Fisherman's knot to be featured on national TV show Sunday

VAY — Fishermen the world over love to talk about the one that got away.

Should that ever happen to Vay fishing enthusiast Rick Lawrence, it certainly won’t be because of the knot that he tied — far from it.

Lawrence, 53, invented the Fish-N-Fool knot, which recently beat a host of other famous fishing knots in stress testing to win the Knot Wars segment on the popular North American Fisherman show on Versus Network.

“It’s pretty darn cool,” said Lawrence, who said he was playing around one day and just stumbled across it. “People have been fishing for the last 200-300 years, and they (North American Fisherman) said it’s the best knot in the world. I happen to agree with them.”

Lawrence, who owns Fish-N-Fool Tackle Company and also makes his own lures, has been an avid bass fisherman for nearly 40 years, and says he gets out on the water at least 100 times a year. He prefers to fish up and down the river for miles around the Cocolala Slew boat launch, as well as Pend Oreille Lake, but like all good fisherman, refused to divulge his favorite spots.

Oddly enough, Lawrence never submitted his knot to the television show, rather, they somehow found it on his website. Week after week, his knot continued to beat other more famous knots in testing, before being named Grand Champion. Lawrence says the knot is 100 percent effective, and when tied properly, the line will always break before the knot does.

“It’s super easy to tie,” explained Lawrence of his knot. “Anybody can do it. It went up against several different knots that nobody would even dream to tie and it beat them all. It’s quite an honor.”

The biggest largemouth bass Lawrence ever caught was a hefty 8.75 pounds and 26 inches long. The biggest fish he has ever caught was a 35 pound King Salmon, which he snared out of the Snohomish River when he was only 15 years-old. It took him an hour and 15 minutes to land it, before riding home at night on his bicycle with the monster fish draped over his handlebars. He joked he was in big trouble for being so late until him mom laid eyes on the fish.

Lawrence was asked what he loved most about fishing, and his answer lends great insight into why he’s developed the world’s greatest fishing knot.

“What don’t I love about fishing?”

For more on the Fish-N-Fool knot and lures, including a video on how to tie it, visit “www.fnflures.com.”