Eliminating Line Twist and Attaching Leaders

There is perhaps nothing more annoying than fishing with a badly twisted line. Twisted line will wrap your rod tip, coil into nasty tangles between guides on spinning rods, and provides fuel to turn a simple over-run into the mother of all backlashes. Any way you look at it, it sucks.

Lots of anglers guard against twist by tying a barrel swivel between their standing line and leader, and while this system works it necessitates a relatively short leader. The solution I have demonstrated here came from Capt. David Rowsey and Capt. Bruce Shuler. It consists of a barrel swivel attached to the lure with a split ring. It totally eliminates line twist often created by rat-tailed soft plastics and spoons.

One of the greatest benefits comes in the length of leader you can use. When I'm fishing monofilament line with mono leader I use a blood knot. With braided line and mono leader I tie the uni-knot to uni-knot that most braid makers recommend. In either case I start with a six-foot leader. Long leaders give an extra margin of safety when a good fish pulls deep into shell or other structure, plus you can re-tie dozens of times before the leader is used up.