The question of whether and when to use a
swivel can be a vexatious one. It is also a question of
considerable controversy among angling experts. Over the
years I have been exposed to the whole gamut of opinion and I
have tried it all, from swiveling everything to swiveling
nothing. As you might guess, I have decided that the
extremists of both camps are misguided and that the truth
sprawls rather awkwardly across the gray places in the
middle.
Whether to use a swivel in a
particular rig is ultimately a personal decision, and I'm not
sure there are a lot of objective truths that can be turned
into guidelines. But how to swivel a rig is
something else again, a matter of pure and applied physics,
and specifically that branch called tribology, the study of
friction.
Those who hold the extreme positions in the
range of opinion on swivels can marshal a lot of logic but
not much hard data in defense of their positions. If you even
read fishing articles in the outdoor magazines, or books on
fishing, you are probably familiar with the arguments. Even
if you aren't, I don't intend to trot them out, line them up,
and present the pros and cons. Instead, I'll give you my own
biased, middle-ground position on the subject, and I'll try
to marshal as much scientific support as I can.
Swivels are primarily for preventing or
removing twist in the line or leader and secondarily for
permitting or promoting baits, lures, spinners, or other
parts of a terminal rig to revolve. Your mental picture of a
swivel should be a motion picture. Swivels should not be used
when other pieces of tackle or a simple knot will do. In the
United States, for example, most anglers use swivels as stops
when fishing with sliding-sinker rigs.
In Australia and New Zealand, small brass
rings are used for this purpose. In Canada and Great Britain,
split-shot sinkers are more common. All three pieces of
hardware will do the job, but of the three, the swivel is the
largest and most expensive and the most
"overqualified." Why soak a swivel in corrosive
water if you don't need its swiveling capacity?
The almost inherent unreliability of most
swivels - they won't always turn when you want them to -
coupled with the uncertain strength of some inexpensive ones,
had me edging toward the no-swivel end of the spectrum, until
I switched almost entirely to fixed-spool spinning tackle.
Spin fishermen and spin casters know that line
twist is a serious and perennial problem, and it will get the
best of you if you don't learn how best to select and rig
swivels.