Your Snell Knot of Choice

[papajoe222]

I'm looking to change my snell knot. I'm comfortable with tying it, but it's a bear to keep the loops above the keeper and under the line tie.  I know there are a couple of easy to tie ones,  just wondering which ones you guys use.

[Mike L]

Joe

How many turns and what hook are you using?

 

I tie a snell up to and including 80# braid  on a Trokar TK130 hook. 
I just lay it on the shank making a small loop. No idea what it’s called. 

For that and up to 20# Flouro I use 5 turns making sure the first turn is under the keeper.
It always lays down nicely but with the last turn on top with the 80# when using a 4 carrier. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

[J Francho]

I used to snell hooks, but at some point stopped. Made no difference. The only hooks I'd consider snelling would be ones with the eye angled in. I only see these in my trout tackle. 

[casts_by_fly]

This is the one I use.  When I tie it, the hook and the big loop are basically in the palm of my hand hidden and the eye down to the lure keeper are exposed.  I make all of the wraps right behind the eye, using the pressure of the next wrap to slide the previous wraps back towards the lure keeper.  After the last wrap I use my thumb to pinch everything from the keeper to the eye in place and thread the tag end back through the big loop.  Skip step 4 in the diagram below.

 

Note, I only tie the snell on straight shank pitching hooks and throwing heavier setups (1/2 oz and up, 20# mono/50# braid and up).  I'm not convinced about the benefits of always hooking them in the roof of the mouth (though I usually do).  I'm more concerned about the weight banging on the knot coming through heavy cover and the overall 'cleanness' of the rig.

 

[papajoe222]

Thanks. This is the one I’d seen one of the pros tie, but I couldn’t find a step by step

All the wrapping is done between the line tie and the keeper. The one I was ising, I had to push the wraps over the keeper and pinch tje line tie to keep the wraps in place while tightening the knot. 

[MN Fisher]

If I tie a snell - which is rare - I do the Uni-Snell

[casts_by_fly]

13 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

If I tie a snell - which is rare - I do the Uni-Snell

 

I've done this one before and there is a way you can hold the standing line and eye of the hook in one hand and instead of wrapping the tag through the loop as shown, you wrap the loop over the entire hook (with the tag end held along the shank pointing away from the eye.  To papajoe's point though, that one is a pain to get up over a bait keeper.  Its great for a smooth shank hook though.  

[Mike L]

A straight shank hook with a big enough space under the keeper like the one I use is key to getting a uniform knot

 

 

 

Mike

[woolleyfooley]

10 hours ago, J Francho said:

I used to snell hooks, but at some point stopped. Made no difference. The only hooks I'd consider snelling would be ones with the eye angled in. I only see these in my trout tackle. 

Same here. Used to snell all my flipping hooks but I stopped and started using my usual San Diego jam knot. Haven’t noticed a difference in hookup ratio, knock on wood.

[J Francho]

It's worth noting that snell knots were originally for hooks that had no eye to tie to. Hooks were hand made and at the end, they were just hammered flat, creating a tang that would hold a snell. There's no point now that we are out of the 19th century.