Looking to fish some bluegill and shell crackers, small panfish, I have lots of small artificial hard baits etc. Can I use a snap or will the fish see them, oh and the baits sink if that means anything. 

 

Thanks,

 

tight lines ! 

doesnt matter

 

A smaller lure will be affected more so by a snap. I would tie directly. 

Just now, deaknh03 said:

A smaller lure will be affected more so by a snap. I would tie directly. 

Makes sense, thanks. 

If the snap doesn't effect the action of bait, go for it. Most of the time bluegill and other panfish are biting my line while I'm bass fishing, they aren't that smart.

I used the smallest owner welded snap on lures for crappie and trout.  They worked well for me.

pressured sunfish at a community dock for example can get very smart, they can even see the hook on a worm presentation. If a snap makes it easier for you use it. You won't have to worry about a snap being a weak link and breaking off with sunfish. 

I have found snaps to improve a lot of my hard baits and prefer it over a loop knot......just remember to retie 

I've seen relatively small bluegill and green sunfish swim up to my fake berkley atomic wishbone baits(used 1/64oz jig or a #10 hook and 1 tiny ss) and just look at it and swim away after awhile. At times there were like 6-8 fish all in a circle staring at it. I dont know if they were on to me or just curious and not hungry. The only way I got some of them to nip at it was to leave it set on top of the water. High pressure lake. It was pretty interesting. Put live bait on and they couldnt resist, back to the usual dumb ole bluegill behavior which is what I was after because I had the kids out fishing, they only stay engaged if it's non-stop action 

For about 8 seasons now, I've been using a smaller, lighter snap hook from Netcraft:

 

Snap Hooks

 

These are light enough to float a fly (in the small size #1). I use size #2 for all my 1/32 - 1/8 oz. jig heads. Not only gives you the freedom of movement for the lure, but also facilitates quick changing. If the eyes on the small cranks are recessed, you might have to go up to the #3, but I use many crappie cranks with the #2 with no problems. I use the Trilene knot to tie my 4# test flurocarbon to the snap hooks. Best creation since sliced bread! LOL!