If you are looking for alternative knots to the bowline suggested above(?), a friend often uses an unusual low-profile knot where others normally use a bowline or double-figure 8. The knot is a simple
thumb-knot followed by one-side of a
double-fisherman's knot. The main difference it that it is more compact (I would think the thumb knot is unnecessary in this case) as you cinch it up tight rather than creating a fixed loop.
Alternatively, I have been using knots from this page quite a lot recently:
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexfi...matedknots.com
e.g. the
Arbor knot for tying line to a reel & the
Palormar knot for tying swivels/hooks.
I would use the
Palormar knot (some sites claim this knot does not weaken the line at all) - simple but secure. [I used to use a
hook-tyer which made a Uni-knot something like a Snell (v. strong) & before that I used a
fisherman's knot ("basic clinch") -- which is ok but not great)]
Alternatively the
surgeons knot (shown on the same page)? [Looks similar in concept to the
Alison's constrictor knot (serial thumb knots) but with doubled line].
There is also an advanced version of the
Allbright knot,
the Alberto knot, that involves creating spirals both up & down the loop which is covered in an article on another site which is supposedly very strong (I have used it several times & it certainly seems strong - a bit messy & awkward to tie though).
[More fishing knots: http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/fishing/knots.htm ]