Does Anyone else use a swival for Panfish????

[PTocko]

Was fishing with my brother-in-law this past weekend and got into a dicussion of swival or not to swival. I have always used a small swival in all of my ice fishing rigs and he argued against them. My arguement for was that when I want to pause my jigging I don't want ANY movement, especially spinning due to line twists which (to my way of thinking) must look very unnatural. His arguement against was that I was putting something between me and my lure and losing sensitivity. Just curious to see if I am alone in my thinking. In any case, we both caught fish so that didn't help "decide" the arguement. Thanks and think more ice!!! Paul

[dan z]

sometimes I put one really tiny one up from the jig so the line doesnt spin. other than that I vote NO.

[JimBuck]

If I'm fishing in more than 12 ft. I will put one on my line. I think you do miss a few hookups when they do bite and the lure is spinning. Less than 12 ft. I'm not too concerned as it's typically manageable.

[ozzie]

I will not use one.....if i am having line twists causing my lure to spin i will stretch my line by starting at the lure grabbing the line in 2-3 ft intervals just hold the stretch for that 2-3 ft of line for 15-20 seconds...this will do the trick for me and if it doesn't I will peel off 10-15 ft of line and start again....the problem with the swival is that at times the fish (gills n perch) will go after the swival causing alot of misses

[benbosh]

No, i like to use those really small clip things though to change my jig if i want quickly

[Mr.Seaguar]

What Ozzie said. The dumb fish will eat the swivel or sinker. I dont know how a fish can think a hook looks suspicious but eat sinkers 4 times until they swim away. Also, I dont think swivels work near as well as we like to beleive. have had too many walleye snells get tangled up while trolling to think they work that great.

[JBMasterAngler]

Swivel for me...nothing more I hate to do than to tie knots with 4 pound test line when it's 11 degrees out

[Blainebob]

Sometimes I use a small black barrel swivel tied about 18 inches above my jig,but depending on the weight of the jig. sometimes I still get some line twist. I especially use one if its a jig I rip a little harder, like a small spoon or chubby darter.

[BartmanMN]

I use the tiny SPRO swivels. So small they can reel right past the first eye on the rod.

[PTocko]

Interesting replys - to be clear I am talking about a swival and then about 18" or so of leader tied direct to my jig. I agree, and have seen fish going for the swival but with the flasher I can tell this and ignore those "strikes". Seems like people have opinions both ways so there might not be a clear "winner". Thanks for posting, looking forward to seeing more. Paul

[mr_jman]

on my jig rod I don't have a swivel and on my set (bobber) rod I do have one. I think the smaller the better and sometimes just a quick clip (used for trolling Raps) may work just as well.

My guess is you are talking about the ones with a small swivel that you still have to tie line to both ends. Sometimes I think these are an extra "attractor" to pull fish in. Even if the fish are dumb and hit the swivel, the fish is still there!

[drakerebel]

Swivel for me...nothing more I hate to do than to tie knots with 4 pound test line when it's 11 degrees out

aint that the truth!!!

[joneshat11]

Your brother in law is right. Your missing lots of fish with that swivel. There are many other ways to get the jig not to spin. Jig profile, not using spinning reels, drags and others that would serve a better purpose than a swivel.

[marshmallow]

Quick clips.. Depending on the lure I am using.. I use the tiny ones for panfish jigs also..

[L_Cappo]

i use a small snap swival on all my rods cause i like to switch jigs often.i have never used a plain swival and i have no problem cathing eyes or crappies.

[PTocko]

Your brother in law is right. Your missing lots of fish with that swivel. There are many other ways to get the jig not to spin. Jig profile, not using spinning reels, drags and others that would serve a better purpose than a swivel.

Jones -not to call you out but you seem pretty sure. Please explain the physics of how I might be missing fish. Line goes to swival that can only move in the rotating axis, then line goes direct to lure. Any movement in the swival "end-to-end" is inperceptable to me and is probably offset by line stretch. I do use a good quality bearing swival. Again, not trying to call you out, just trying to understand. It seems I am not alone in doing this. Think more ice. Paul

[brd]

I cant see how you can be missing bites. Its a steel swivel with no stretch. I would say the most sensitive set up would be braided main line to a small, quality swivel then to a floro leader.

[joneshat11]

Fish hitting your bait on the upwards fashion. Your bait moves upwards while your swivel stays in the same place. Even when your bait moves side to side you don't see or feel anything. Watch fish on a camera someday. IMO every fish will hit a bait in an upward fashion %80 of the time 15% sideways and 5% it will pull down. That's why tightliners are so effective catching fish, they know when they have a bite just by line angle. In most days unless the fish are more active by the time you do see the swivel move the fish already spit the jig out. When they are active they will hold on.

[PTocko]

Jones - thanks, I can imagine that. Not sure if not having a swival will make a difference (to me). In other words I'm not sure I could detect slack line a heck of a lot better. I know in the "old" days often times we would be looking for the bobber to "lie down" versus going under due to an upbite. I do appreciate your feedback. Think more ice. Paul

[joneshat11]

There you go that's a good test(actually I have done this). Put a bobber on a line with swivel and one without. Put down the underwater camera. You'll notice as you may see the upbite without the swivel, but not nearly as quick or if at all with the swivel. That's the fun with all this stuff we have all the tools today to run tests like these!! Good luck, fishin!!

[mozy]

I'm trying to solve the lure spinning dilemma by using a fly fishing reel. I just got it setup today, so I don't know how well it will work, but in theory it should eliminate any twist. It's not real important for larger lures IMO, but for tiny panfish jigs I don't think there is anything worse than a spinning lure.

[JigginIsLife]

i personally dont use swivels or clips becuase i think they ruin the presentation of how the jig is suppose to jig making it top heavy, but benbosh suggested the little clips and i have seen them before and they seem to be pretty light and i would immagine have little effect on the overall motion of the jig, but i just dont see any sense in putting on a swivel if i ccan tie a lure on just as fast as clipping it on. but that sjust my opinion.

[Finlander]

The main thing that creates you lure from spinning is how the line is attatched to your lure. The second is the amount of coil of your line as you first let it out, streach it out by stringing it thru your hands tightly to streach it for the amount of line depth you intend to fish. Plus you will be able to detect the bites better because there is no coil in the line anymore.

When you tie your lure on the line, test it in the water by letting th lure down as far as you can see it and test it to see if it spins when you jiggle it. If it spins, re-adjust the knot on the eye of the hook and re-test to see if it spins.

Sometimes the line tied to the left or right, up or down can eliminate lure spin. And the placement of what you put on the hook like plactics or live bait can make your lures spin, so experiment to eliminate.

Good Luck!

Finlander

[blackdog1101]

I'm trying to solve the lure spinning dilemma by using a fly fishing reel. I just got it setup today, so I don't know how well it will work, but in theory it should eliminate any twist. It's not real important for larger lures IMO, but for tiny panfish jigs I don't think there is anything worse than a spinning lure.

That's what I'm trying too. I used it exclusively this weekend. Stripping the line off by hand is a little bit of a nuisance, but I'm thinking this has promise, especially for really small jigs.

[OnAFly]

I got one set up and used it last weekend. Works great with a JM Sight Fishing Rod! No twist at all.