>>519308>knotsI grew up tying the trilene knot for almost everything. It maintans about 87% of the inherent line strength which is about average for other knots. This do the job for 95% of your purposes. Others might use the palomar knot, but I feel it is slightly weaker.
Other knots become useful for special situations like:
>Fluorocarbon line - knot tying is hugely important because the line is stiff. Two of the better knots are the Fish-N-Fool and the Eugene Bend. Being skilled with these is important if you are using fluoro. >Tying line to line- mainly only important for fly fishing imo (tippet to leader, leader to backing, etc). Nail knot is common. Also there is a version on http://killroys.com/knots/ that ingeniously suggests using part of the ink tube of a ballpoint pen. >Tying very fine delicate lures (small trout flies) or lightweight lines (ice fishing, ultralight tackle) I use the Duncan Loop. 