Fish Head Spin - I Figured It Out

[smalljaw67]

I've been using these for a few seasons, even before Casey Ashley won the classic but I was using them in summer for suspended fish in clear water. Yesterday we had a cold overcast day and the water temp was in the mid 50s, down from the 62 degrees it was on Sunday. The fish weren't moving but we did manage to get a few early on finesse jigs and a smoke colored grub but the fish we caught were in 7' to 12' of water and they seemed to be holding close to spots where there was a gradual change in depth, not on drops but where the flat was 5' and then dropped to 8' and back up again, basically small ditches and an old road bed. Well I decided to give the fish head spin a shot in cold water to see how it work, I mean I've caught them in warm water but never really good, just a few here and there. Well yesterday was an eye opening, the 3rd cast and I had our biggest fish, a 3lb 11oz fish that just ate it, 2 cast later and solid 2 pounder and I ended up getting 4 more, 6 fish in 2 hours after we spent 2 hours to get 4 fish which all but 1 were dinks and the other was a small 13" fish. I tried it up in the water column reeling fast, and then slow, I tried hopping it and ripping it like a jerkbait but the only way they would hit it was to reel it very slow along the bottom, I would let it hit bottom and start reeling and then slow down to feel the bottom and when I'd hit the bottom I'd go just a little bit faster so that I was just ticking the bottom every few feet, that was how they wanted it. I caught 4 of them with a 4" Easy Shiner as the trailer but I switched to a 4" fluke to see if it made a difference and I caught 2 on that so it seems both an action type trailer as well as a simple fluke both work. I think if I would have simply fished it the way it was working I could have done even better but I really wanted to try it out to learn how this works in that cold water situation and low and slow seems to be the best bet for the fish head spin. I now have another arrow in my quiver so to speak and I think if you fish cold clear water it may be a good investment to pick a few up, I was using a 1/4oz with a 3/0 hook, if the fish are more aggressive next time I'll go with a 3/8oz with the 4/0 hook.

[WIGuide]

Nice write-up. It makes sense to fish them slow though since it's basically an oversize road runner. Their slogan has always been, "You can't fish them wrong as long as you fish them slow."

[bunkerbstr]

That's great to hear, cool you did some experimenting and figured some things out.  That's what makes fishing great.

 

I've been using them for a few years bass fishing and a lot of years for crappie fishing (Road Runners).  Anyway, I'm like you, I mess around with different stuff - flukes and a variety of smaller swimbaits depending on where and how I'm fishing.  

 

A lesser known undespin - I like the Spintrix Basstrix version for bottom crawling.  Pin the Basstrix minnow (designed for the head), crawl around the bottom and you'll get your arm taken off.  

 

The Swarmin' Hornet version is really cool too, though not as stout of a hook as the Spintrix, but man you can slow roll a fluke, RI Dipper, Keitech (whatever you like) on the bottom or for suspending fish and they'll eat it good too.  

 

For the lighter Swarmin' Hornets (1/4) I use a M/H spinning rod, 10 lb braid and a fluoro leader.  I use the smaller fluke for that one.  On the heavier 3/8-1/2 size, I like the Zoom Super Fluke.  

 

Agree with WIGuide - you can fish them wrong as long as you fish them slow.  Only thing I'll add is try to pop and stall them like you would a spinnerbait during the retrieve and make sure you keep a good grip on that rod - think "nervous baitfish" during the retrieve.