Spinnerbait Drought

[Preytorien]

I'm in need of some basic advice.

 

I see pretty much every bass angler counts a spinnerbait among some of the most productive lures ever made and they've ever used, however, I've not been so lucky in my albeit short fishing tenure.

 

I guess what I need to know is when and how to fish them. Give me the basics. I know I could probably find a book's worth of information on here, but certainly someone here has some basic quick-start tips for having some spinnerbait luck.

 

Here's my setups in case anyone wants to really get down and dirty with the details....

 

7ft BPS Carbonlite Rod/Baitcast Reel combo - Sufix 832 50lb braid - rod is X-Fast. Reel is 6:2:1 ratio

6'8" Shimano Clarus rod with Fast action with a Shimano Sahara 2500FD reel - Sufix 832 30lb braid reel is 6:2:1 but has 10" more line collect per handle turn so it seems very fast to me

6' generic rod with a Pfleuger Trion GX reel. Medium action rod. P-Line CX Prem flourocarbon 10lb test. Reel is 5:2:1 retrive

 

I have an assortment of spinnerbaits. A mixture of dark skirts, bright skirts. Gold blades, silver blades. Colorado and Willowleaf blades.....kind of an assortment of everything.

 

I just don't recall anyone ever telling me how to fish these things or when to throw them. Therefore I have had no success, likely because of my lack of knowledge and confidence yet I hear many anglers swear by their time tested track record, I'd like to take part in some of that success.

 

Help!!

[bigbill]

I've read there are times of the year were they work better. But I'm not sure about that. I throw a variety of different lures till one of them works. I never pay attention to the time of the year I just go to my next lure looking for a pattern and presentation that catches fish at that time.

I believe it may say in the articles listed here about early spring to summer to fall what lures to use for success. I believe spring and fall we use the same lures. During the hot summer weather were suppose to go deeper with plastics.

I do experiment in one fishing hole I found. There seems to be bass always there. One day a senko works, another day a plastic worm works, another day a spinner bait works and another day a crankbait works. There's always fish the three and what ever I throw in that spot works.

[xxjace]

I'm a huge spinnerbait fan..I use them spring-late fall..but everyone has there preferences and colors for diff types of weather and conditions..man there's tons of info on spinners for diff situations hard to type it all in a post here..here's a good guide on this site..If you need anymore help man pm me and ill send you alot of techniques I like to use but that guide should help alot.. http://www.bassresource.com/fish/spinnerbaits.html

[Glenn]

Here ya go!  http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/spinnerbaits-bass-fishing.html

[Jigs 4 Pigs]

I use them if it's too windy to fish plastics (usually weightless) or having trouble watching the line and keeping bottom contact with light rigs due to chop on the water.

 

Experiment with retrieves until the fish tell you what they want.

 

I use a medium heavy rod for spinnerbaits.

[Tuckahoe Joe]

I love me some spinnerbait fishin.  But I haven't caught any on them for a while.  From what I can figure, spring is prime spinnerbait time.  Just started fishing last summer and fished spinnerbaits heavily with no luck.  Then this past March, I think I caught my first 6 or 7 fish of the season on one.  The spinnerbait bite was hot for a while then it started to warm up and I don't think I've caught a spinnerbait fish since May.  Spinnerbaits are pretty much a chuck and wind type of bait.  Cast it out and reel it in.  Reel it fast and it will ride higher in the water column.  Reel it slow and it will stay closer to the bottom.  Or you could yo-yo it.  Reel it up some and then let it sink, reel it up, let it sink, repeat.  They really help you cover a lot of water.  Also they're relatively weedless to so don't be afraid to fish them through cover.  Sunny days/clear water = silver blades (willow leaf style)/natural colors.  Cloudy days/muddy water = gold blades (Colorado style)/really bright or really dark colors.

[AJMichigan]

I've never had any luck with them.

[Bankbeater]

I had pretty good luck this spring with them, but after summer started the bite turned off.  I am hoping that with this cool weather we have been having that the spinnerbait bite will pick back up.

[RandySBreth]

I throw them a lot. I like them mostly for shallow cover but I do use some heavy (1-ounce) slow rollers in deeper water too. Let the fish tell what they want. Keep one tied on and try it when you're catching them on something else. Watch that video Glenn linked to - it has all of the basics and some good tips.

Another short but good one: http://video.fishingclub.com/video/Kevin-VanDam-Strike-King-KVD-Sp