Swivels–well, when I was a kid, you could get swivels in black, gold, or silver, and all of them would eventually rust or corrode. Unfortunately, that has remained the case with swivels for a very long time, but one innovative company, Aquateko, has brought a new product to anglers–the Invisa Swivel.

The Invisa Swivel is made of fluorocarbon, is pliable, can’t rust or corrode, and allows anglers to easily tie on an invisible fluorocarbon leader without knowing any special line-to-line knots. It’s also–as the name implies–invisible, just like fluorocarbon fishing line.

It’s used just like any other swivel. The angler ties his main line onto one end of the swivel, and ties his leader onto the other end. The Invisa Swivel, however, adds an extra degree of stealth to your offering. No longer is there a black, shiny, or gold colored piece of rusting metal dangling out there in front of your leader for all the fish to see. It also doesn’t add any weight to your line, a real drag when using old school swivels.

Now I’m not the biggest skeptic in the world, but I will admit I had some reservations about using a piece of clear plastic-looking material to do battle with anything bigger than a bream, but I decided to give the Invisa Swivel its fair shake before shucking it off as a gimmick.

I first put the Invisa Swivel to the test while kayak fishing against a formidable opponent–the redfish of the South Carolina lowcountry. I use fairly light tackle while inshore fishing, and I was armed with a 6’6″ medium Castaway rod, and an Abu Garcia Revo Inshore reel. My reel was spooled with 15-pound test Berkley Fireline, and I was using an 18-inch piece of Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon leader. It was low tide, and I was fishing in a dead calm lagoon, so I was using a small 1/4-ounce sliding sinker. I tied a 12-pound test Invisa Swivel on and began fishing. I quickly landed a 27-inch redfish that put up as good a fight as I’d had from a fish in a long time. Almost immediately I landed another one in the same size range. A few minutes later, a 20-inch flounder battled his way aboard my kayak.

My fishing buddies paddled over to compare notes with me. They had not caught anything yet, and asked the typical questions. What bait was I using, how big was my sinker, how long was my leader. I filled them in and got back to fishing, landing a 16-inch redfish before they could get back to their holes.

Even after moving from my honey hole, I continued catching fish for some time that day, and while my friends did land a few as well, they were all still intrigued (if not annoyed) at why I caught so many more than they did? Was I just luckier that day? I don’t know about that, but I do know that I was the only one using Inisa Swivels.

The fish I caught that first time allayed my fears that these swivels couldn’t stand up to tough fish, and I caught more fish than my friends that day. I’ve since used Invisa Swivels for freshwater bass on many occasions, and I believe I have gotten more bites because of them. They are especially effective when using no weight, as they don’t weigh the line down at all like metal swivels do. This is really important when fishing topwater lures.

This product is a definite winner in my book, and one I’ll have in my tackle box from now on. They come in a variety of sizes ranging from 12-pound test to 80-pound test, and can be ordered directly from Aquateko’s website at www.aquateko.com