Snell Knot

To "snell" a hook means to attach the fishing line to the shank of a hook rather than the fishing hook's eye. It is popular within the fly fishing community for fly making.

Use Cases For The Snell Knot

  • Tying fishing line to eyeless hooks.
  • Ensures the pull of the line aligns with the hook's point.
  • In bass fishing, it's useful when using large bullet weights with a Texas Rig.
    • When snelling a Texas Rig, the bullet weight gets presses against the hook's eye during a hookset causing the hook's point to angle outwards. This is useful to prevent the bullet weight forcing the bass's mouth open during a hookset and can help increase your hook up ratio.

How To Tie A Snell Knot (Uni Version)

  1. Run the tag end of the fishing line through the hooks eye (if applicable).
  2. Form a loop below the eye.
  3. Pass the tag end through the loop, wrapping it around the line and fishing hook's shank about 5 times making sure to keep the wraps tight to each other.
  4. Work coils up the shank towards the eye of the hook.
  5. Pull the standing line and tag end away from each other to tighten.
  6. Congratulations, you've just learned how to snell a hook!