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Best Snug Knot for Lures: The Uni
Best Snug Knot for Hooks: The Palomar
Best Snell Knot: The Uni Snell
The Uni Knot may be the best all-around terminal knot ever devised. Strong, fast, and easy to tie correctly, it holds well in all line types, and it’s extremely shock resistant. It’s also useful across a wide range of applications, from connecting terminal tackle to attaching line to a reel.
When we discuss terminal knots, the Palomar Knot is a must. Ideal for holding hooks, sinkers, and swivels, it’s an exceedingly strong knot that’s easy to tie and fast as lightning. With an extra wrap, making it the Improved Palomar, it’ll hold even in braid, and repeated testing has demonstrated that it’s one of the strongest options you can tie. The only downside to the palomar is that you need to slip a large loop over the entire hook or lure, making it a poor choice for most crank and jerkbaits.
The San Diego Jam holds like you’ve wet it with superglue in all line types, making it a great choice for anglers whatever and wherever they fish. It’s reasonably fast and easy to tie, and unlike the Palomar, is a great choice for a snug knot for crankbaits and jerkbaits.
Snelling hooks with an offset eye is essential, and the Easy Snell makes short work of this sometimes difficult task. And because it distributes load over a large area on the hook’s shank, it dramatically reduces stress on the line, making for the strongest possible connection to your hook. It’s easy to tie, even on a pitching boat, and can come together in just seconds once you learn it.
The Uni Snell is a second option for snelling an offset hook, and like the Easy Snell, it creates an extremely strong connection to your hook. Some anglers find it easier to tie properly than the Easy Snell, but that’s largely a matter of personal preference. If you choose the Uni Snell Knot, rest assured, it holds strongly in all line types and distributes load over a large area, making it an awesome choice for hooks.
Popular before the advent of the Uni Knot, the Arbor Knot was once the go-to choice for connecting your line to your reel. Excellent for this purpose in monofilament, it can have trouble holding in fluorocarbon and braid. It’s also not particularly strong or small, making it generally inferior to the Uni Knot.
The Improved Clinch is a very strong knot in mono, but in stiffer lines, large diameters, or braided lines in general, knot integrity can be a problem. It’s fast and easy to tie, and its ability to hold in light lines makes it a great choice for panfish and trout anglers. It also has cross-over appeal in the world of fly fishing, where it’s a great choice for attaching a fly in light tippet
