Commercial Salmon Trolling Forum

Quick question. I am welding SS rings to inexpensive spoon blanks . I am doing this to reduce cost as I am still in the gear loosing stage of my trolling career. Commercial trolling spoons come with a swivel to attach to the leader. A troller on my dock always removes the swivel because he claims it catches kelp and jellys and is easer to clean without it. Any opinion on swivel or no swivel. Does it improve the action or keep leader twist down? Thanks in advance.

I'd try making them both with and without.

Depends on the spoon and swivel. On very small spoons with small swivels I remove them because they might fail on a large king.

What size of rings do you use when you're putting the rings on king salmon spoons and when you talk about welding do you use a soldering gun? And what are those rings called like if I'm looking online.

I was once advised to do the same thing for the same reason. Guy said, "you don't need two swivels" (the other being on the leader snap).

I bought them from west coast chainmail. www.chainmaildude.com. I bought 18 gage and 16 gage. (#ss18A516 and #ss16516) I think I prefer the smaller gage (18 gage). Both 5/16 diameter. They cost about $3.00 per hundred. I TIG weld them with stainless rod. Last year I put together lures with split rings, and didn't like the results.

I no longer use swivels on my hootchi rigs as they tend to rot the hooks

If I man does not have access to a TIG welder is there any other way to do it? Or do they make a split ring that is tough enough that a guy can use?

thediverdude - I remove swivels on spoons smaller than a #5 Canadian (my most productive Coho spoon). I leave the barrel swivels on anything larger. I have found that the bulkier ball-bearing swivels [like what is shown in your picture] will pick up more jelly than the common barrel swivels and IMO are a lot more expensive. Good luck!

lone eagle wrote:I no longer use swivels on my hootchi rigs as they tend to rot the hooks

Have you had any problems with the leader working its way off of the hooks?

I now use a stainless split ring instead of a swivel and attach the leader to the ring using a loop and jinkai sleeve. The mono can chafe though and I'm tempted to use a knot to the ring....but no more swivels

I don't use swivels anymore on most of my spoons or hootchies. Just tie or sleeve to the spoon or hook. Sleeves gather less jelly than knots or swivels. I went to better and cheaper sleeves than Jinkai years ago. For kings I double up the sleeves.

Salty wrote:I don't use swivels anymore on most of my spoons or hootchies. Just tie or sleeve to the spoon or hook. Sleeves gather less jelly than knots or swivels. I went to better and cheaper sleeves than Jinkai years ago. For kings I double up the sleeves.

I have used Jinkai aluminum sleeves for the last 18 years. They are expensive though.

I didn't know they made a better one. Curious as to why you would put two sleeves on?

Is it because the leader slips through the first sleeve ? Or are you using the second sleeve to offset your hootchie skirt length in conjunction with a bead?

Do you still use the Jinkai crimping tool?

I was curious too. I use jinkai sleeves, just one, and have had no loses so far

I switched from a jinkai crimper to a mustad brand only because I couldn't find a jinkai at the time and glad I did. I think the mustad crimper tool is superior to the jinkai.

Great discussion guys. There are better and cheaper sleeves out there. I use "Fisherman's " from North Pacific exclusively now because they seem to be the best quality.
A very smart troller friend of mine and I spent several hours testing sleeves until they broke a few years ago. A close up super slow motion video would have been nice. Here is what mostly happens when single sleeved. The sleeve slips and the loop around the hook or swivel collapses, then if there is still great pull the mono pulls through the sleeve or, if the leader is crimped on the end, the sleeve splits or if the sleeve is crimped too tight the mono breaks in the sleeve.
Double sleeving eliminates the slip and sleeve failure. The line will still break in the sleeve closest to the loop if crimped too tight. When double sleeved correctly the line breaks in the loop or above the sleeves.
Yes, I crimp the tip of the mono instead of burning or melting it.

For us new guys links to suppliers would be nice - I can't locate North Pacific as a supplier from a google search.

"North Pacific"

Is Pacific Net and Twine's House brand I believe.

We also have Lou Holtz's sleeves here at Murray Pacific for about half the price of Jinkai. Seem to work fine.

http://pacificnetandtwine.com/ will get you to the troll gear