In my opinion, swivels are bad when smallie fishing. Number one, its can mess up the action of some lures, and other lures not. Number two, it is good to retie that many times. When smallie fishing you are oftrn around a lot of cover, including rocks and trees, and this will put some nicks in the line which will cause the line to break when you got that big one on. So basically I don't want to lose my lure and a fish so I retie every time I change.
Ron Manthe