Knots – Chatto’s snelled front stinger knot for flies & lures

 

There is nothing new about the snell knot itself but what you will find here is a unique way to tie it.

I currently use this process of adding a stinger hook to the front of larger flies, soft plastics or even Mustard Fasthatch clips when I am fishing in low light or dirty water conditions.

The photo below shows a #5/0 Mustard Hoodlum as the stinger on a #8" top pour soft plastic and a size #10 shrek fly with a size #8 Dohiku grub kook stinger.

snell-examples

Process

A
  1. Take up to 40cm of leader material equal to or greater in strength than the strength of the leader material you'll be using to fish this fly or lure. My preferred leader material fluorocarbon as it's virtually invisible in water. I have used green fly line for this post to make the procedure more visible and easier to follow.
  2. Tie the lure or fly you want to run the snelled hook in front of and tie that on with a loop knot.

snell-1

 

B
  1. Slide the stinger hook onto the leader material and position it where you want it to finish up.
  2. My preference is to position the bend of the stinger hook about half the gape of the stinger hook form the eye of the fly or lure.

snell-2

 

C
  1. Form a loop in the leader material and arrange it, and hold it in place, as shown in the photo opposiet.

snell-3

 

D
  1. Take the front part of the loop (marked A) and wind that clockwise to form one tight wrap of the leader material directly behind the eye of the hook.
  2. Take 7 more clockwise tight touching wraps of the leader material down the hook shank.
  3. Whilst holding the eight wraps of leader material and the unused balance of the loop in place with your left hand gently pull on the tag marked B, in the photos above, to pull the unused part of the loop through the knot to position all of the parts of the knot in place. At that stage leave that knot loose enough so you can still manipulate the knot to make sure it's neatly positioned directly behind the eye of the stinger hook with the line leading to the fly or lure running straight along the back of the stinger hook.

snell-4

 

E
  1. Once your satisfied that all the elements of the knot are in place wet the knot and fully tighten it up.
  2. Let the knot dry and then apply just one drop of superglue to the front of the knot.
  3. When the superglue has dried trim the tag end (marked B in the photos) so that it is as long as it can be without blocking the eye of the hook.

snell-5

 



Last Updated: June 29, 2021
Author:
Categories: General articles