Where they come in incredibly handy for the pike angler is attaching your trace to your main line. There are plenty of snaps and cross-locks in the tackle shops, including the Berkley ones everyone used to use before these appeared.
While snaps are fiddly, wear out and sometimes come open when they're not intended to, these are as simple as it gets and 100 per cent reliable. You just snick your trace swivel in and that's that - job sorted. I use snaps both for convenience - no tying and re-tying the trace on every time the rods come out of the car or you move waters.
They're also a boon when you have a fish in the net, as you can unclip the trace and drop the rod back on the rest while you unhook it, so no having to carry the rod as well as the net and fish to the mat. That also means less chance of kneeling or standing on a rod in the excitement.
They're £1.99 a pack - 10 of them would easily last me a season, but you get five extra for free at the moment for some reason. They also make them with swivels, which some people prefer.
I still have a stack of these from my bass fishing days, along with all kinds of other useful bits and pieces of sea tackle you can't buy in Coventry. The small bronze versions are excellent too, though they've all gone. They'd be good for attaching lures I reckon.
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