Macmahon snap swivels

Kevinea wrote:

Thanks Maui Guy!
I was looking at what Mark suggested, just wasn't sure if a #3 McMahon would be an alright substitute for a #2.

Gotta give them a try soon!

Congrats on the cheap finds!

Apparently, there has been a big liquidation of these swivels from Pure Fishing. They're all over e-bay as well. I just got 30 (10 3-packs) of the Berkely #3 MacMahon
swivels rated at 80#. I got these on E-bay for $10.00, with free shipping.

As Mauiguy said, the Berkley numbers seem to follow the more tradition tackle schema, where a smaller number indicates a bigger part.

As was pointed out, they do come with a regular barrels swivels rather than ball bearings, but at this price, you can buy some matching ball
bearing swivels on e-bay, and still come out way ahead.

The #3 Berkleys are a bit small for the 1 1/2 oz. lure, if only because they are too difficult to unsnap once attached. They work well
on the 1 oz. lure, and aren't too bulky, but may be overkill according to Marks' choices. The proper Berkley size for the 1 oz. lure
would seem to be the #7, which is rated at 40 lbs, close to Cabelas #2 rated at 44 lbs.

Hope that is thoroughly confusing enough for everyone

This is my first post here by the way. After hooking into what I estimated to be a 7-10 Lb. Trevally on my 5th
cast with a 1 1/2 oz. MW Lure...(on an overfished part of Maui, no less) I've become more interested in
whipping again. (He spit the hook after a few minutes )

Hey Pete_on_Maui, was up Dude. I was a little confused when me snaps arrived also, the size to number designation did not match other brands. But The #3 is good for smaller 1 oz, lures and I think I will use the #2 for 1 1/2 oz and over lures. The #2 are almost as big as the regular #6 I use on my Ulua poles. You aint kidding about almost fished out. But they are there, just deeper water and harder places to get too.

Keep the lines tight, time to get to work.
Robert

MauiGuy wrote:

Hey Pete_on_Maui, was up Dude. I was a little confused when me snaps arrived also, the size to number designation did not match other brands. But The #3 is good for smaller 1 oz, lures and I think I will use the #2 for 1 1/2 oz and over lures. The #2 are almost as big as the regular #6 I use on my Ulua poles. You aint kidding about almost fished out. But they are there, just deeper water and harder places to get too.

Keep the lines tight, time to get to work.
Robert

Did you get your #2's in black? I've looked around and it looks like you can get the #7's (40 lb) and
# 3's (80 lb), in black, but the other sizes only come in nickel.

I don't know if color really matters when it comes to a surface popper.

This fish was literally on the 5th cast I've ever taken on a MW lure. I wasn't really
prepared. I was just out to see how it cast, and had tied a 3' 80 lb leader to
my 20 lb mainline. The fish went straight down, and screamed my relatively tight
drag. Between runs, It could barely gain line, and I felt that slow, deliberate
head shake. It got pinned down a bit, so I slacked the line because I ddin't
have faith in my quick leader setup. He came free, but this is probably when the
hook loosened. Should reset the hook. Fought a minute more, and spit the hook.
Was sick...this thing was a bull.

This was on a 1.5 OZ white lure with red eyes.

My #2 are aslo nickel. They did not have an option for black on the #2. I use nickel snaps on my Ulua poles and seems to make no differance, but that is either slide bait or bait cast and the clips are about eigth feet from the bait. I am off Thur and Fri so will be trying these new McMahon snaps as much as I can on my days off. Both the black and nickel colored ones. That's how I felt last Thursday when snap lock opened when the fish bit down on it and the clip opened and lost my MW lure.

^^ Thanks for clearing that up Pete_on_Maui!!
Really appreciate it! Looks like I'm going to be ordering me some McMahon swivels in a little bit!

Bummer your fish got away.. I'm sure you'll have more luck soon, especially when using Mark White Lures! These lures are actually bringing me back into whipping also; kind of stopped about a year ago, and now I feel a slight need to get out there again!!


