Our Knot of the Week series continues this week with a fishing knot known as the Snell Knot.

Snelling a hook is a common practice in fishing to maintain an even, straight line pull on the fish.

It’s also know to increase catch rates due to the hook staying inline and not moving side to side, as with tying to the eye of the hook.

The Snell Knot also allows a leader to be tied directly into a hook, and is one of the strongest fishing knots.

You should consider adding instructions for tying this knot into your survival kit, or  just practice it from time to time.

*Note* There are other methods for tying this knot, and it’s also commonly referred to as a Uni (Universal) Knot.

Snell Knot » Bends

(Strength: 5/Secure: 4/Stability: 3/Difficulty: 1)

Please refer to our Knot of the Week introduction post for a description of what these ratings mean.

Uses:

• Tying a leader directly to a hook

Tying Instructions:

1. Start with your hook facing down
2. Insert the working end of your line up through the eye of the hook
3. Create a loop with the working end
4. Wrap 4-5 turns around the working end and the hook
5. Leave the working end outside of the loop
6. Holding the working end, pull on the standing part to tighten

View the gallery or YouTube video below and follow along with the steps above!

Our Knot of the Week series resumes this week with another fishing knot known as the Blood Knot.

The Blood Knot is primarily used for joining two sections of monofilament line together, but as there are many ways to joint to lengths of line together, why choose this one?

The most common of these is the Double Fisherman’s Knot, which is a considerably strong knot and holds securely. In fact it’s stronger and more secure than the Blood Knot.

So why use the Blood Knot over the Double Fisherman’s Knot? Different diameters of line.

A good example of this is Fly Fishing, where you may have to create a fly-casting leader with smaller diameter line.

One thing to point out on this knot is to moisten it before carefully tightening as we’ve instructed below. This will help to not weaken the lines.

Tightening the knot too quickly can also weaken the lines.

We’re not sure how this will hold up with Saltwater monofilament, but for freshwater it does just fine.

Don’t use this knot for anything other than fishing. the Double Fisherman’s Knot works much better for joining rope, as the Blood Knot tends to pull apart.

Blood Knot » Bends

(Strength: 4/Secure: 4/Stability: 3/Difficulty: 3)

Please refer to our Knot of the Week introduction post for a description of what these ratings mean.

Uses:

• Joining small monofilament lines together
• Joining unequal diameter monofilament lines

Tying Instructions:

1. Start with your two lines overlapping (around 12 – 14″ of length after the overlap)
2. Make at least eight wraps with each working end
3. Pull apart the middle-most wraps creating an eye
4. One at a time bring one working end at a time through the eye in opposite directions
5. Ensure that you have opposing directions on the working ends
6. Moisten the knot
7. Pull the working ends apart while you’re cinching up the wrapping on each end of the knot
8. Trim off the excess working ends close to the knot

View the gallery or YouTube video below and follow along with the steps above!

Our Knot of the Week series continues this week with a new twist.

For the next few weeks we’ll be showing a few fishing knots that we feel are important to learn for survival purposes.

It’s never a bad thing to know fishing knots, just in case you’re ever in the situation where you have to use them in order to gather food.

You may remember that in our review of the Mini Survival Kit, we included a small laminated sheet with a few common fishing knots.

This week’s knot, the Pitzen Knot, is one that’s always on our list of simple fishing knots and a great one to remember.

The Pitzen Knot enables you to attach fishing line to a hook, lure or swivel.

We’ve come up with a different way of demonstrating the fishing knots, and one that we feel will make our instructions easier to understand.

Instead of showing actual fishing line being tied to a hook, we mounted an eye at the end of a dowel and used paracord to illustrate the steps in our photos and YouTube video.

We attempted to show fishing line and a hook initially, but found it too hard to see on video and in the photos.

Pitzen Knot » Hitches

(Strength: 4/Secure: 4/Stability: 4/Difficulty: 1)

Please refer to our Knot of the Week introduction post for a description of what these ratings mean.

Uses:

• Securing a fishing line to a hook, lure or swivel
• Strong slip knot

Tying Instructions:

1. Thread the working end of  your line through the eye of the hook
2. *Ensure you have plenty of line in your working end*
3. Run the working end parallel to the standing part
4. With the working end, make four to five wraps around the standing part towards the direction of the hook
5. Bring the working end back to the beginning of the wrapping and through the naturally created loop made with the first wrap
6. Pull the knot tight and slide it towards the hook
7. Trim off the excess working end

View the gallery or YouTube video below and follow along with the steps above!