Spinnerbait Help

[Felix77]

I have a 1/2 oz tandem spinner bait that keeps turning over at a moderate speed. Is there anything I can do to keep it from doing that?

[mc6524]

I would suggest your reel speed is to high.  You may think you're reeling it moderately, but if you're using a high speed reel the bait may be moving to fast.

[Triton Man]

Reel in a bit slower, downsize the main blade a size or two if you want to keep the speed up, or add extra weight to it by pinching on a split shot to the hook or just ahead of the head if you dont mind how it looks.  You could also put a couple wraps of wire around the rubber band that holds the skirt and it will be partially covered by the front half of the skirt during the retrieve.

 

Are you using a trailer on it also?  If so you might want to try without it and see how it handles.  If no trailer fixes the problem then try different trailers till you find one that doesn't cause the problem.

[WhiteMike1018]

make sure the wire is in line with the hook, if its slightly to the side it will turn over...I had this happen the other day all it required was a little tuning of the wire

[BassThumb]

If the wire arm is in line with the hook and it's still turning over, then either you're moving the bait too fast or it's just a unbalanced spinnerbait.

[deputybc]

Buy a War Eagle Screaming Eagle 1/2 oz And you can slow roll it and burn as fast as you want and it will not roll over. War Eagle spinnerbaits is all I will fish with.

[5fishlimit]

is the wire arm bent? if it's not in proper alignment it can roll over.

[deputybc]

On my last post I talked about the War Eagle spinnerbaits and it was hard for me to switch form my normal blades because 1. Im a Alabama fan and anything that has war eagle in it is not good for a bama fan. 2. The short hooks in new were going to be a problem. With that being said I im glad i switched and that is all i will throw now. It does not make no differance how you fish any war eagle they will not roll over. I fish my blades as far back in the trees as i can get them and have pulled many 5-6 lb largemouth and smallmouth out with no problems.

[Fishes in trees]

My guess without seeing the lure would be that it is really out of alignment, out of balance some way.

Maybe the swivel on the blade is stuck, or is sticking part of the time.  I don't know.  I do know that I ever tied on a spinner bait and it did that, I would put it in the big box of used baits back in my shop.  That bait wouldn't make the traveling team again.

[lmbfisherman]

I agree it's the wire arm like couple of others have stated most likely.  I also noticed if you buy some brands of really cheapo spinnerbaits the wire arms are so weak that they don't stay true after a few casts.  In the end they aren't worth it.

[Paul Roberts]

Just like crankbaits, SBs will need tuning too.

 

Good advice above; I'll pull it together:

 

-Check the alignment of the wire to see that it isn’t bent. Sight from the front and make sure the wire is vertically in line with the hook point. You can do this roughly at home but may need to fine tune on the water. Some really mangled baits may run best with the wire off to one side or the other. Do this wire tuning before adding a trailer, although you may have to re-fine tune after adding a bulky trailer.

 

-Make sure your trailer is not knocking it off balance. Many SB trailers tend to be thin and tapered at the end which reduces drag that can throw a bait off balance at speed. If you use a bulkier trailer (I like twister tails) you may need more adjustments. Some cheapo SBs just won't run very fast with bulky drag causing trailers. Make sure your trailer is threaded onto the hook dead straight. Mend or replace worn/damaged off-kilter ones.

 

-As Triton Man offered above you can downsize the main blade a size or two, or switch from a Colorado to an Indiana or further to a willow. I actually replace the split ring on the blade swivel of my baits with a tiny snap, and bring a little bag of various blades for in the field adjustments.

 

-Also as Triton Man also suggested you can add extra weight to the bait. I would suggest doing this using a rubber-core sinker with the rubber removed and crimping it to the hook shaft.

 

Again, like CBs, SBs will need tuning occasionally.

[A-Jay]

"Also as Triton Man also suggested you can add extra weight to the bait. I would suggest doing this using a rubber-core sinker with the rubber removed and crimping it to the hook shaft."

 

I do this using a short section of solder.  Thin for less weight and a bit heavier gage for more weight.  A small roll will last quite a while and you can easily customize the weight on any bait simply by varying the length used.

 

A-Jay

[Felix77]

Thanks guys ... I need to revisit the lure the next time I am out on the water.  As far as I can tell it's "tuned".  Just need to work on the retrieve speed and try some of the other things suggested.

[dumfish]

Once you check everything already suggested, try a more streamlined skirt.

[Felix77]

After some experimentation it turned out to be the trailer hook which was causing it to turn over.  I rigged it with a rigid trailer.  In other words plastic over the loop of the trailer hook and then pushed through the main hook.

 

I fished it without the trailer hook and it tracked perfectly at high speeds.  Need to try the "loose" trailer hook to see if it will still track straight.  I didn't have any to test this.