Thanks again!

okay guys, let me see if i got this straight when it comes to buying these Berkley McMahon snaps:

1. They don't come with ball bearing swivels they come with regular barrel swivels(so go order some ball bearing swivels on eBay)
2. #2 come in nickel (not black), and are rated for 110 lbs
3. #3 come in black (not nickel), and are rated for 80 lbs, and is good for smaller 1 oz lures but a bit small for the 1 1/2 oz lure
4. eBay is inundated with these for cheap


I bought the 10 three packs for $10 w/free shipping just like Pete from the seller churchprop. I initially tried to buy them from cabellas as mark suggested but they were like $26.00 plus another $9.00 for shipping. I dont anticipate needing 30 of them, so if anyone would like one or two, I dont mind sharing a few of them. Just PM me. I stay on Oahu, but have no problem popping one in an envelope and mailing it over.


shooooooots

localhawaii wrote:

okay guys, let me see if i got this straight when it comes to buying these Berkley McMahon snaps:

1. They don't come with ball bearing swivels they come with regular barrel swivels(so go order some ball bearing swivels on eBay)
2. #2 come in nickel (not black), and are rated for 110 lbs
3. #3 come in black (not nickel), and are rated for 80 lbs, and is good for smaller 1 oz lures but a bit small for the 1 1/2 oz lure
4. eBay is inundated with these for cheap


I bought the 10 three packs for $10 w/free shipping just like Pete from the seller churchprop. I initially tried to buy them from cabellas as mark suggested but they were like $26.00 plus another $9.00 for shipping. I dont anticipate needing 30 of them, so if anyone would like one or two, I dont mind sharing a few of them. Just PM me. I stay on Oahu, but have no problem popping one in an envelope and mailing it over.


shooooooots

I think you've got it straight.

I think one issue is, if you're going to replace the barrel swivel with a ball bearing swivel,
you want one that's not going to "ride up" on the snap section. In other words, you want
the rings of the swivel to be too big to move up and down on the snap (also called the "Hawaiian Snap"
by some companies.) I guess this is sort of a crap shoot, since I haven't been able to find ball
bearind swivels locally (maui) to try out with the snap. I've bought them from e-bay based on
test strength. Who knows, this could turn out to be more expensive than shelling out for
the Cabelas swivels, but it's worth a shot.

On the other hand, Mark is only offering guidelines, and something we come up with might
work just as well.

I actually found 20 packs of the "snap" section at Maui Sporting Goods (no swivel) for
$5.00 I bought the size 5's rated at 100 lbs to use with my 1.5 OZ plugs. These are
made by P-Line, and are black. I think the "size 5" designation just further confuses things.
Anyway. I bought some 100 lb. test ball bearing swivels on ebay to go with them.

One more thing. Berkley also sells a #7 Mcmahon snap swivel rated at 40 lbs, available
in black, that may be good for the 1/2 to 1 oz. lures. The reason these are out there
so cheap is because Berkley has discontinued them.

Mark White is likely thinking "Stop being so cheap and go to cabelas!", but you know how it is:
You try to save a few bucks, and you end up spending more. As far as I'm concerned though, as
long as the lure doesn't spin, it's okay. The last thing I'm worried about when I have a big
fish on the line is my swivel failing. I'll screw it up and lose the fish some other way long before
thatr ever happens!

localhawaii wrote:

Berkley McMahon snaps:

3. #3 come in black (not nickel), and are rated for 80 lbs, and is good for smaller 1 oz lures but a bit small for the 1 1/2 oz lure

I bought the 10 three packs for $10 w/free shipping just like Pete from the seller churchprop. I initially tried to buy them from cabellas as mark suggested but they were like $26.00 plus another $9.00 for shipping. I dont anticipate needing 30 of them, so if anyone would like one or two, I dont mind sharing a few of them. Just PM me. I stay on Oahu, but have no problem popping one in an envelope and mailing it over.

shooooooots

I made the same purchase and am willing to part with 5 packages at cost (3 snap swivels each). PM with mailing address.

mil

makana59 wrote:

Aloha Mark,
For your 1oz and 1/2oz lure, which size swivel would you use?

The smallest size #2 rated 44 lbs. I use it for the 1.5 oz. also.