Fishing with clips/snaps

[pauldconyers]

Been reading on here lately about guys fishing small crank baits with clips/snaps and had a couple of questions. First off, is there a difference between a clip and a snap or are the terms interchangeable? A while back I bought some of these Mustad Fastach clips in size 1, would these do the trick? And I would want to first remove the split ring you usually tie onto, correct? The line would be FC is that matters. I was planning on using these on RES but could I use these on pretty much any moving treble hook bait like squarebills and 3XDs too? Bad idea on to use on something as large as a 5 or 6 XD? Good or bad idea to try on a Z-man chatterbait?

[dgkasper58]

I love my Fastach and Pline crosslock snaps for all moving baits.  Both save considerable amount of tying. 

 

There is already a snap on the chatterbait- so I don't use one there.

 

[pauldconyers]

4 minutes ago, dgkasper58 said:

I love my Fastach and Pline crosslock snaps for all moving baits.  Both save considerable amount of tying. 

 

There is already a snap on the chatterbait- so I don't use one there.

 

Then do you remove the snap that comes on the chatterbait if the whole point is to not have to re-tie and can swap them on and off quickly?

[dgkasper58]

Just now, pauldconyers said:

Then do you remove the snap that comes on the chatterbait if the whole point is to not have to re-tie and can swap them on and off quickly?

I have a different rod for chatterbaits- so I do not run into this problem.

 

Once I find the pattern I do tend to (not always) remove the fastach or crosslock and tie a loop knot after I have found what is working for me on any given day.  Other times I just feel that the snap is perfectly fine and just retie as needed.

 

I will say that with the snap I thought I wouldn't retie as much- which is true as I am cycling through baits but once I find the pattern I learned to retie more often as I have lost too many baits/quality fish to not warrant 16 inches of line.

[Black Hawk Basser]

I use those Fastach clips and regular duo lock snaps all the time with most treble hook baits, and also chatterbaits.  I don't remove split rings.  I don't think it makes so much of a difference that you must do that.

 

I've caught hundreds of river smallmouths in one to three feet of ultra clear water using cranks attached to snaps.

[5/0]

38 minutes ago, Pickle_Power said:

I use those Fastach clips and regular duo lock snaps all the time with most treble hook baits, and also chatterbaits.  I don't remove split rings.  I don't think it makes so much of a difference that you must do that.

When you say “I don’t remove split rings”. Do you attach clips to the split ring or to the line tie and leave the ring on?

I say this because there may be instances when I would want to tie to the split ring without using a clip.

 

Joe

[pauldconyers]

19 minutes ago, 5/0 said:

When you say “I don’t remove split rings”. Do you attach clips to the split ring or to the line tie and leave the ring on?

I say this because there may be instances when I would want to tie to the split ring without using a clip.

 

Joe

And what would those instances be?

[WRB]

Clip or snap ? Same thing.

The loop knot or Rapala knot isn’t a strong knot unless you tie the Perfection loop knot, very difficult with lures.

Berkley Cross Lock snap is reliable and Owners Hyper Weld snap is ideal for crank baits.

Tom

[5/0]

I should have instances when I may.

I’m still trying to decide between snap or tie to split ring myself. I would like to experiment between the two without removing the split rings from my baits.

 

Joe

[Black Hawk Basser]

1 hour ago, 5/0 said:

When you say “I don’t remove split rings”. Do you attach clips to the split ring or to the line tie and leave the ring on?

I clip it right to the split ring.

[OG Crankster]

12 hours ago, Pickle_Power said:

I clip it right to the split ring.

Same here. No issues at all catching fish this way for me.

[CrankFate]

I prefer the tiny ones, rated for 50lbs, because they don’t affect action on Crankbaits as much as the bigger ones. I also like the small ones because I’m convinced, if you are fishing light they don’t cause as much wind resistance. 

 

http://dbluefishing.com/goods.php?id=239

 

 

[dodgeguy]

I use vmc crankbait snaps and remove the split rings . less points of failure and baits run perfect that way. I have found its also good for walking baits.

[WRB]

On October 28, 2019 at 5:05 PM, 5/0 said:

I should have instances when I may.

I’m still trying to decide between snap or tie to split ring myself. I would like to experiment between the two without removing the split rings from my baits.

 

Joe

Oval split rings were designed to be direct tied to because the sharp wire ends are located away to the pull force. Standard split rings can cut the line if the knot is located or tightened on the split wire gap.

Tom

[Cgolf]

I want to add an additional use for snaps. I fish mostly slider heads and shakey heads with my plastics. Back when I was getting started it was because I was lazy, but later I did some testing and am convinced that lighter heads, 1/4 and 3/16 ounce, fall more nose down than when tied direct. If the bait is tied direct to a flouro leader, the knot doesn’t pivot at the tie point, the bait needs to pull the line down as well as the nose of the jig to go straight down, which I don’t think happens with light weights. The snap allows the bait to freely pivot and get to a nose down attitude much easier. 
 

This is a small detail, but when fishing vertical cover like reeds, having the  bait at the base of a reed or two or three feet away can mean the difference between getting bit or going away empty handed. 

 

In 20 years of doing this I have not lost a fish to a douloc snap failure.