Beetle Spin

[Green Trout]

This is truly a deadly bait. I usually use about a 1/16oz Jighead with it and it works great. I throw it around wood and grass, things like that. I do make a modifacation and I put a curly tail grub on the back. Put that on and you will be good to go. Most of the time, I just do a nice, steady retrieve. It truly works great and I throw it on 6lb monofilament with a 5 foot Cherrywood Berkley Ultralight Rod. Anyone else had great success with this bait like myself?

[scaleface]

I have caught lots of fish on Beetle Spins. The old 1/4 ounce ones were one of my favorite lures . I caught a couple of six pound fish on the crawdad colored 1/4 ounce beetle. New  1/4 ounce baits are a lot smaller .

[Bluebasser86]

Not a beetle spin but I occasionally fish a 2" crappie tube on a 1/32oz jighead with a #0 or #1 jig spinner arm. It's a fun little rig to toss and catch about anything with. 

[A KGB Operative]

My father adores the beetle spins. He catches fish with them almost every time we are out. Doesn't matter what color too much with him either.

[Joedodge]

I have a couple different sizes and change the trailer on them sometimes. Super affective lil cheap lures!

[Tony L.]

Definitely a go-to for me when I'm not targeting anything in specific and just want to catch fish in general. Seems like it always brings in something or another- especially small largemouth, white bass, and crappie.

[Catch and Grease]

If you like beetlespins you should try to fish a Roadrunner, look em up if you don't already fish them. Great little spinners!

[J McRae]

I always go to a Beetle Spin when the bite is tough. I keep them around at all times.

[Grizzn N Bassin]

beetle spin has been on my list of this to try when the bite is tough but I always seem to resort back to a 4inch senko and fish it wacky. I have like 30 beetle spins and never fish them.

[Sam]

They work in the Historic James River but please don't tell anyone.

[new2BC4bass]

I almost always replaced the grub that came with the Beetlespin with a small Mr Twistertail  Good for about anything that swims.  This was when I was a teenager.  I am 67 now.  They've been around a while and are still catching a lot of fish....bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, perch, crappies, bluegills, sunnies, pickerel, etc.

[Klebs01]

I love them with grubs. 2 inch mr twister for panfish. Swap to 1/8 4/0 jig and lunker grub for bass. Always seem to produce.

[Crestliner2008]

I use to use them quite a bit years ago, but now I tend toward Roadrunner type lures instead. The marabou models especially produce quite well. Maybe I'll try some of those Beetles I have in one of my boxes!

[Senko lover]

My only experience fishing for smallies, I used beetle spins and caught three. They're great river lures. I also love me a good old inline spinner.

[kickerfish1]

I use to use them quite a bit years ago, but now I tend toward Roadrunner type lures instead. The marabou models especially produce quite well. Maybe I'll try some of those Beetles I have in one of my boxes!

This! Same exact philosophy with the maribou roadrunners.

[kingmotorboat]

This work great in most marshes and bayous here

[JT Bagwell]

My kids have a truckload of beetle spins. 

 

They love those things. I ordered a whole case of them them last spring.

[dmhoggy]

  my favorite lure.  truly a versatile lure. can be fished fast or slow, shallow or deep.

[primetime]

I always have a 1/8 & 1/4 beetle spin in both the orange with black stripe and white with black spots, and I also put small grubs or panfish baits on them. I use the Roadrunners in cold when nothing is working or if I just want some action on a light rod and have some fun...I have caught a few 3-4lb bass over the years on little beetle spins and road runners, especially in clear water or fishing used up water when they won't look at the bigger stuff.

 

Yakima Makes a cool bait that is only $2.50 at Dicks called the Drum Roller where you can change out the blade quickly, it has a short arm and is designed to spin easy in grass and run shallow, but essentially it is a beetle spin with a light jig head and ZMAN Elaztach minnow...I have not caught much on this lure yet but I think it has potential.

[chelboed]

I have used them since I was 15. Still loving them today. The Black with 2x yellow stripes was a killer at my In-laws farm pond. Beetle Spin, Tube Spin, grub spin, and Mepps Aglia 3 & 4 are beauty...because they can be fished so slowly yet still stay up off the vegetation and snags. When the fish are hitting slow or the water is cold, slow is gold.

For a while, I had a hard time finding the 1/4 & 1/2 oz versions for bass...only the smaller crappie version...so I started making tube spins. I use a brown 3.5" Berkeley Powerbait tube with either an 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig head and a gold Betts jig spinner #4. (FYI...don't use the BPS jig spinners. They are trash. The plating chips off instantaneously, and they rust extremely fast!! Use Bett's when building your own.) This has become a deadly bait for my local bank fishing. Now that I've found the 1/4 & 1/2 oz beetle spins again...I still go to my tube spinners often. Heck...I've even made a 2.25" mini version of my tube spinner for my light tackle setup for when the bass aren't biting. I can use them to catch smaller bass and Panfish.

 

 

To add to this...the other day, it was 44 degrees, raining, murky water, and crappy out. I used a smaller 1/8 oz beetle spin (white with red dot) and got a 19.5" fatty. Small baits can produce nice fish in adverse conditions.
 

 

 

 

 

This was my replacement until I could find full size ones back in stock. I made gold and silver, but gold seemed to produce more.

 

The weedless wire jig head was a good idea, tricky to rig through a tube, but fairly ineffective in avoiding under water limb snags. Don't waste your time with them.

[illinifan4152]

One of the first lures I ever used... Still one of my favorite pond baits when I want to catch just about anything.

[scaleface]

They are so effective  ten year olds catch a lot of fish with them.  

[Felixone]

Ha!  I love the old Beetle Spins.  I actually sort of stumbled upon them one day.  I had inherited a bunch of tackle from my father.  In it there were a bunch of random crappie/bream jigs and stuff.  I was having a bad day with no bites so I thought I would play around with the beetle spin.  I went through a few different combinations, then I found the magic one.  I use a brownish curly tail grub, and on the main lake I fish I almost always catch something with it.  For the most part it is bream and perch, but a couple weeks ago I was shocked when I pulled a bass out.  I had been out for about 4 hours at the time and hadn't caught a single bass so this was a nice treat.  It has gotten to the point where I almost always bring a light rod with me when I head out now.  If the bass aren't biting, I am not too proud to try to catch a few bream.  Better to catch something than nothing in my book.  Besides bream and perch caught on a tiny lightweight rod can be a lot of fun when they put up a good fight.

[chelboed]

This thread got me beetle stoked, so I decided to add 4 new ones to my arsenal. I'll get pics up soon.

I must also add that Bass Pro here only carries the large size (3") in Betts brand. The actual Johnson Beetle Spin only goes up to 2-2.5"at my Bass Pro.

Johnson brand is heavier than Betts. The large Betts is 1/4 oz...large Johnson (same physical size) is 1/2 oz.

The difference being Betts pancaked jig head.

[chelboed]

These are my big ones. The ones on the left are my old ones, the two in the right are my new ones.

These are the smaller ones...same thing...right side are new.

I actually found these the other day.