Swivels

[Boltman]

Lost a monster to a swivel on Saturday , first topic of discussion is to the pros....

How in the hell do you change the direction of the fish or slow it down in order to survive being spooled ?

And what size swivels are you using throughout your spread ???

I know it was a swivel malfunction because the only thing to return was my flasher board and no leader , no swivel on the end of the board either.

Maybe I didn't get it closed all the way , one never knows this answer because it cannot be studied after the fact due to lack of evidence . Let me know your thoughts .

[Dr Hook]

I've only had swivel fail once (that I can remember) since I've been fishing. I use either Sampo's or Torpedo ball bearing swivels of varying sizes. The only time the swivel failed the wire was bent all out of kilter. If you didn't get swivel back more likely either knot failed or you had nick in the line above swivel.

I've never been spooled or even come close despite a number of 20+ lb'ers last year. Usually just slowly and gradually tighten drag making it harder to run. I'd rather have breakoff and lose part or my line than breakoff at spool and loose all my line.

[Trina Rose]

All i can say is use nothing but torpedo swivels. They are small but strong. You just need to have nimble fingers to lock and unlock them. 10 bucks for 10 tho

[BenLubbs]

The only times I've had swivels fail is because they weren't locked or they were already bent. I'm not sure of the brand I use, whatever BB swivels the Outdoorsman sells in ziplock baggies.

As far as fish spooling you. In my experience, fish that you can't stop like that are normally foul hooked. Had one fish last year that took the wire diver out to 900ft. Finally pulled all the other lines and fought it in neutral. Fish popped off before it got to the back of the boat but from what I saw of it it was a 12lb king hooked in the dorsal fin. Any fish that is legally hooked I've been able to slow/turn by tightening the drag.

[coralee]

I was using cheap snap swivels and had a monster that ended up straightening out the swivel but after gong to better quality I haven't had that again. Some times when a fish is heading into the long lines I'll take a risk and bear down quite hard to get him turned figuring that a possible break off aint' any worse than a giant tangle. If you hook a King and it jumps like crazy at first or goes airborne a couple times it is likely foul hooked.

[Hotdog71]

I used to use snap swivels with a split ring, but after losing 6 fish in two trips due to failures form those rings I switched to solid rings. No more problems.

[Boltman]

don't know about the fouled hook, but I do you ball bearing stainless swivels, again it might not have not been securely fastened, but it wasn't in the mood for turning around either, Experience is the key, although I did not jump right up and tighten the drag, I did however try to slow his roll....but the reel just kept sqealing louder and he just kept pulling hard away from me, so I decided to let him run,should have put it in neutral, but 30 seconds later I had a double on the wire line dipsey... of which I lost too...No biggie that's why they call it fishing.

[SeaCatMich]

Torpedo or Sampo ball bearing snap swivels with welded rings. I really like the desgn of the Torpdo snaps.

With a "screamer" I almost always slow the boat to just enough forward motion to not foul the other lines. Tighten the drag a little at a time and pump the fish unless it is on core or copper. I really wish that there was a line counter reel with a lever drag so that a max drag to match the line weight could be set as well as the adjustment range.

[fishy1]

P- line came out with some very good ball bearing coast lock swivels 3years ago and I used to run only Sampo and have run the P-line swivels without 1 problem or failure.