To Swivel or not to Swivel - Finesse rigging question

[Sharkicane]

Hey all, 

 

Lately I have been battling with my finesse rig, I have hi vis yellow braid (10lb pp super 8 spooled up). I have been using a flouro leader (8lb red label seaguar)but I am hit or miss with my line-to-line knots. Sometimes they hold up sometimes they don't I have been attempting to tie the alberto knot recently. The double uni is still a pain for me to tie currently. 

I am on the fence about swivels  I like them they are practical and easy to manage however I dislike only being able to reel my line up to a certain point. This is on my finesse rig which I primarily use for weightless flukes, senkos, wacky worms, and maybe a split shot rig. I am wondering what is the best option out of using a swivel, sucking it up and learning to tie line-to-line, or just coloring the first 7 ft of my line with a black marker and throwing straight braid. I fear the coloring the line/throwing straight braid will hurt the action of the baits I am throwing. Which I could and probably am way wrong on that.

 

I cast from the bank and sometimes have to cast in very tight spaces surrounded by trees which is why I am on the fence about the swivel mostly. Sometimes trying to cast with 12' - 18'in of line out is way to tough. In any cast I could use some *** on this subject. 
 

[Scott F]

Straight braid will not hurt the action of your lure in any way. There is also no reason to color the line. A bass doesn’t care or have the brain power to be afraid of your line.  It will make your fishing so much simpler and easier. No swivels, no leaders and no extra knots to tie.  Try it for a while and see how you like it. Lots of people run straight braid, like me, with no ill effects. You can always go back to your old method if you don’t like it. 

[wisconsin heat]

My recommendation would be to keep practicing the alberto knot, that is the one I am using to attach line to line, most always braid mainline to mono/flouro leader.

 

In the meantime, throwing a light braid such as 10lb power pro will not impede the action of your lure. In fact, you should get a pretty darn good wiggle out of your senkos and other lures with a diameter that small.

 

IMO there are times on some bodies of water where bass do get line-wary and do not like high visibility lines. I have experienced situations myself when sight fishing or close quarters fishing where it had turned lookers into biters. That being said, there are enough situations where throwing straight braid, even on a finesse setup, should not make much of a difference. 

 

There are quite a few anglers on this board, many of which are probably a better angler than I, that will tell you that a fish aren't line shy at all and will tell you a leader is a waste of time and a weak link in your line. 

I do believe there is some truth to this, but I can't unsee those situations I've been in myself where using a mono/flouro leader made the difference in catching and not catching bass.

[P.A.L.]

I use the FG knot and an 8 to 10 foot leader. The FG knot is the smoothest casting knot I've ever seen and I've never had one fail when tied correctly . (The failed knots failed while checking) The long leader lets me retie a lot before I need a new leader.  I also use yellow braid so I can see my line jump when slack lining weightless plastics 

[Dorado]

I’m in the exact same camp as @P.A.L.  in terms of using the FG knot to join 10# braid with a very long leader. You will know if you failed tying in the process of cinching your tag ends. It creates a very tight cocoon shaped knot that seamlessly flies through the guides   When tied correctly, FG resembles a Chinese finger trap effect. Treats me well with finesse situations (which I’m in about 90% of the time). 

 

I respect the bass fishermen who fish successfully with straight braid. However, me personally, I think the subject is very debatable. I’ve fished in some of the most highly pressured urban ponds in the Southwest and it’s extremely difficult to catch fish off straight braid using finesse techniques. Using a leader of 6# or 8# copolymer or fluoro can make such a significant difference where I fish. I’ve experimented with this for the past 3 years. 

 

There’s a gent from NoColorado who produced a YouTube series on how line size and line type affects bass fishing. I found it very compelling and he might even be a BR member?

[CroakHunter]

I have found that Some fluoros are too slick to be tied in a cinch for leader material. Had this problem with sunline assassin (great line btw, just very slick due to the p-ion coating). I would suggest switching to a mono or copoly line and using the fg or Alberto. I've tied those down to 10lb braid to a 4lb mono leader. 

[Todd2]

I'm a recent 100% convert to braid from mono. I played with it on a few rods for a few years but I don't see me going back to mono. I like straight braid (hi viz) but I do color about a rod's length of line with the first marker I grab..green, black, blue, not sure it really matters to the fish. I could probably go straight hi viz in my stained water, but it's a confidence thing for me.

 

An added swivel could be added on some rigs to help with line twists if that's a problem but otherwise I'd try out straight braid. I think you'll find that you'll catch as many or more fish. Lose less lures and retry less which allows you to fish more...and fishing more is never a bad thing.

[Troy85]

I generally run straight braid.  Only time use a swivel is if I'm using something that is prone to line twists, such as a fluke.  If you were worried about action but didn't want to mess with a leader or swivel, you could try tying your braid directly to your lure using a loop knot.

[Sharkicane]

Something to add to the equation and this may change if I throw it on straight braid it may not. When I throw weightless flukes and stuff I don’t like how I’m not able to feel the bait like when I throw it on a baitcaster. 

 

It’s got me thinking maybe I keep it rigged for split shotting/small c rigging. And just all my texas rigged stuff on my baitcaster. Idk though the weightless fluke is kinda tough with my 15lb co poly on my baitcaster. 

[Troy85]

Glenn from Bassresource.com uses a swivel when he throws a weightless trick worm.