Any questions to russ@reelfoto.com
Recently, fishing off the Lizard for Ling, we ended up short of mackerel for bait. So it didnít take long to bump the feathers across the bottom in the vicinity of the wreck to find some small pouting and whiting, which, if anything, are even better than mackerel for Ling bait.These uncomplicated baits worked their magic and soon Ling to 25 pounds were filling the fish boxes, but the problem with the baits soon became evident when they were hacked into bait sized chunks, hooked up and sent swirling and twisting into the depths. Short traces, maybe about two feet long made from 200 pounds breaking strain monofilament, were what everyone was using, but even with such heavy monofilament the swirling and twisting caused by the baits as they were sent to the sea bed soon overwhelmed the crude brass swivels that most anglers were using. The traces became knotted and twisted to the point where they were unusable. It didnít take long to snip off the hook and swivel to renew the monofilament, but it begged the question, why on earth didnít they spend a few pennies more and use decent swivels such as Berkley or Sampo (Veals USA) because those swivels would have worked despite the pressure of the tide on them.In circumstances such as these, the use of a decent swivel makes the day so much easier – and if it is found that, despite a good swivel, that you are still getting twist, my experience has shown on numerous occasions, that the addition of another swivel will soon sort any problems out.The smaller the swivel, the easier it will turn. So select your swivels according to the breaking strain of the line you are using.
Any questions to russ@reelfoto.com