I am going on a ten-day fishing trip for bluefin tuna in about five weeks. I will live on a 100-foot boat with 20 other fishermen for the ten days, and we will leave from San Diego. I have been watching YouTube videos of previous trips on this boat that I will be on, along with others, for about an hour every day. I have also been watching seminars on how to catch the tuna and what gear to use. They fish with big reels that hold over 500 yards of line, so you don’t run out of line when the fish go on a run. On the reels, they have braided line, which they then tie onto with monofilament line and then fluorocarbon line. I won’t go into the reason for the different kinds of lines here, but they fasten these lines together with knots, not with barrel swivels, which I have done all of my life. The knots must be at least as strong as the line, which can be up to 100 lb test, and they must be small enough or streamlined enough to pass easily through the eyes of the rod when cast. I have been watching instructional YouTube videos on how to tie these various knots. There are about a dozen different knots used. Each instructor claims that his particular knot is the best and is the only one you need to learn to tie. So I have been tying the various knots, trying to decide which one I will use. I am rating them on strength and ease of tying. I don’t want to go with a knot that takes forever to tie or is so complicated I can’t remember how to tie it. And I don’t want to go with one that will come apart with a hard pull from a 200-pound tuna. I have tied every one of the knots numerous times and have tested them by tying one end to our back porch rail and the other end to a one-inch diameter dowel that I can pull on with two hands. In between the porch rail and the dowel I have an inline scale that I can read while pulling on the line so I can see at what poundage the knot fails. I have decided which knot is going to be mine, and now I am practicing tying it every day. I want to be able to tie it in well and quickly.

When Patty and I got married, the pastor said, “ We want to  tie this knot good so it doesn’t come undone.” I have forgotten most of the details of our wedding, as it was 56 years ago, but today, while watching a YouTube video, I remembered the statement by the pastor. I thought, yep, he must have used a good knot, no signs of slippage. Thank You, Lord, for binding us together for all these years.