Swivel or Knot?

[uncwredfisher]

When going from your mainline to your leader, what is the best way to make the connection there. Would you rather tie a swivel on the end of the mainline and then connect to a loop on the leader or would it be better to tie the mainline and leader together using a knot (40lb main to 80lb floro leader)? The swivel would be better for changing out baits but would it be better to not have the swivel there at all? If you put a knot there you can wind leader and everything onto the reel as well. I guess I was wondering whether the having a swivel there was that big of a deal? I have heard it will turn fish away. True?

[FinRazr]

The main thing is to keep the swivel out of the water(assume your talking trolling).You need a swivel or your line will get twisted like crazy.

[BTH284]

Using a pitch bait I will tie the leader to the main line.
Tuna= mono wind on with power swivel to main line
Dink and wahoo= 2 Ring small as possible ball bearing coast loc swivel that closely matches the lb test I am fishing with that will snap to the leader, leader=mono for dink and wire for wahoo. When doing this I tie in a piece of 60 lb clear mono about 30-50 feet long to the main line with the coast lock crimped on the end of the clear. Point being here I don't want any of my hi viz in the water. But being hi viz I can see my lines. Then just snap your leaders to the coastlock whenever you need to change out a bait.

[Wasabi]

Where do wind on leaders fit into this. I thought if your lure was running right you wouldn't have a lot of twisting. I haven't done it yet but I was going to use 25 foot wind ons tied directly to the lure.

[johnseafood]

I always put a swivel in the line some wheres. No matter what you do or if the baits running right your going to get line twist somewhat. Unless you don't care about changing your line all the time then go direct. I use a small 100 lb croc swivel and have no problems with it going through the eyes.

I don't like the windon swivels I tend to have problems with them

[juicyhook]

When trolling for tuna, I normaly use a 40' top shot of 80lbs clear tied to the mainline(high vis) then use a BB spro coastal at the end. This attaches to the 8' Floro 100lbs leader line with my pin rig. I use a improved clinch to tie the 2 together, just the knot I am comfortable with. Not the only one for this application, Ive had bad luck with uni to uni, just me. As said above I have the 40' line to keep the high vis out of the water and the 8' leader because we are sometimes understaffed and the leader guy is the gaffer as well most of the time.

[gottaflylee]

The main thing is to keep the swivel out of the water(assume your talking trolling).You need a swivel or your line will get twisted like crazy.

2 things,
first; If your line is getting "twisted like crazy" your bait is not running correctly.
Second; If you do get line twist, to get it out, cut off your lure and pull the line behind the biat and the twist will come out.

When the Box and I did the line stretch video, one thing I found interesting, was the knot was what broke on the swivel, not the crimped loop to the swivel. It did not seem to matter what knot was used.

[daytripper]

the thought of a swivel racing trough the guides scares hell outta me. That's just what I want, an explosion causing a lost fish. In an IDEAL world why would you really need the swivel? I don't want any spinnin lures or ballyhoo in the water anyway. I wonder about this shit quite often and have not been satisfied to date. How about an appropriately sized spro or aussie crimped close to the lure or as the attachment between the main line and a SHORT leader so as to not destroy the rod guides? Any thoughts?

[Bert Rodgers]

the thought of a swivel racing trough the guides scares hell outta me. That's just what I want, an explosion causing a lost fish. In an IDEAL world why would you really need the swivel? I don't want any spinnin lures or ballyhoo in the water anyway. I wonder about this shit quite often and have not been satisfied to date. How about an appropriately sized spro or aussie crimped close to the lure or as the attachment between the main line and a SHORT leader so as to not destroy the rod guides? Any thoughts?

It all depends on line and leader size and style of fishing.On all our lines 50# and less we use 80# Spro power swivels and wind on leaders, never had one break at the swivel. This is especially important when chunking with light leaders. Being able to bring the fish to gaff without trying to pull a 40# floro
leader by hand requires a wind on.

Another trick for troling heavier leaders and snap swivels is using small birds or one of Bill's mauler squids to hide the snapswivel. That way you can have a long wind on and a very short leader on the hook bait.

Bert

[h2orowe]

Depending on what time of year it is, we use a wind on swivel if you use the right size swivel according to you main line and liter you should not have a problem. Most boats here use a wind on, it allows the mate (with a charter) to hurry up and get it in and the person in the chair can fight it all the way up. Otherwise the mate has the best part of the fish fighting him one on one.
otherwise we use a snap swivel. But always something.
One trick I use is when I see the swivel come up to the tip I have the guy in the chair lower the rod and crank so there is no extra pressure on the swivel. Just something I like to do.