Snelling hooks

[Excalibur]

Alright -- here's a couple of questions for those pro's out there.

I bought some 8/0 Gami circle hooks for striper fishing.

I wanted to tie them up into fish-finder rigs.

My plan was to snell heavy mono onto the hooks, give myself a 3 inch or so leader and then tie to a barrel swivel.

The gamis have a straight eye (not bent angled) -- should my standing line coming away from the snell go through the eye and away from the shank side of the hook or...toward the gap side of the hook? (previous gami purchases had angled eyes...that was an easier call)

Also, the hook eyes are not welded -- turned and cut off a bevel. When doing a few practice ties and tightening up w/ pliers, I was able to break off 50 lb mono about 50% of the time. It seemed to be breaking right where my standing line came off the snell and passed through the eye -- My guess is that the cut end of the eye is somehow abraiding the mono. Has anyone else had this happen ? If so, what did you do to resolve it (short of scrapping the gamis and going to another brand)

Thanks,
Mark

[Randy Stinchcomb]

well you can "snell" a straight shank hook, just pass the line thru the eye as if it were an angled one, I don't like doing that but have wth NO ill effects. now as far as the line breaking when tightned down, are you wetting the knot before pulling down tight? oh, maybe I should have statted, I dont use the "snell" but really a "uni" wth 6 to 8 turns in it, its faster to tie then the standard snell and I've never had 1 fail

[fish-aholic]

I usually snell with a 60-100# leader (depending on the size of the hook) however I don't tie a swivel on, I usually crimp the swivel to the end. If I'm snelling a small hook I use 20# and typically just tie a loop in the end

[Coop]

Mark, I have that problem snelling my large 12/0 circle demons for that reason you stated,,,I snell the hook without going through the eye,,,basically the eye is not even used,,,when cinched up, the eye keeps it from coming off,,,when I get home, I'll post some pics of the snell,,,if you are snelling through the eye, you want the hook to angle upwards after the snell,,,I 'll post pics of this as well when I get home,,,just a suggestion, but I would use at least 80lb flouro as your leader that gets snelled to the hook,,,after you are flinging chunks all day, you will find that you may get some nicks or abrasion marks on your leader right by your hook,,,I find this to be the case right now with all the crabs around,,,when you fish all day and you just happen to get one on the line, you certainly don't want to lose it,,,BTW, I use flouro, not because it's invisible, but is more abrasion resistant than mono.

[Charkbait]

sorry I can't help, snelling hooks is one of the most frustrating things for me to do, I just use 80lb and tie the hook on now. I've also went to HEAVY split rings so the bait can move more freely as the waves wash over it bringing more attention to it (in theory).

[Oceanoma]

I actually bought a hook sneller (Oliver says I'm cheating) and now I know why it didn't work right!

An article about hook snelling can be found at the following link hook snelling
Tying versus Snelling Fish HooksCommercial fishers in NZ use a type of circle hook (Tainawa pattern, Jap Hook) and snell their hooks to the fishing line.
Most recreational fishers tie a knot to the eye of the hook as shown in the diagram on the right.
As one would expect, the commercial fishers had it right.
Snelling improved the observed catch rate on circle hooks by a staggering 30% while gut hooking of the catch was about the same.

[Pier_man0909]

I tie a uni knot on the hook, its easier, faster, and just as effective. how much pressure are you using? 50 lb. line usually doesn't break at 50 lbs. of tension because when you tie a knot it reduces the strength of the line. I personally use 100 lb. test and I have leaders that vary between 1-3". some I crimp and some I tie to a 150 lb. svivel. I also don't use Gami's. If I use a light wire hook it is an owner ssw 9/0 but most of the ones I have are a mustad 10/0 demon circle or a mustad 15/0 (i think) circle.