Busted

Barrel Swivels Tested the Breaking Point.

- Captain Mike Genoun

WHEN IT COMES TO SCORING BIG INSHORE AND offshore, the devil is in the details. Swivels are one of those devilish little details that can make or break the outcome of any encounter, but often underrated due to their insignificant size. The truth is these impressive little gadgets play a huge role in nearly every type of saltwater fishing application, including casting, trolling, drifting and bottom fishing. Anglers count on the tiny contraptions to join line to leader, to avoid line twist, and to act as a stop for sliding egg sinkers. However like everything across the sport fishing industry, not all swivels are created equal.

The most basic style and likely the most common because of its low cost is a plated brass swivel with metal barrel swaged around a brass wire with formed rings at both ends. With bargain barrel swivels comes poor performance under heavy loads. Truthfully, I do not recommend rigging with cheap barrel swivels and I refuse to discuss them in detail.

The crane-style swivel is the most recognizable swivel and is a far better choice for saltwater applications. Crane swivels easily outperform primitive brass barrel swivels because the pins on the end of the formed rings terminate inside the barrel, not outside of it. This small step alone greatly increases the breaking strength of the swivel. Crane swivels are slightly more expensive, but if you want to fish with reliable terminal tackle that you can count on the extra buck or two is well worth it.