Let's talk about “paperclip” style lure clips because I am hearing about some anglers having issues with (my favourite) Breakaway Mini Link

I guess about three years ago I bought a bulk bag of Breakaway Mini Link lure clips directly from Breakaway. I can’t remember how many were in the packet or what I paid for them, but I have a fair few left here, and so far I have never had a single issue with a single Mini Link from that packet or indeed any packets I bought prior to that bulk order. I can very easily clip on any lures I might fish with by feel alone - handy for night fishing and not having to put bloody glasses on every time you want to change a lure - and I have never had one even remotely start opening on me when hooked up to any bass or indeed pollack that I have caught since I first started using these awesome little clips about six years ago……………..

The other night Mark and I were out on the beach and he went back to his rucksack presumably to change a lure or do his hair or something like that. A couple of times I turned around and noticed that his red light was on for a lot longer than it would usually take to change over to a different lure, so I called over to ask if he was okay. Mark has been using the Breakaway Mini Link lure clips for a couple of years now, but let’s not talk about when he first tried them out, indeed we still joke about how easy they are to use. I wandered over to where he was changing lures the other night and Mark was having to modify his Mini Link with a pair of pliers because he couldn’t get a lure on properly.

I said to him that I had a vague memory of some anglers complaining about this on Facebook a while ago, so I did what I often do and asked the question the next day. Mark and I went through the packets of Breakaway Mini Link lure clips he had recently bought so I could grab a few of the lesser ones to compare them to the ones I have got here from my bulk pack, and as you can see in the photo above, there is a noticeable difference which I guess is down to some sort of recentish quality control issue wherever these ingenious little lure clips are made. It seems to be the case that if that bit of wire doesn’t come over at the length and angle as per the clip in the “old” circle above, then as per the clips in the “new” circle, it’s now virtually impossible to clip lures on successfully.

When I asked the question on my Facebook page it was interesting how many other anglers have been getting the exact same issues with these Mini Link lure clips. My understanding is that some of them have approached Breakaway to tell them about the quality control issues, but I have no idea whether the wheels are in motion to rectify the problems or not. Granted, these are not exactly the sexiest or most expensive item of fishing tackle we might buy, but when you buy a packet of lure clips you should not have to discard some of them because they aren’t made properly. As I said earlier on, I have never had any problems with these clips, but then in some respects I am three years out of date with them because of my bulk buy. I guess that in the days before forums and then social media you might have thought it was just you who got unlucky with a faulty product, but these days I guess there is no hiding from how information travels around so easily.

A lot of products from all kinds of markets get copied or at least “imitated and changed a little bit” these days, and a number of anglers from that Facebook post suggested some alternatives to the Breakaway Mini Link “paperclip” style lure clips. I don’t know where the paperclip style of lure clip originated from, but my guess is that Breakaway came up with the original design when they launched their Fastlink clips a number of years ago now. I have used a lot of different types of lure clips over the years and by miles I prefer the paperclip style because they are so easy to use and they work with the sort of lures I fish with.

A fair few anglers suggested the HTO Lure Link as per the photos above - note the typo which I believe is on some of the packets, it says 8lbs when it should actually say 28lbs. I know I have tried these clips in the past without any issues, and enough anglers say they are very good for me to trust that what we have here is a good quality copy that works just fine. Nobody so far has mentioned any quality control issues with these HTO Lure Link clips at all which is good to hear, so as much as I am just fine with my older Breakaway Mini Link lure clips, it seems that with these HTO Lure Link clips we have a very viable alternative. There are ten lure clips in the packet above and to me they all look perfect.

A few anglers told me to look at the Seadra Speed Lure Clips which come from Veals Mail Order. I know I have seen these before so I went digging around and I found a packet of them here at home. As per the photo below you can see that they are a tiny bit bigger than the Breakaway and HTO versions, and although I have no fishing experience with these Seadra Speed Lure Clips, I tied one onto a bit of leader and clipped a bunch of hard and soft lures on and off without any hassle. I see no reason why these Seadra clips won’t work but I can’t shout about them when I haven’t given them any fishing time myself. They do all look perfectly made to me.

To be fair to Breakaway because I so like their Mini Link lure clips, I ordered a new packet of them when I ordered a couple of packets of the HTO versions a couple of days ago - and as per below there was only one of them which I know won’t work and will go in the bin. Of course they should all be perfect really, and reports from anglers online are that they have been buying packets of these lure clips where a number of them are not made properly and have to be binned. Please don’t fall down in a faint at how exciting this blog post is today, but lure clips are an essential part of my lure fishing and I thought what I found out might be useful to some of you here.

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