With fishing season starting up, I'm getting my tackle ready. I've been taking a closer look at some things and I thought I would share what I've learned. Hopefully, someone will find this useful, or at least helpful. I don't use a real wide array of terminal tackle, just some things that work.
Snaps
For bass and walleye, all I use are duolocks. All spinning reels and casting reels with 12# line or less. I used to use Eagle Claw Lazer duolocks, they came attached to some cheap swivel I would cut off, but I can't find them anymore so I use VMC's. Except for color, they seem the same. I buy the 00 size, the smallest, if you've never used them, you can see how their size on my fingertip. Originally, I only used them for panfish, but I kept promoting them upwards. I've caught smallmouths to 5 1/2# and flatheads over 10# on them, I trust them, they have never failed. The mangled one in the picture held 21# and didn't open, that amazes me for something that small and light.
For muskies, there's been a progression. Originally, I used Berkley cross locks, I threw them away. I used the 30# snap for 27# line, one opened casting a lure, when one opened on a big muskie I chucked them.
I went to VMC touchlocks, I mostly used the #1, rated at 68#. They will hold that weight, the only thing is that around half that weight they start deforming. There's a #2 snap, rated at 94# in the picture that shows what 60# will do to it, but I needed needlenose pliers to open it. I trust them, but I suppose there's the chance that if one got in the teeth of a muskie, it could open it.
My goal is to catch the state record this year (good luck there, huh?) so I'm not taking any chances, and I'm switching over to McMahon snaps. I bought some stainless steel snaps from Amazon rated at 41#, some Rosco's from LPO rated at 80#, and some bulk packed ones from Ebay rated at 60#, the seller claims they're Berkley but there's no way to tell. The Berkley's and Rosco's are brass. Testing these, the Rosco's were the weakest, the one in the picture failed at 81#, it wasn't immediate, it just slowly opened up. My box only held 81# of weight, and the stainless Chinese snap held that, I applied pressure to the sides of the box with my feet and pulled and the snap failed, I'm guessing it was at least 100#, unlike the Rosco, the hooks broke off. That's pretty good for a snap rated at 41#. The Berkley's held to 100#, the one in the picture finally opened up but it performed extended duty at 80# and then 100#, another Berkley that replaced that one held 100# and is still usable.
Swivels
When I use swivels, I basically just use ball bearing swivels for casting for muskies. For this I use Eagle Claw Lazer swivels #01 and #02, also one off Ebay that was sold as an Eagle Claw Lazer, I like them because they're small. The picture shows 2 sizes of them on my fingertip next to the little duolock. I also bought some larger swivels for trolling, one is an Eagle Claw #2, the other was sold as an Eagle Claw #2 but is larger and looks different, from Ebay.
The #02 Lazer is rated at 40#, it's used for 27# line or less, it held 38# and came apart at 41#. The #01 Lazer is rated at #50, it's used with 36# to 50# line, it held to 56# and came apart at 60#. For some reason I didn't write down what the claimed Lazer swivel held, but I'm sure it held 81#, that may have been when the Rosco snaps started coming apart. I like these swivels because they fit through the rod guides, so I can leave them on the reel, although the biggest Lazer is too big for one rod.
The two larger swivels both held 81# with hardly any distortion, I didn't try to destroy them, they're both more than strong enough.
The pictures below show undamaged and damaged items except for the two large swivels, those are the tested swivels. Also the relative sizes of the McMahon snaps and Lazer swivels.
Tim