Making my own inline (trout) spinners - Couple of Qs

[MDRookie]

Hi all... I decided that I must make my own spinners.. due to the fact that I'm losing a small fortune on snags.. each time I go. Some wading pants would sure help the cause.... 

 

Anyway.. I made my first couple and I think they turned out okay. Hopefully I will be able to load a few pics. The first one being a brown trout rooster tail. My first question is regarding the hair on the hook.. I bought a buck tail and tied it to the hook and it looks okay but... the hair seems too coarse compared to the store bought one's.. like Wordens. Should I try or can some recommend something else?

 

As for the second one.. I don't know.. just kept it simple. I used the heavier gauge wire where the lure body slides over the bottom. I'm not sure if I made a mistake by not leaving enough room to slide the body upward... so one could change the hook out if need be? This wire was much tougher to loop and bend than the first one! Also... I added a barrel swivel. I'm not sure what the rule of thumb is as far as using a swivel. Can someone tell me?

 

The last two pictured are what I'd like to be Thomas Deadly Lure imitations. My question here is... would I use solid brass beads or hollow for the body of this lure? Or a combo of both? I bought both but only smaller sized hollow beads to use as a bearing. 

 

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions...

 

 

[Quin]

The Worden's Roostertail uses a hackle, instead of bucktail. The hackle is wrapped on the shaft of the spinner, over the wire wraps at the rear eye. That being said there's no reason bucktail wouldn't work, a little more bulk than hackle.

 

Solid vs hollow beads, the solid metal beads will give you more weight, and more distance and faster sink rate.

 

Quin  

[DoDFire]

Bucktail will work, you need to "hand select" the tails. Bucktails are all different, some have large coarse fibers and some have fine subtle fibers. I hand select all my bucktail for tie'n  jigs and try to get the finest fibers I can. I bet that tail you have now has some of the finer fibers towards the tip of the tail. It looks like you cut the hair towards the base of the tail for your hook in the pic. I very rarely tie with those big hollow coarse hairs and they can be a pain in the butt to work with when you put pressure on the thread to tighten the hair down on a hook, they flare out like an umbrella. Find that thinner hair on the tip of the tail and cut it at the hide, pick out (clean up) the loose hair and even up the hair tips and your in biz-niz. Your better hair to tie with usually comes from the tip to midsection of the tail. Hope this helps you out.

[MDRookie]

Hi.. Thanks for the replies. I will take a look at hackle and play around with the beads. Yes, I knew the hairs on Wordens Roostertails are on the shaft... just haven't gotten that far to give it a try. :-) I did use the hair at the base of the tail because I liked the color better. The hairs at the top do look to be a little finer but seem to be wavy. I've only tied two hooks.. so plenty more experimenting to do. I love making them and can't wait to fish them next week.. when it warms up a little bit. Hope they work! :-)

[smalljaw67]

As was previously mentioned, the rooster tails use hackle and it isn't tied to the hook but it is tied to the wire. For your beads the hollow are better unless you want to add weight, and instead of stacking the beads they make brass bodies that look like stacked beads. You want to make sure you have enough movement on the wire so your blade can spin free and stay within your size range. I'll post of picture of the spinners I make, I have a mold where I pour my own lure bodies and I leave enough wire to tie hackle above the hook as I too like rooster tail spinners.

 

[MDRookie]

22 minutes ago, smalljaw67 said:

As was previously mentioned, the rooster tails use hackle and it isn't tied to the hook but it is tied to the wire. For your beads the hollow are better unless you want to add weight, and instead of stacking the beads they make brass bodies that look like stacked beads. You want to make sure you have enough movement on the wire so your blade can spin free and stay within your size range. I'll post of picture of the spinners I make, I have a mold where I pour my own lure bodies and I leave enough wire to tie hackle above the hook as I too like rooster tail spinners.

 

Hi.. Thanks for the info. Those look great. Do you use strait wire and make the loops at both ends? If so.. do you loop your hook on then do the hackle tie... then finish the body and blade? As for the beads.. I've am using the solid ones for my builds right now. Will see how they do. Can always take em apart and redo... Here's a few more

 

 

[tholmes]

If you want finer hair, you might try squirrel tails. Mepps has used them for years.

 

squirrel tails

 

Tom

[Cgolf]

Their is also a lot of synthetic hairs out there that can be used as well. Fur off a zonker strip may also work although it would be shorter than the bucktail.

 

perhaps tying in some Krystal flash or flashabou with the bucktail could be the ticket. 

[smalljaw67]

15 hours ago, MDRookie said:

Hi.. Thanks for the info. Those look great. Do you use strait wire and make the loops at both ends? If so.. do you loop your hook on then do the hackle tie... then finish the body and blade? As for the beads.. I've am using the solid ones for my builds right now. Will see how they do. Can always take em apart and redo... Here's a few more

 

 

 

I have a Hagen's wire former and what I do is make the first loop then I add the beads, clevis and blade and then the body. Once the body is done I make a bend, add the hook and then finish the loop so the spinner is basically done at that point. Then I put the spinner in my vise, I have the jaws gripping the loop and I use a small rubber band to hold the treble hook back by looping it over one of the points and looping the other end over the thumb screw on the vise but any anchor point will work. I also forgot to mention that the spinner in in the vise at a slight downward angle so the body slide up leaving bare wire exposed to tie on, and then I simply begin wrapping the hackle feather around and tie it off. A little secret, take a tooth pick and dip the end in some super glue and apply it to the wire only where the thread is going to be tied, that way your thread base you make before you begin to tie will not slide on you. I use a tooth pick instead of the brush because the wood will absorb some of the excess glue so you don't get any runs, it will only be where you put it.

[MDRookie]

^^^Thanks^^^ I'll give it a try!

