I love snelling my circle hooks as I like the way the hook and line are on the same plane. However one of the drawback of snelling is that as pressure increases the coils are rubbing against the sharp end of the hook eye and often resulting in the line fraying and eventually parting. I tried the power snell and it seem fine but i still see the problem with the pressure on the line causing it to rub hard against the sharp eye of the hook. To wit I decided to tie a 4 turns uni stopper knot and cut of both tag ends. Then proceeded to snell the hook. This eliminate the main line from contact the hook eye and greatly increase the knot strength. I tried it with 20 lbs Trilene big game and got more than 20 lbs of pressure on the knot before the line parted. Trilene big game typically break at higher than stated breaking point.
Very clever, the simplest things are often the best.
neat idea... which snell knot do you use?
Any pics of this knot?
Very interesting. I need pics to make sure I understand though. Sorry, I'm a visual person.
I will try to add pics later but essentially there are 2 knots with the sacrificial uni knot butted against the eye of the hook and the snell butted against the uni knot. I have tried different snelling methods and they all worked fine with the cushion. My thinking is that weakness of the snell comes from the uni directional pull which stressed the mainline as it connect to the hook. The sacrificial uni knot distribute the stress over more surface area.
Aaargh post a picture. I don't understand. Dominick
I can't figure out how you tie a uni around the shank of a hook? I'd really like to see it.
Ron
hopefully the pics help a bit. all i had with me were 15 lbs test line and a light mutu circle hook.
Got it, you are basically putting a collar on the shank with a second piece of mono, I missed that. I actually like that a lot. Do you run the main line through the eye at all?
Ron
I do run the main line through the eye as it help with the hook set. In theory you could bypass the eye which would make the knot stronger but I don't know if that will diminish the hook up or not.
I got it now. Thanks for the pics. Dominick
I've never tried it with circle hooks, but when I learned to snell my grandfather made me fish with the eyes clipped off, makes you learn to tie a good knot fast!
Ron
i don't know what the amount of pressure needed to deform the hook but the snell held fine on 15 lbs high seas mono.
Quote from: noyb72 on December 18, 2013, 09:08:03 PM
Got it, you are basically putting a collar on the shank with a second piece of mono, I missed that. I actually like that a lot. Do you run the main line through the eye at all?
Ron
OOOOOOOH! I get it. Two pieces of mono. I would have never thought of that. Gotta try it. Thanks for posting the pictures.
Bob
It's a similar idea to running beads against swivels to prevent chafing. I'll try it today.
Ron
a bit mor testing..tied double sdj knot and line broke in the middle at about 26 lbs on 20 lbs big game. the main line was not thru the hook eye. put the main line thru hook eye and the knot failed at 23 lbs on the same weakened line. tied sdj knot with same weakened line and knot failed at 17 lbs. all steady pull.
Where is the line breaking when it fails?
Ron
just for kick i snelled a 40 lbs wire leader and did a terrible job with a haywire twist to the carbinger and still got 32 lbs before the haywire twist broke.
Quote from: noyb72 on December 19, 2013, 02:17:46 AM
Where is the line breaking when it fails?
Ron
the first one with the main line not thru the eye the line broke close to the carbinger double sdj knot. i think i caused the line failure when i didn't moistened the sdj knot in the initial tightening.
the second failure occur at the snell main line when i passed the main line thru the eye of the hook.
I gotta ask... what the heck chewed on that hook... a crocodile???
I ain't swimming there!
Dom
dom,
it is only a 5/0 or 6/0 circle hook. a little over an inch long..
I hear ya, but we have bluefish around here and the most they would do to that hook would be scratch it :-\
I'm hoping you were stuck on bottom ;)
I'm liking your testing for the best way to snell... I'm a smart snell a, myself ;D
Thanks
Dom
I snell hooks all year long and the issue of a sharp end cutting the snell rarely arises and if it does it means the hook is a POS.
First I'd try crimping the eye shut even more if that didn't do it throw the hooks out.
Quote from: whalebreath on December 19, 2013, 03:33:15 AM
I snell hooks all year long and the issue of a sharp end cutting the snell rarely arises and if it does it means the hook is a POS.
First I'd try crimping the eye shut even more if that didn't do it throw the hooks out.
I hear ya but if i rather not take the chance of the snell failure due to the line cutting into the gap. a 5 turn uni or nail knot take hardly any time to tie and you can pre-tied the uni stopper knots in a bunch of hooks prior to going out. JMHO..
Quote from: broadway on December 19, 2013, 02:42:02 AM
I gotta ask... what the heck chewed on that hook... a crocodile???
I ain't swimming there!
Dom
I think he used a set of pliers to pull and test the strength of the knot if you are referring to the red circle hook.
Thanks for the tip, I haven't done a lot of snells on circles because I use a lot of loop knots instead because of the same issue with the hook cutting into the line. I will surely try this.
In my opinion and experience, I use a thick, hard, heavy test line when tying snells. I need the connection to be rigid in order for the hook to turn and catch the corner of the jaw.
If you are using soft thin mono, it will certainly bunch up at the eye base and cut.
If I use a 5/0 hook, I would go at least 50 # test minimum. That's just the way I fish my species.
11/0 mustads, I use 100 # test.
When tying, as you go through the eye start the turn on the shank side of the eye and not where the wire end meets back to the shank. That's where it cuts the line.
Thanks Stuart for clarifying, Stuart ...I couldn't figure out what Max was fishing for that would do that kinda damage to the hook.
Dom
Dom,
Well that's what I was thinking... But maybe it was a croc!! :D
Fish on,
Stuart
haha. the red hook was a #4 owner light mutu. They give really easily. I was sitting at work and pulled the hook against the desk drawer. I was really testing to see of the cushion would help keep the 15 lbs mono from breaking. From the look of the pulled hook the cushion did its job.
Would a bumper snell that steelheaders use to hold roe work as well?
Quote from: smnaguwa on February 06, 2014, 10:08:42 PM
Would a bumper snell that steelheaders use to hold roe work as well?
Probably but since there is also mono around it just tie it or I tied the cushion on all my hooks as it does not hinder the hook at all even if I choose to tie other knots instead.