Swivels Anyone?

[Duke]

I'm looking for suggestions on good swivels that you guys use on drop shot rigs and where you purchase them. I've looked for SPro swivels, but can't find them anywhere! I know BPS has quite a selection, but not sure which to get. Any suggestions?

[joshimoto son]

I use the spro's and I think I got em at gander mountain.

[MBell]

Where are you using swivels on a drop shot rig?  The only swivels I use are built into the drop shot sinkers.
-Matt 

[smbassman]

I'm not sure if they make them small enough for Drop shotting, but I use the SPRO w/ solid rings for carolina rigging.  They are much easier to use since you do not have to worry about where you cinch the knot down to prevent line damage.  This would be very important for light line Drop shotting.  I order my swivels online.  [REMOVED - see No Links Policy List] has the swivels I use.

Personally, I don't use swivels on Drop shot.  The fewer knots in flouro between you and the fish the better.  Just cast out without a bait several times a day and reel in while pinching the line between my fingers.  I do this a lot when using gobies, but it is not needed much at all when using finesse worms.

[Duke]

I got sold on the idea of using a swivel from Steve Clapper. He claims to "always" use a swivel so I figure I better learn as well. The swivel would go about 8-12" above the hook. This is to deter line twist.

Check out the article: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/articles/abdropshot0611.html

[Revtro]

I often do this when fishing a weightless fluke too.  It really helps with line twist and gives just a little more "oomph" in the cast.  I use the small BPS ball bearing swivels.  They seem to turn more freely.  I hate to have more knots between me and the bait, but I'm also sick of all the line twist I get when fishing a weedless fluke.  You can just see it spinning in the air on every cast and no matter what I do I can't seem to avoid massive twist without using a swivel.  I wish I could do this with a weedless Senko too, but it really seems to affect the fall of the bait and I get less bites. 

Never tried it on a drop shot.  Line twist with a drop shot doesn't seem as much of a problem for some reason.  Not sure why.

Speaking of line twist, I've tried the whole "drag the line behind the boat thing" and never seems to work that well.  I must be doing it wrong.  I let most of the line out with nothing attached and idle the boat for a while to straighten the twist.  This was what I was told to do by a guy a few years ago.  But it doesn't work that well for me.  Anyone try this or have other suggestions?  I hate to re-spool every couple of weeks on my spinning reels because of it balling up.

[MBell]

Good article, thanks for the link.  I change my line all the time so I rarely have line twist problems, but I almost always stay under 8lb test for drop shots.  I do use the swivel on a fluke when I have the time.  Janns netcraft has some good cheap swiels, their split rings are stronger when compared to bps.   
-Matt

[Ryan]

Speaking of line twist, I've tried the whole "drag the line behind the boat thing" and never seems to work that well.  I must be doing it wrong. 

Revtro,
I have used this techinique to straighten my line quite a bit the last few years and it generally seems to work pretty good for me.  All I do is let out quite a bit of line, I try to let out more then a long casts length, but it is really just all guessing as to how much is really out, and then drag it behing the boat for two to three minutes at a fast idle.  Oh, and do not have more then two lines dragging behind the boat because then you are just asking for them to get all tangled up and then you end up losing more line then you would have in the first place.
I also use the KVD Line Conditioner and that has helped with line twist problems.

-Ryan

[Revtro]

I'll give that a try.  I suspect my problem then is letting out too much line.  Thanks for the tip.

[Duke]

I also have done this. It normally works quite well, but I've had times when it doesn't help. I can't explain those times. I think it might have something to do with the line. Who knows.

[Team houston]

Always works good for me.