Very good question Daz, I been thinking the same myself only yesterday. I remember years ago a mate of mine had this huge bass scrapping really well on a Toothy Critter shad, this bass was like 9lb or something, as he got it near him the line snapped (14lb Fire Line) and the reason boiled down to him not using a clip, he had tied direct and there was paint in the eyelet and the sharpness of the paint parted the line. Ever since seeing that I have insisted on using clips, but recently I have thought that most of the jigheads I use do not have paint on them........ I dont think you need a clip unless you know you are going to be changing fairly often, and even then its not that important is it.