Tie Direct Or Snap?

[Crestliner]

I'll be tossing a couple of the 6" BBZ-1 swimbaits this season and was wondering how you folks hook them up? I've always used a snap for casting my crankbaits and jerkbaits. This will be my first experience with swimbaits however. Thanks for your input.
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"The search for knowledge need never abandon the spirit of adventure."

[derrek stewart]

A past lesson taken from the BBZ. Snaps can be advantageous, mechanical hinge or pivot, quick lure change. But for a lure such as the BBZ-1 based on the line tie placement and the front treble hook location on this particular swimbait during a direction change or a pause in the retrieve the snap has the ability to pull the line down and possibly foul the front treble. The BBZ-1 has a line tie placed on the mouth area / nose. Baits with a line on the head or with a diving bill are going to produce a different result when rig with a snap. The snap can have its benefits but depending on the lure and how it is worked the snap can have disadvantages.

BBZ snap information and past discussions

BBZ Home page article concerning snaps
http://thebbz.com/articles/lessons%20learned.html

BBZ Post concerning snaps
http://thebbz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=98

BBZ Post concerning snaps, split rings and loop knots
http://thebbz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=385

BBZ Post concerning snaps (a good one read between the lines!)
http://thebbz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=428

POV, when I think of baits that come with snaps pre-attached many (not all) have a commonality. Lures such as a Wiggle Wart, Speed Trap, Scrounger, Chatter Bait all have a bill, plate, or collar between the snap and the hook. Many others have the line tie on the head.
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Wet Lines

[Crestliner]

Thank you for your response. I've read all the references you've cited and I'm now convinced that I'll be tying direct, to avoid any potential problems. That being said however, I do have a problem with the line selection suggestions in the first article, as far as using mono vs. fluoro goes. And here's why...

Our waters here contain pike. Some of them are pretty good size (20# - 25# specimens are not uncommon) and would easily gobble up a 6" BBZ-1. Which is why I was planning on using fluoro, (a more abrasion resistant line than mono). I can see me possibly loosing fish (and baits) to bite offs, if I were to go the mono route. Thoughts please?

Another question, does fluoro really sink that rapidly as to change the action of a BBZ-1 on the pause? I haven't experienced that with jerkbaits, but then again, I haven't been using 25# fluoro with those either! Sorry if this has been a tedious rehash.
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"The search for knowledge need never abandon the spirit of adventure."

[CamG]

Fluorocarbon will cut just as fast as mono when hooking into Pike or Muskies. The good news is that a lot of times with larger baits, Pike do not get the whole lure in it's mouth, and can be landed safely. I've caught numerous big Pike (20+ class) on a Bomber Magnum Long A, without a steel leader, mono only.

[FishDr]

Crestliner, I sometimes fish lakes that have northerns or tiger muskies in them and I do worry about losing lures to them. So far it hasn't happened, but I think it's because the pike that have attacked the lures haven't been all that big (24 - 40" models) and the lures have been in the 7 - 12" range. A smaller lure could get taken whole and then it'd be a problem.

One thing I've used with some success (success is defined as catching both bass and pike) is the relatively new wire leader material that can be tied with regular knots. I think that American Fishing Wire and perhaps RIO make it. You can easily connect a short (< 12") leader to your swimbait and so far, I've not seen a major difference in catch rates. I've even had bass come up and blast deadsticked baits that had the wire hanging down from their eyes.
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"Successfully feeding swimbaits to 6 different species of fish in 2010"

[Crestliner]

I would probably think seriously about using the tie-able wire at some point. We have some pretty hefty northerns here abouts; my largest was a 22.5# specimen (yes, in MA!), which I took back in '84 fishing open water specifically for them. As far as smaller northerns not being a problem....well, I'd have to disagree. Having fished for northerns since the '70's, I've taken quite a few over the 10# mark. Had one 14# pike bite off my 8" Believer, steel leader & all! Retrieved the lure the next day as she took it deep and it killed her. Found her floating in the spot I caught her at. From that point on, I switched from an 8" leader to an 18" leader.

Back to fluoro for a moment. They make fluoro leaders especially for pike and musky fishing. I'm assuming they do this because of the abrasion resistance of fluoro, as opposed to mono. I've never seen a 50# or 80# mono leader being advocated for musky fishing. Anyway, I'll probably try a direct tie with my main line (20# fluoro) for starters and see how that goes. I always have a back-up rigged with mono as well, so I can switch off if it presents a problem. And I'll be doing a lot of praying as far as the pike go!

Thank you all for your input which I truly value greatly.
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"The search for knowledge need never abandon the spirit of adventure."

[David Cindrich]

The problem I have here in MN is not larger pike, it is the small ones. The large ones hit the lure and you can catch them. It's the small 1 to 2 pounders that seem not to know how to react to the bait and end up biting the line somehow, the bigger ones bite, set the hook and I have landed all of them.
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