I was wondering if I was close enough to the bottom?

Guess I made it, yeah those are clams....

Dude.  Picking up three clams on one troll through is a little promiscuous, but thanks for the porn.   

Suggestion. Get rid of that swivel on there. Use a Duo Snap or direct tie. I big fish may bend that thing open. I've seen it happen many time s before.

Suggestion. Get rid of that swivel on there. Use a Duo Snap or direct tie. I big fish may bend that thing open. I've seen it happen many time s before.

I find that tying spinners directly onto the main line results in the line twisting up so bad that it fowels up the line once allowed to return slack. I always use a swivel with spinners to avoid this. I have lost fish for many reasons but never from a failed swivel. Of coarse I've never caught a full sized king on a spinner either. 

That is not a locking swivel. Ive had those things open on trout. Use a barrel swivel with the Duo Lock if you want a swivel. The line should not twist using casting reel and direct tie either. Spinning reel different story.

Haha, yeah I'd say you're in the zone alright!

As for the swivel talk from others: I prefer tying a small barrel (or preferably a ball-bearing swivel) onto my mainline first, then add a 1-2 foot leader to the swivel that then ties directly to the spinner.  This helps to minimize line twist, gets rid of any "shaky" snaps that could fail, and doesn't add all that extra "metal" to the spinner.  That last part is mostly for the clear-water stuff, where downsizing your gear is necessary to entice bites.  Not sure it'd make a difference in murky water.  I use spinning gear almost exclusively so line twist is always a concern, particularly with spinners.

As for the swivel talk from others: I prefer tying a small barrel (or preferably a ball-bearing swivel) onto my mainline first, then add a 1-2 foot leader to the swivel that then ties directly to the spinner. 

Yup, what you can't see is the egg sinker above a standard swivel, tied to a 24" leader then onto that spinner, I fished bass too long to stick with the same color/shape spinner for too long, and I have been making my own spinners trying to see what works (that was one of mine in the pic) I swap them out a lot, but I do like Rob's advice about the duo-lock snap, I will go grab myself a few packages of those, honestly I should just quit being lazy and pre-tie a bunch of leaders so when my main one gets too short from changes I just swap it out..

This was a complete stuff-shit-in-the-back-of-the-truck and run trip, I had what I thought was a full spool of braid on the reel, made a decent cast (I usually cast pretty far) and I felt a tug, looked down and realized my cast had spooled the whole reel and the tug was the knot I tied the line onto the reel with....

Whenever I can, I try to use as few connection points as I can, two knots means two places that the line can break, which has happened to me on salmon more than I prefer..

I also use a good ball bearing swivel tied to the main line and then add a leader to the lure to eliminate line twist.  Spro make a great ball bearing swivel.  They're a little expensive but well worth the investment!

Haha, yeah I'd say you're in the zone alright!

As for the swivel talk from others: I prefer tying a small barrel (or preferably a ball-bearing swivel) onto my mainline first, then add a 1-2 foot leader to the swivel that then ties directly to the spinner.  This helps to minimize line twist, gets rid of any "shaky" snaps that could fail, and doesn't add all that extra "metal" to the spinner.  That last part is mostly for the clear-water stuff, where downsizing your gear is necessary to entice bites.  Not sure it'd make a difference in murky water.  I use spinning gear almost exclusively so line twist is always a concern, particularly with spinners.

Yeah, this too. I do it this way a lot.

Haha, yeah I'd say you're in the zone alright!

As for the swivel talk from others: I prefer tying a small barrel (or preferably a ball-bearing swivel) onto my mainline first, then add a 1-2 foot leader to the swivel that then ties directly to the spinner. 

+1

Better be careful.  You are over the limit.....only one snail per hook.  You have two snails on one hook.