I've gotten into bigger swimbaits lately and was wondering about the reliability of Snaps. So I pulled out a few and tested them out. The Snaps I tested were 30-40 lb Snaps. First test was 20lb seagaur abrasx. Then second was 65lb power pro super silk. I used a Palomar knot to the swivel and to a rope. Attached the snap to my trailer and pulled till something broke. Very surprised by the results. Out of 10 trials not one snap failed. The knot broke one time with the fluro. Every other time the line broke from 8-14 inches from either knot. I tried different line lengths as well from 1ft to 6ft. The 1ft braid bent out the snap but the snap never failed. I am 100% confident in Snaps now. Now a lot of people say that Snaps are another week point however my thought is that since the Snaps are typically stronger than the line then they are not the week spot. The knots are usually the know week spot. There are no extra knots with the snap. This allows the line to be as strong as connecting directly to the Lure.

That's good info and knot tying to have only one knot break during testing.

what type of baits are you throwing?

You use snaps to avoid re tying, right? That's the weakness. I re tie several times through out the day. If I'm fishing brush or lay downs I'll cut off 2 or 3 foot and re tie almost every time I catch a fish. It doesn't matter how strong a snap is if your line getting banged up and stressed. Your line may be what actually breaks but if you weren't using a snap you may have checked or retied sooner. Just my thoughts

That's a good point. I'm usually pretty good about retieing. But I was just checking the dependability of the snap itself. The Palomar knit is a great knot.

I just started throwing swimbaits so don't have a whole lot yet. I have a Huddleston 68, MattLure Bluegill, and a Savage gear slide on the way. Plus a couple sebile hard body swimbaits

I just gotta say, it's seems really ridiculous to me to even take a chance on using a snap clip with ANY bait, expensive or not, just for the sake of not re-tying. It takes less than a minute to clip and retie. All you're doing is adding one more link in the chain that can and eventually will fail.

I have been using them for many years and have never had one fail.

That's my point they are so much stronger than the line so they are not a weak link. Your line will fail well before they do. I still Re Tie but I don't do it every 10 minutes. Sometimes a switch baits quite often

What brand of snap were you testing? I use the KVD brand that is 42 pound test.

I have a couple differnet brands but I don't remember them

I use a snap to eliminate the split ring which is another week point on any bait. As mentioned in another post the poster stated, he was having trouble with the split ring cutting the line. I have also experienced this problem as well as the split in the ring causing interference with my top water action. The snap as been the answer to both of these problems; especially allowing my spook to make those 180 degree turns after letting it sit. It give the spook more action and less friction on the eye of the bait.

I use snaps but I also check my line a lot. I'll re-tie the snap if I need to, but if the line is in good shape and I just want to change size or color bait, it's much faster