snelling hooks

[rcbbracing]

Cabin fever finally got to me and I started presnelling hooks for flathead season and I began to wonder what is the benefit of doing this when the Palomar knot is proven to be a stronger knot? Enough guys snell hooks before trips I'm sure there has to be a benefit....what is it?

[catterman]

The benefit is the hook set ratio. With circle hooks, the snell will make the hook almost "snap" and help with the hook set. I use the palomar knot for my leader to swivel and to my main line.

[Skyline1506]

i use the trilene rather than palomar, but same idea, tie it on swivel.

i snell if the hook eye is turned up or down. if it is not i trilene it. so for me it is decided by the hook not the preference

[Seanstone]

Just a helpful tip:

If it has an up turned eye make sure to run your line through the front of the eye, gap side, and then begin the snell.....especially when running circle hooks. If you want to know why, try laying the line over your thumb and slowly pulling the hook up. When snelled properly it bites/digs in. If you do it the wrong way, it turns away from your thumb.

[rcbbracing]

Wow I feel kind of dumb not knowing this but certainly makes a lot of sense now that you guys explained it...I've had major problems geting circle hooks to set in the past...think it has something to do with me tying onto the hook with a Palomar knot instead of a snell?

[Seanstone]

Feb 28, 2012 12:18:45 GMT -5 rcbbracing said:

Wow I feel kind of dumb not knowing this but certainly makes a lot of sense now that you guys explained it...I've had major problems geting circle hooks to set in the past...think it has something to do with me tying onto the hook with a Palomar knot instead of a snell?

I'd say probably not. I used the triline knot with a similar success rate as the snell knot. I choose the snell because its a stronger knot, it has a higher breaking strength, something like 90 percent of the main line. However when you do the hand test, pulling the hook to your thumb, you will find that snelling your hook seems to bite a little better, however I wouldn't attribute the knot to circle hook failures. Most of my lost fish came from 1 of 2 reasons.....using too small of a hook, and hooking my bait too deep. Just my opinion though.

[rcbbracing]

Sean I did what you said using the snell and its impressive the difference how it digs...hope it somehow helps my success this year...honestly I think I know my problem. I typically get excited about circles way too early and try to use them on sluggish cold water fish and then get upset I put em away for the year Lol...think I'm gonna wait till may to even try em this year for the first time. Also how do you guys get away with running large livebaits on a circle hook? Most hooks I have don't have a large enough gap to hook up a twelve inch sucker...I did buy some octopus circles and have a few Charlie brown circles that seem to have a wider gap and hoping they make the difference....what style and size circles do you guys run on these larger baits?

[Skyline1506]

the 10/0 bottom dwellers have a big gap and the hook point is at a 45 rather than a 90 keeping the gap bigger and allowing more of a hookset. plus they load up quicker

[Skyline1506]

i dont like the way a turned eye hangs from a regular knot. they sit a lot more true when snelled

[Seanstone]

Same as Jordan. 10/0 bottom dwellers, but I also use Gama Octopus Circles with smaller baits.

[bassmassey]

rcbracing- you can hook about any sized live bait through the nose and keep almost all your hook gap......just dont go too high or you'll kill em quick....i hook about all my live bait, and cut baits like this......

[katfish]

I dispute the idea that any knot is stronger than a snell.
The only argument I might listen to is if someone snells a
hook on one end of a line and ties a knot on the other
end and adds weight till one breaks ;D

Any offset, upturned or downturned eye should function
as designed with any knot. A snell must be tied with the
mainline coming in from outside the offset/upturn/downturn
side of the eye to function as designed.

Since your system is only as strong as the weakest link,
there would be no advantage to snelling hooks on leaders
that would later contain a knot.

[bobbylee]

I use circle hooks with a snell and generally hook my bait through the mouth and bring it out at the very corner of the eye. Bait stays alive forever. I also like the way the snelled hook hangs naturally straight up and down under a float. Just my knot of choice.

Cabin fever hits and I start snelling hooks and storing them in zip lock baggies. Less time spent tying knots and more time with my line in the water...

[Chuck]

A little additional info on knots. The same line with break at different percentages with different knots. With the Ande Monster Yellow I used some last year, the palomar has the highest break strength of the knots I tie. Like 108% of the lines dry break strength. Odd that a palomar knot makes the line test above its normal break strength. I have a link to a test on like 70 different lines with a couple different knots, if anyone is interested. Later, Chuck.

[Seanstone]

It might be that the line is simply stronger than its break strength....many are. In fisheman has wrote about igfa line class records and various lines that are better for setting such records, they mentioned several lines being well over their breaking strength. It was said that berkly big game is double its breaking strenth that it is labled as. Personal experience has shown that it is atleast 1.5 times stronger when knots get involved. That is to say that 20lb test typically breaks at 30 pounds when tied to a swivel and attatched to a digital scale.