Tie the hair loop and mount the bait

    Tie a small loop in the end of your hooklink and mount your boilie or pellet on it with a bait stop.

  2. 2

    Set the hair length

    Thread the other end of the hooklink through the back of the hook eye and set the hair length so the bait hangs roughly 1cm below the bend.

  3. 3

    Whip down the shank

    Holding the hair in place along the shank, whip the hooklink down the shank 6 to 8 times in neat touching turns.

  4. 4

    Back through the eye

    Pass the end back through the eye from the front.

  5. 5

    Moisten and tighten

    Moisten the whipping and pull everything tight with a slow, steady pull, then test the finished rig across your palm.

Two rules apply to every knot: wet it with saliva before pulling it tight, because dry friction weakens mono and fluorocarbon at the exact point you need strength, and tighten slowly, then test with a firm pull before you cast.

How strong is it?

Because it whips down the shank rather than cinching at one point, it retains around 90% of line strength. Exact figures vary with line type, diameter and how well the knot is tied, so treat any percentage as a guide, not a guarantee.

When to use the knotless knot (hair rig)

Every hair rig you will ever tie, which in practice means most carp fishing and plenty of barbel and specimen work. Hair length is the adjustment that matters: shorter for small pellets, longer for big boilies.

Knotless Knot (Hair Rig): common questions

Tying hair rigs. It attaches the hooklink to the hook while leaving a hair extending past the bend to carry the bait, so the hook stays free to flip and take hold in the carp's bottom lip when the bait is sucked in. Almost every modern carp rig is built on it.

Set the hair so the bait hangs roughly 1cm below the bend while tying, then adjust for the bait: shorter for small pellets, longer for big boilies. On the finished rig the bait should sit just behind the bend; too long a hair lets a carp eject the bait without the hook turning.

Six to eight neat touching turns down the shank is the standard. Fewer can slip and lose the hooking angle; many more adds bulk without benefit. Keep the turns tight and touching, then pass the line back through the eye from the front.

Yes. Because it whips down the shank rather than cinching at a single point, it retains around 90% of line strength, and the load spreads along the whipping. It is effectively a snell knot with a hair coming out of the back.

Keep learning

Related knots

Snell Knot

Spade-end hooks, where it is the only option, and any time you want the pull of the line aligned straight along the hook shank, which improves the hooking angle on bigger baits. Worth knowing on eyed hooks too.

Read the guide

Figure-of-Eight Loop

Any time you need a loop: hooklength connections, feeder attachments and method rigs. Loop to loop is the quickest way to change hooklengths on the bank; just make sure the loops seat in a square handshake, not a strangling girth hitch, which costs you strength.

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Palomar Knot

Any time you tie a hook, swivel or snap link to mono, fluorocarbon or braid. Its only real weakness is practical rather than structural: the whole hook or lure has to pass through the loop, which gets awkward with big lures and treble hooks.

Read the guide

For all ten knots in one long read, see the fishing knots guide, or browse the full knot library. Ready to put it to work? The carp rig library shows what to tie next.

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