I have used almost every type of plier I could find including making our own ones. But there is no doubt for me that the Duo pliers are the best. You have to look after them and I only use mine for split ring work and not taking out hooks, cutting etc. They have the perfect length beak on them and can open any of the big split rings and they are not to long or skinny that the split ring moves and the beak gets caught in
between the rings.
I have had mine for about 5 years and bought my first pair from the old days of APS and they have lasted and not rusted. I managed to get another pair from Saltywater a couple of months ago and take this as a spare pair on trips just so I'm 100% sure I will have a pair in case I loose or break one pair. They are most probably in my top 3 pieces of essential GT equipment.
Here a couple of pictures of the pliers I normally take on a trip:
I normally take the Duo pliers just for heavy split ring work and leave them in my main bag. I take a spare pair of Duos in case I loose the first pair. I take Accurate Pliers on a lanyard which I have on me all the time in my pocket, I use these for all the hard work on swapping lures, cutting leader, taking out hooks etc. Only problem with them is they have a very thick and short beak so it is hard to do much more than change lures. Then lastly I have a pair of our own smaller pliers for any split ring work up to about 120lbs rings.
These are the Duos, they are most probably my longest lasting bit of kit.
If you can find the Duos buy as many as you can as you cannot use anything else afterwards.
Cheers,
Nick
