Spinnerbaits

[S. Sass]

^^^ lacking no spinner bait list is complete with out Stanley ?

[MassYak85]

Extra blades are good if you are wanting to modify spinnerbaits either out of package to achieve a certain quality or as conditions change (maybe smaller ones if you find the fish eating smaller size shad, or maybe you want larger ones for more vibration). But also consider that spinnerbaits generally are not very durable in the long run. After a certain period of time pretty much any spinnerbait is going to have it's wire arm break due to getting bent back and forth from fish crushing it. If you store the spinnerbaits properly and avoid corrosion the blades should be in good condition up to the point the bait is toast. Basically my point is don't expect to need to literally "replace" the blades very much. 

[CrustyMono]

22 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Extra blades are good if you are wanting to modify spinnerbaits either out of package to achieve a certain quality or as conditions change (maybe smaller ones if you find the fish eating smaller size shad, or maybe you want larger ones for more vibration). But also consider that spinnerbaits generally are not very durable in the long run. After a certain period of time pretty much any spinnerbait is going to have it's wire arm break due to getting bent back and forth from fish crushing it. If you store the spinnerbaits properly and avoid corrosion the blades should be in good condition up to the point the bait is toast. Basically my point is don't expect to need to literally "replace" the blades very much. 

 

What you are saying makes a lot of sense. I shouldn't expect a spinnerbait to last forever. As I am new to this technique, and have a limited budget, I thought that having different blades would be useful

[MassYak85]

2 hours ago, CrustyMono said:

 

What you are saying makes a lot of sense. I shouldn't expect a spinnerbait to last forever. As I am new to this technique, and have a limited budget, I thought that having different blades would be useful

Don't get me wrong it is very useful. But if you take care of them the wire arm is probably going to be the first metal component to go, in which case the whole bait is toast anyways. 

[collards]

I have been buying spinner baits lately. I have gotten the variety (Sk, booyah, Stanley. Eco pro tungsten,Picasso etc.). I have had a lot of action with the culprit twin willow in fire tiger. I have to attach the skirt with a tie though. I got some plano hydro-flow hanging lure box, but the dividers are hard to fit. I can't recommend it. With a tie, the $1.oo wal mart ones will work.

[Damn Yankee]

Check out the northland reed runner,budget friendly and well made.

[Logan S]

I think you're overdoing it with that list and all the extra blades.  Since you're new to the technique I'd start small and just get a few.  Once you've put some time in you'll realize what works for you and what doesn't and then you can expand the collection.  You could just start with 1 double willow, 1 tandem, and 1 double Colorado and be covered for everything.  Wait to do the tinkering until after you've learned a little bit.  

 

If you want your spinnerbaits to last longer, tie off the R-bend with some braided line.  See the pic below.  It won't get bent nearly as bad by fish and will last longer.

It'll still break eventually, but you'll get a lot more fish on it before it does.  I got probably 30 or so fish on this one before it died...Another benefit is that they seem to break when you tie them off, so you'll lose blades but not the fish.

 

[Catt]

I've got Stanley spinnerbaits that 12-15 yrs old & have caught 100s of bass each!

 

Other than charging skirts occasionally I tie em on & throw em.

 

I am admittedly a Texas Rig/Jig Guy but during pre-spawn & the fall feed up on Toledo Bend it is easy to boat 100 fish a day. 

 

I fish a spinnerbaits one of two ways

 

Slow Rolled; by that I mean I cast it bank shallow & keep it in contact with bottom all the way back to the boat. I'll will get 4-8' of water, cast parallel to the bank & slow roll it.

 

Next is fishing Buck Brush & timber; for these I run it under surface about 1-2' ricocheting it off timber.

 

[Airman4754]

I was a KVD disciple as a kid so I threw a spinnerbait 99% of the time until I started drop shotting a few years back. Now I kind of do everything, stupid bait monkey.

 

The cheapest thing you can do is buy the cheapo ones that aren't even in a package and swap out the swivels. The blades, head, skirt, hook, and wire are fine. A bulk pack of great swivels are dirt cheap and you use one per bait. I use the red Gammy trailer hooks. It's that KVD bleeding bait thing. It's probably marketing, but what can it hurt?

 

I say all this next because I've learned it from zillions of hours fishing these things. Trim your skirt to no longer than 1/2" past the bottom of the hook bend. The skirt gives life like movement , it being longer won't be an advantage and will give motion farther away from the hook. Use a very conspicuous trailer. I use a Mr Twister four leg, chart w/ metal flake trailer on all of them regardless of color. Give the fish a flailing and vibrant aim point. It you have a dull trailer or no trailer what is the sexiest part of that bait? The blades and they will bite the blades way more than you think if you don't give them a reason not to. A spinnerbait was the original A-rig. Those guys in states that only allow three hooks put their sexiest swim baits on the three hooks and two boring ones on the screw heads so they won't get bit. Coincidence?

 

The reason for a split tail or quad tail grub is so you can use a trailer hook without messing up the grib's natural action. People say a trailer hook doesn't matter, but I promise you it does. If the bass comes from behind and inhales your grub then sure, the trailer hook is worthless. If the bass comes up and hits the bait from the side to stun it (they do this to bait fish schools all the time) they turn perpendicular to the bait and make a swipe at it. This is when the trailer hook catches fish you didn't even know hit. Those times when it just went dead and then started turning again weren't always grass. If they hit your grub from the side they also get a mouth full of hook or a rare short strike. I always laugh when people say if you are hooking fish on a trailer hook you are doing something wrong. Really? You are legally hooking fish wrong? Those are the same guys running out to buy better bullets for their rifles so they can make that deer even more dead than it already was. You might get one out of twenty fish with the trailer hook, but it could be your PB. Mine was. I fished mostly really clean water and fish them near the surface so I watch most strikes and see how they react to things. 

 

I use three colors. White covers d**n near everything, chartreuse for dirty water, and black for night or low light. My night ones I paint the blades black and use a black trailer. 

 

The last piece of advice is NEVER set the hook. Just reel and once the rod if fully loaded pull back against the fish. That will keep you from missing one of those trailer hook bites.