I am going to start fishing spinning gear and was wondering about building a plug with the front eye being a built in ball bearing style swivel to reduce winding knots. I don't like having a snap swivel in front of the plug and was planing on having one about two to three feet up the line but really feel a built in swivel might be a better solution eliminating any terminal gear ahead of the plug. What are your thoughts?

It's possible as is anything. I suppose you can just put the bb swivel on prior to wiring your plug.

Although if fishing braided line you will most likely want a leader and a knot like a albright really isn't much smaller then a swivel.

Then you can tie direct or just use a snap.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I don't understand what you mean by having a snap swivel 2 or 3 feet up the line. What purpose would it serve there?
I think Charlie Cinto used to make plugs with a ball bearing swivel attached to the front. I have one from him that has it. I suppose it would help if you're tying direct. If you make a plug like that, definitely post some pics. You've peaked my curiosity.

I'm curious to see how that would cut down on wind knots.

My thoughts are the winding knots (backlashes) are caused by the line twisting when retrieved. I feel having a swivel will reduce the twisting, but having it either 2'-3' ahead of the plug (where the fluorocarbon starts) would mean I would have to change the fluoro too often and have tie 2 knots in the dark. The advantages of braid for sensitivity and it's smaller diameter will help with distance (not my priority) and more importantly sink rate (when fishing the canal). I plan on going with 65# Toray X16 black water braid and splice fluorocarbon as my leader/topshot and tie directly to the plug (20' to30' because each time I change plugs I will be losing some length). I have 50# big game mono on my conventionals and can't remember the last time I lost a plug (years) because it will stretch and absorb the impact of a 3oz. or heavier plug/jig suddenly stopping because of a backlash. I have this on my list of ideas I want to work on over the winter.
Ed

I'm curious to see how that would cut down on wind knots.

Aren't the wind knots caused by the line being twisted? I may be wrong that is why I seek advice and any imput is greatly apreciated.

I just started fishing a spinning reel in the canal late this fall after 20 plus years of non level wind, mono, conventional casting. I know about time. I was told by people smarter than i, after ruining a fresh spool of braid, that i needed to take the bail spring out of the bail and pull up on the line to make it tight before i started reeling. so far it has remedied my wind knot situation. I will never give up on the conventional but am really liking the spinning set up for long casting top water plugging.
The Gibbs GTS 3 came with swivels on the thru wire front loop.

Aren't the wind knots caused by the line being twisted? I may be wrong that is why I seek advice and any imput is greatly apreciated.

I usually notice that I get them from the line being wound too loose on the spool when you cast. Happens to me a lot when I'm fishing pencils on a windy day.....until I learned to apply a little pressure to the line while reeling

I usually notice that I get them from the line being wound too loose on the spool when you cast. Happens to me a lot when I'm fishing pencils on a windy day.....until I learned to apply a little pressure to the line while reeling

So it's the wind not the wind????:smash: love this language and I failed engligh comp...figures it should be whind or wined:wall:. So the line is not getting twisted from the retrieve(winding:eek:) leading to backlashes it's just because it's loose. I always thought that it was the twisting for example I thought when you put the line on from a new spool if you did it like you would with a conventional (allowing the spool of line to turn) it would lead to backlashing more; so when spooling up a spinning reel the line should come off from one end of a fixed spool? I guess I have alot to learn about spining gear:confused:. Has anyone found a difference when using a swivel as compared to no swivel when fishing?

I usually notice that I get them from the line being wound too loose on the spool when you cast. Happens to me a lot when I'm fishing pencils on a windy day.....until I learned to apply a little pressure to the line while reeling

..what kevin said. a lot of us use small barrel swivels to connect leader to braid.

Jay R built some plugs with swivels buried in the nose and tail. They work great.

I usually notice that I get them from the line being wound too loose on the spool when you cast. Happens to me a lot when I'm fishing pencils on a windy day.....until I learned to apply a little pressure to the line while reeling

I agree with this,, also found that slightly under filling your spool gets rid if them too,,(especially the Van staal because they take the line away from the center of the spool and move it to the edges),, the line winders also put line on tighter than the reel will wind it on, hence the excess bulk on the edges of the spool and ease in causing wind knots,,,

a couple things I've learned with it. is't the type of reel makes a diff. Penn older reels like 6500,5500 and 7500 plus all the 650 an so on don't like braid. the secret with them is don't let bail close on its own. Check the line ist then trip by hand. If you get a wind knot try to clear the ist one. If you get another there cut it out as that is probably where the line needs to be in the ist place. Most of the higher end reels that are newer will work pretty good as braid is what they are designed for. the Shimano Stelle,sustain,Stradic and Speros all work very well with braid but again if you get a wind knot then you may need to cut it there. Most Braids don't need swivels as the twist seems to help the line stay tight on the spool due to them having no memory.I use Power pro,Fireline and the new symitar which is a long way from the Pink ande I use when fishing the bad rocks. the better the reel you use the fewer problems. Cheap well you get what you pay for. Don't expect Braid to be the same as Mono. Puttin swivels in your plugs may not solve a problem that can be fixed by using the lb test braid best suited for the type of fishing.I use 20lb power pro on a Stradic 5000 with 1/2 to 1 1/2 oz plugs 0n 7 to 8 ft rods and never get a single knot. on 10 an 11 ft rods it's 40 or 50lb braid on Penn 750's and stradic or sustain 8000 with 2 to 4 oz plugs and jigs and never get knots even when casting right into the wind. the key is watching my line and never reeling in till I make sure the line is tight to the spool before closing the Bail.Hope this helps a bit. PS carefull on the conventionals .Stacked line is a killer. Ron