Nobody here is going to know this because the project didn’t end up going anywhere meaningful, but a few years ago I tried to get a lure clip made with Savage Gear. I didn’t really need a new lure clip I might add, mainly because for so many years I have used the paperclip style Breakaway Mini Link lure clip (£1.95 for 10), and more recently the HTO copy of them, the HTO Lure Link (usually £2.99 for 10 if you can find them). Paperclip style lure clips make so much sense to me - so easy to use for starters, especially at night - but I had some ideas for some subtle variations on those clips. I had moved over to the HTO version because I started to find inconsistencies with the Breakaway clips - bloody good lure clips which have never, ever let me down, but I was buying a packet of ten and finding a few which weren’t formed properly so you couldn’t clip your lures on…………..

The Size 2 (31lb) BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clip

So when a friend first showed me the BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clips (£3.99 for 10), last year I think it was, I did a bit of a double-take. It was 99% the same clip I had drawn and tried to get made with Savage Gear. I have heard rumblings about some “political” stuff that went on, but the main thing now was that the lure clip I was after actually existed in the real world. So I obviously bought some to try out, and to be honest I haven’t really looked back since.

Did I need a new lure clip when the ones I had been using were doing me just fine? Not really, but the “genuinely fascinated by lure fishing tackle” part of me just likes the slightly more thoughtful shape to the (more expensive) BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clips. I like the way the narrower top of the lure clip suggests to me that it slightly better holds the leader knot in place when you’re fishing, and I like the look of the movement I get when using weedless hooks or jig heads. Does any of this make a blind bit of difference when I am out fishing? Most likely not, but an iPhone doesn’t make actual, old fashioned phone calls any better than the first mobile phone I ever owned. We like what we like though and we can change things up. The size I fish with nearly all the time are the ones which are most similar to the Breakaway Mini Link clips - the Size 2 (31lb) BKK Fast Snap-41, as per the photo above.

The smaller Size 1 (20lb) BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clip

I hadn’t bothered buying any of the smaller Size 1 (20lb) BKK clips until this friend showed them to me the other day when we were creeping around an estuary with the creature baits. Again I must ask myself the question - did I need to scale down slightly with a lure clip when bass fishing like this, and again the answer is most likely no. But I do kinda like the idea of these smaller Size 1 clips for the more subtle approach. These smaller Size 1 BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clips don’t play particularly nice with the larger weedless hooks, jig heads and hard lures that a lot of us turn to for a lot of our bass fishing, but when you are scaling down they are rather nice and neat. As per the photo above.

I make no apologies for always bass fishing with a lure clip by the way. From time to time I have tried going down the route of cutting and re-tying my lures and/or hooks on when I change lures over, but it’s a complete pain in the backside and I can’t be doing with it. I haven’t had a single experience yet in lure fishing for bass that has led me to believe that a decent, lightweight lure clip is having any negative effect at all on how the lures are working and ultimately appealing to the fish. So it’s lure clips on the end of my leader for me, and yes, I have also experimented with using no leader and fishing braid straight through to my lure clip. This also is not for me and I would suggest that a fluorocarbon or indeed monofilament leader is in no way a weak point in your setup if you know how to tie a proper FG knot. So there you have it!

Another newish lure clip I am also starting to like is the HTO Pear Link (£1.99 for 10), as per the photo above. Again I have had no issues when fishing with it, but there is something about the BKK clips which appeal to me a bit more. Another paperclip style lure clip which is strong as hell is the Seadra Speed Lure Clip in the 25lb size. They work well but ideally I’d prefer a smidgen more room for the hook or jig head or hard lure to move around. I can’t really justify spending a bit more money on these BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clips, but I like them, I lose very few of them, and I know they work.

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BKK Fast Snap-41 lure clip review - a bit more expensive than the regular paperclip style lure clips, rather nice though

© Henry Gilbey 2023