to snap or not to snap

[BassDawg]

When fishing mono to mono, chunking/slingin' snakes/sluggoing, i tie direct at least 4' to 6'of shock with an albright special to my spool line.

While Sluggoing; i tie a heavy duty (200/250#) blk or nickel bb swivel to my shock leader that has a hd breakaway snap ~ala Master McKenna~ tied with an improved clinch at the end of a 3' to 4' pre tied leader outta my leader wallet.

While slingin' eeeeeels; i tie a hd black/nkl barrel swivel to 4' to 5' of a pre-tied shocker that is snelled to my eeeeeeels hook that varies from spot to spot and eeeels to eeeeels, by size of both spot and eeeeeels.

While chunking; i simply add my pre-tied 3' to 4' leader via a hd spro bb swivel to my snelled j hook ~all of it, below the fish finder that has the appropiate bank sinker in rocks and pyramid sinker on the beach attached to it.

When plugging; i tie direct all the way ~starting out with Crazy Al's albright braid to mono, then i add 12'-14' of shock and tie direct to all my plugs. just cause i'm old school and the direct tieing also allows me to "downshift" during the craziness of a Big BITE. plus, the fact that i just like the feel and action of a solid end loop knot. if the booos come calling i'll add a 60# flouro pre-tied to a hd brkaway to a *broom handle with hooks*.

Just to touch on whether our prey "sees" any or all terminal swivels, i always thought that it was more of a "feel" situation. Hence the longer leader for eeeeeeling. i believe it is Daignault who talks about the potentiality of the Big Gurls feeling a swivel on thier lips and purging our offering because of it?? makes sense to me, and that is why he suggests such long leaders with eels, no? Big Striper, longer gullet = the necessity for a longer leader. Seems to me that his theory would translate to all other applications as well..................

Hope this helps, RIJimmy
Good question, with lots of choices !

[cow tamer]

Wonder how many snap failures are caused by not adequately closing the snap?
Maybe that's why breakaways are becoming popular.
Me, I use coastlock.
Interesting theory on bb swivels and "wind" knots.

[Back Beach]

Just put an oversized split ring on the nose of the plug and tie onto it. Make sure you tie onto the section where there is only one strand of wire showing. If you tie over the doubled up section of wire, the knot may fail. As far as snaps go, you can keep them. They don't deter strikes, but they will all open under the right circumstances. A split ring will never open when used on the nose of a lure provided its sized correctly. You do need to make sure the split ring is not too big in diameter either as it may impede the action of a swimming plug if it rubs against the lure eye.

[bart]

Originally Posted by cow tamer

Wonder how many snap failures are caused by not adequately closing the snap?

or by not having your drag adjusted properly

[Maloney]

Remember Bassdozer who used a snap "as big as a New York City cockroach"? I have been using the breakaways cause I don't like to retie all the time. I like the coastlocks too.

["uffah!!"]

I won't use snaps anymore!! Last year I had a nice 30" Bass on and got it next to the boat, and the snap came apart. There went the best Bass of the season, and one of Dave's Eels.

[redfin]

It always interests me to see the varying opinions on this topic which truly run the enitre spectrum from minimalist to extreme. The fact that we all catch fish with these varying methods drives home the point there is no right or wrong, IMO. I use a snap, either Coastlock or Crosslock and never use a split ring to attach to a plug, but will with certain tins.