Fishing Tackle: What We Can Do with a Fishing Swivel?

Fishing swivel is a small device consisting of two rings connected to a pivoting joint. The device is usually made of metal, and the pivoting joint is usually ball or barrel shaped. The linkage in the center is what allows the line connected to the bottom ring of the swivel to move without impacting on the fishing line connected to the top ring of the swivel.

Though people know the importance of the fishing swivel, they still have many questions. Today we will have a brief introduction to this simple fishing tackle.

1. Functions of fishing swivels

There are two main functions of fishing swivels, and that why more and more fishermen use swivels. First, swivels can provide a point between the main fishing line and the terminal tackle, and they are there to reduce the opportunity for your line to twist. The second function of fishing swivels is that they provide a link between two pieces of line simply. They can be used to join your mainline and leader together if you don't trust your line knotting skills or some types of swivels can be used to provide a link for an additional length of line to be connected for hooks or unorthodox sinker placements.

2. When to use a fishing swivels

Though fishing swivels can help fishermen a lot when fishing, it’s not suitable to be applied in all instances. As we all know, the biggest function of fishing swivels is to allow the line to untwist during line retrieval, preventing undesirable tangling. So situations in which line twists are a risk is when swivels should be used.

According to some experienced people, the primary situations when they use swivels are:

a. When using a casting lure that is prone to twist during the retrieve

b. When trolling live/dead baits that are likely to twist

3. The types of fishing swivels

There are two main types of fishing swivels. The first is barrel/box swivels, and another is ball bearing swivels.

a. Barrel/box swivels

Barrel swivels are common for fishermen, because they are very cheap and simple to use. Their design is such that when pressure is exerted on the two rings and they are pulled apart the stoppers inside the barrel of the swivel press up against the base / top of the barrel.

b. Ball bearing swivels

Ball bearing swivels bring more technology to the table and make up for the deficiencies found in barrel swivels. As the name suggests these swivels have ball bearings inside to minimize any friction and allow the swivel to twist freely when it is under pressure.

Generally speaking, different people have different opinion about the fishing swivels. Some people think swivels are useless when fishing, but others think swivels plays an important role in fishing. Why they have different opinions? In my view, it is just because they have different habits when fishing. As long as you can catch fish, which fishing tackles you use is not important at all.