[dopey]

I started making them back in the 80's! 

 

Like smalljaw I use bodies made from a Do-It mold, I traded for a bunch of them but I also use the brass and nickle ones

 

My nephew tore up a rooster tail and asked me to make a copy of it as he knew I made spinners - the rooster tail is on the left mine is on the right.  The swing blades were the only ones I had at the time but got some BIG blade packages on ebay for the old Swiss Swing blades, roto, weber, and weller blades.

 

Don't limit yourself to just brass beads, you can go to the craft stores when they're having sales and pick up lots of beads for cheap.  I also use both types of clevis's - stirrup and folded. 

 

Hair or feathers you can use whatever you want.  I buy whole dyed pelts, or I dye pieces of them and cut zonker strips in smaller sizes for wrapping on trebles.  I've used all types of feathers and furs. 

 

I use an old Netcraft former, a worth hand former and one I made myself. 

Old school

 

You can fancy later on

 

Enjoy the heck out of making your own!!!  What you can make you'll never find on store shelves.  If you get stuck on something ask away and we'll help you out. 

Edited January 7, 2017 by dopey

[ING]

On January 6, 2017 at 11:16 AM, smalljaw67 said:

.... I have a mold where I pour my own lure bodies and I leave enough wire to tie hackle above the hook as I too like rooster tail spinners.

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How do you make channel through body? Or wire sitting in the body deadly? Thanks

 

 

[smalljaw67]

7 hours ago, ING said:

 

 

There is a pull pin that sits in the mold and the lead forms around it. When you pour you immediately pull the pin and it leaves a hollow core.

[ING]

15 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

 

There is a pull pin that sits in the mold and the lead forms around it. When you pour you immediately pull the pin and it leaves a hollow core.

Thank you!

[MDRookie]

Great info contributed.. Thank you!

 

It was finally nice enough today to get out and try out the lures I've been making. I was disappointed with about half of them. I hoping someone may be able to tell me why they aren't working properly. 

 

The first group are all #1 Indiana blades and none of them wanted to spin. I noticed on the Mepps spinners I have.. that they use a different type of clevis and that they have a little more of a wire stem at the top... ?

 

The second pictured lure doesn't spin at all... looks like a torpedo. It's actually the heaviest lure I made but it rises right to the top as I retrieve... I suppose due to it not spinning.

 

The third one spins nicely but so does the body and has a wobble at the back end of the lure..

 

The forth has similar problem as the second.. not quite as bad tho...

 

Any observations, input or suggestions are welcome... Thanks!

 

 

 

 

[Tim Kelly]

When I used to make spinners I found that there was a definite relationship between the body weight and clevis size and blade size and type. They need to be sympathetic to each other if the spinner is to work well. If I were you I would concentrate on getting the formula right for one style and repeating it. Making lots of different configurations doesn't teach you much and leads to frustration. Also, colorado blades are very difficult to make work. French blades seemed to be the easiest. Getting a small enough bead behind the clevis seemed important too from what I can remember.

[smalljaw67]

Mepps uses a folded clevis but the stirrup clevis' you are using should work. Now when you say they didn't want to spin, do you mean they did spin but had trouble getting started or they didn't spin at all? I ask because the smaller the in-line spinner, the harder it is for the blade to spin, I have small trout size Mepps Aglia spinners that you need to give a quick jerk then begin the retrieve or it won't spin. The other thing could be the clevis, specifically the size. You need to make sure the clevis is close to the wire size but still fits with the blade size. I don't know what size spinners you are making but if you are using solid beads and the bait is heavy with a small blade with a medium size clevis, well that could cause problems. I use .024 for 1/8oz spinners and .028 for 1/4oz spinners, both use a size 2 clevis but the 1/8oz uses a size 2 French blade while the 1/4oz uses a size 3 French blade. I'd look to try reducing the clevis size or increasing the blade a size.

[dopey]

X2 with smalljaw

 

One thing on pic 2 with the willow leaf, clevis size is really important, if the clevis isn't big enough the tip of the blade can catch tight against the wire and it won't spin no matter what you do.   No matter what type clevis you use make sure there is plenty of clearancee space between the wire and blade tip. 

[BASS302]

On 1/12/2017 at 0:07 AM, Tim Kelly said:

When I used to make spinners I found that there was a definite relationship between the body weight and clevis size and blade size and type. They need to be sympathetic to each other if the spinner is to work well. If I were you I would concentrate on getting the formula right for one style and repeating it. Making lots of different configurations doesn't teach you much and leads to frustration. Also, colorado blades are very difficult to make work. French blades seemed to be the easiest. Getting a small enough bead behind the clevis seemed important too from what I can remember.

 

MDRookie,

I agree that there's a relationship between body weight and blade size and type.

My suggestion is to buy some "quick change" type clevises.  You can make your spinner with the "quick change" clevis, then you can take your spinner to the lake with a bunch of different blade types & styles and see what works best for you.  Make sure your clevis allows enough space for the blades to spin.  

You might want to buy a scale so you can determine the weight of the body you create.

Also, you might want to record weights and blade size & type for the "store bought" spinners you already have.  That might give you some information to start.

Good luck.

 

[ING]

On January 14, 2017 at 5:23 PM, BASS302 said:

 

MDRookie,

I agree that there's a relationship between body weight and blade size and type.

My suggestion is to buy some "quick change" type clevises.  You can make your spinner with the "quick change" clevis, then you can take your spinner to the lake with a bunch of different blade types & styles and see what works best for you.  .......

Good luck.

 

You also could test yours spinner in the bath. I've took a short stick with spinner on the short line, fill the full bath and pulled lure back and forth. Pay attention how easy it start to spin and how good it spinning on the low speed of retrieving. Good  luck! 

[RyanDR]

What size metals beads should I use around the clevis?