How to Fish :: Knots & Rigs ::

 

Snell Knots

Snelling is a way of attaching your hook line to the hook by wrapping around the shank of the hook rather than tying to the hook eye alone. Snelling can also used to tie hooks without eyes as well. There are several ways to snell a hook and only two types will be introduced here; one that requires one free end of the hook line, the other requires both free end of the hook line.

 

Snelling with monofilament lines

For monofilament lines, this method of snelling is preferred because it only requires one free end. The knot is tightened largely on the free end which gives it a strong snell.

1. Pass the free end of the hook line through the eye of the hook from the pointy side. Make a loop after passing through the eye by crossing the line onto itself and hold the loop against the shank of the hook.

2. Use the loop to wrap around the shank and the free end of the line for at least five times.

3. Push the wraps down ensuring they do not overlap and stacked neatly before pulling the free end to tighten the snell.

The finished snell using monofilament lines will look like this.

 

Snelling wire trace

The previous method of snelling requires tightening for the snell to form nicely but it won't work nicely on wire trace. This is because wire is hard and stiff making tightening a knot very difficult. The following method will require minimum tightening but it requires two free ends to tie it.

1. First, cut a length of wire trace you require (usually 1ft is enough if you're attaching it to a monofilament hook line). Pass one end of the wire through the eye of the hook from the pointy side for about half the length of the hook shank.

2. Hold the free end tightly against the hook shank and use the longer free end to wrap at least five times around the shank of the hook. Make the wraps are tight against the shank and touching against one another.

3. Finally, pass the long end of the free end through the eye from the back of the hook.

4. If possible, pull the short end of the wire to further tighten the snell.