Snell knot - Wikipedia Snell knot Snell knot Category Hitch Related Knotless knot Typical use Angling The snell knot is a hitch knot used to attach an eyed fishing hook to fishing line. Hooks tied with a snell knot provide an even, straight - line pull to the fish. It passes through the eye of the hook, but primarily attaches to the shaft. It is a very secure knot, but because it is easily tied using only the near end as the working end, it is used to attach a hook only to a leader, rather than directly to the main line. Hooks can be bought pre-snelled. External links Illustrated instructions Knots Bight Loop Turn List of knots List of knot terminology By type Bends Adjustable Albright special Ashley 's Alpine butterfly Basket weave Beer Blood Carrick Double fisherman 's Fisherman 's Flemish Grief Halyard Harness Heaving line Hunter 's Nail One - sided overhand Racking Sheet Shoelace Shroud Simple Simon under Single carrick Surgeon 's Surgeon 's loop Triple fisherman 's True lover 's Water Zeppelin Binding Boa Bottle sling Constrictor Corned beef Granny Ground - line hitch Jamming Miller 's Packer 's Reef Strangle Thief Transom Climbing Autoblock Bachmann Beer Bowline on a bight Alpine butterfly Directional figure eight Double bowline Farmer 's loop Figure - eight Figure - eight loop Figure - of - nine loop Friction hitch Klemheist Munter hitch Overhand loop Prusik Trident loop Yosemite bowline Coils & Shanks Chain sinnet Sheepshank Decorative Carrick mat Chinese button Celtic button Diamond Fiador Friendship Ghiordes & Senneh Matthew Walker Turk 's head Wall and crown Fishing ( angling ) Angler 's loop Arbor Bimini twist Blood Fisherman 's Improved clinch Knotless Nail Palomar Snell Trilene Triple fisherman 's Turle Uni Hitches Adjustable grip Anchor bend Axle Bachmann Bale sling Barrel Becket Blackwall Blake 's Boom Buntline Cat 's paw Clove Cow Distel Double overhand noose Falconer 's Farrimond friction Friction hitch Garda Ground - line Half Halter Highpoint Highwayman 's Hitching tie Icicle Improved clinch knot Killick Knute Lobster buoy Marlinespike Munter Ossel Pile Pipe Sailor 's Snuggle Swing Taut - line Timber Loop Angler 's Artillery loop Bale sling hitch Bowline Bumper Carrick bend loop Cossack Cowboy bowline Diamond Double bowline Dropper loop Eskimo bowline Fiador Fireman 's chair Friendship knot Halter hitch Handcuff Honda Jury mast Overhand Portuguese bowline Rigid double splayed loop in the bight Slippery eight Span Spanish bowline Tom fool 's Trident Triple bowline Triple crown Water bowline Yosemite bowline Zeppelin Running ( slip ) Hangman 's Running bowline Running highwayman 's hitch Tarbuck Splices & splicing Eye Fid Marlinspike Rat - tail Western Union Stopper Ashley 's stopper Button Double overhand Monkey 's fist Overhand Stevedore Whipping Common Overhand knot with draw - loop Portuguese Sailmaker 's West Country Lists of knots Related topics Lists of knots Bends Bindings Decorative knots Hitches ( friction ) Mathematical Related topics Chinese knotting Density History International Guild of Knot Tyers Macramé Mizuhiki Norigae Ropework Lashing Splicing Seizing Sennit Category WikiProject Commons This knot - related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This fishing - related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Snell_knot&oldid=713122268 '' Categories : Hitch knots Fishing knots Knot stubs Fishing stubs Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2012 All stub articles Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 2 April 2016, at 02 : 14. About Wikipedia

Question: what is the purpose of a snell knot
Answer: attach a hook only to a leader, rather than directly to the main line