Split Rings On Line Ties

[CB lures]

Hi all.

A mate of mine was having some trouble with a glidebait last week. The lure would glide on the first jerk but came up in the water like a breaching whale on the next. It was a slow sinker. We removed the split ring from the nose and hey presto, it worked. I have got into the habit of putting split rings on all my baits line ties, simply because it makes it easier to change lures. I started wondering though if I was missing some action from some of my other lures, cranks or jerks. Anyone had any similar experiences?

[Deep Cranks]

I've gone through and removed the split rings from almost all of my crankbaits. I use a very small Berkley snap (no swivel) so I avoid the time of tieing line direct. The only lures I have that still have a split ring are some Rapala's that have an inset line tie, which is hard to get the snap to connect to.

I believe Rapala recommends tieing direct to their split ring. But I believe you get a similar action by removing the split ring and using a small snap. Maybe I'm just a little paranoid, I dunno. I will say that trolling I will sometimes outfish other people in the boat who haven't done this. Could be the fishing line I use instead though.

[CB lures]

Thanks Deep Cranks. I always use a 90lb multistrand stainless trace when lure fishing, so the lure is attached by a stay lok to the trace, if this has any bearing.

[BobP]

Virtually all crankbaits here in the U.S. come with a split ring on the line tie. It allows the crankbait to wobble more freely than tying direct to the line tie. Most of the time, that's a good thing. But maybe not always. Seemingly small differences in the line's hardware attachment can change the behavior of a bait so some builders are adamant about the size or shape of the split ring used on their baits. All you can really say is that once you find the attachment (or lack thereof) that works best on a particular bait, stick with it.