Spinnerbait and using trailers

[Brad Reid]

I'm curious regarding whether anyone here fishes spinnerbaits without trailers?

 

Between the blades flashing and vibrating, the skirts pulsing and adding attracting colors, what would one expect or think the net pick up to be then attaching a plastic trailer? 20% more effective attracting and catching fish?

 

Same general question regarding chatterbaits.

 

I do "get" using trailers in circumstances where you drop it to the bottom, maybe let it sit and work it up and down . . . more like a jig. I am thinking more about active retrievals where they are moving.

 

Looking forward to hearing how everyone dials this in!

 

My ulterior motive? I am just not a very good spinnerbait angler . . . looking for some more clarifications.

 

Brad

[J Francho]

Always use a trailer hook, never any bait.  I have no issues getting bit.

[GReb]

I don’t unless the water is super stained. In those situations my thought process is it gives the bass a “target” as well as just more vibrations. When I do it’s just a cheap zoom grub in a bright chartreuse or white. 

[ItsHardwick]

I don’t when I’m burning it or most of the time really. When I want to let it get down and super slow roll it right above the bottom then I’ll use a trailer of some kind. Makes it easier to stay right there and move it super slow. 

[A-Jay]

I use a trailer the vast majority of the time but don't always use a trailer hook.  

 

A-Jay

 

 

[scaleface]

I dont use trailers on spinnerbaits and rarely use a trailer hook with them .  

[Boomstick]

If I am getting short striked, then I will try one. In open water, I would go with a trailer hook but if there's weeds around, I'll add a trailer as it the spinnerbait remains just as weedless as without one. However more often than not if I'm getting a bite on a spinnerbait, I'm getting fish so I don't usually need either.

[fishwizzard]

For spinnerbaits I only really use them when I want to add weight for casting distance/ease.  I have never noticed a difference in hit rate.  Chatterbaits I use a low-action trailer like a fluke. 

[deadadrift89]

Never a trailer for me, I use a trailer hook in open water but never around wood or heavy vegetation

[Log Catcher]

I don't use a trailer or a trailer hook. I pick what to use based on the water conditions. I usually use willow leaf blades and lighter colored skirts in cleaner water and colorado blades and chartreuse or black and blue skirts in dirtier water. I seem to have my best luck slow rolling them instead of burning them back.

[heavyduty]

I also don't use a trailer or trailer hook. I also rarely burn a spinnerbait. I do recommend that when you are retrieving normally or slow rolling that you slightly pause every 4-5 cranks to make the skirt pulse. For me, right after that slight pause/pulse is when it gets hammered!

[Koz]

I never used to add a trailer, but that all changed this spring. For whatever reason I put a white Keitech Swing Impact on a white/silver KVD spinnerbait and the bass destroyed it. Literally. I caught a ton of fish on them in the first half of the year and two of the spinnerbaits came apart after so many strikes.

 

Besides the spinnerbaits blowing up the Keitechs are expensive and don't last very long so I stopped buying them. Since I stopped using them my catch rate is WAY down on spinnerbaits. I may have to ask Santa for a few packs for Christmas.

[Deleted account]

I am always tinkering with my spinnerbaits. I normally use a trailer if I'm fishing one slow, or I want a larger profile with somewhat more subtle action. If I'm covering water quickly, or burning through bait school, it's usually no trailer. But I'll adjust as needed on a given day. If they will bite a spinnerbait, I'll throw a spinnerbait. I have a lot of confidence in them and like fishing them. As far as what trailer? Again, depends on what I'm trying to accomplish, it could be a skinny thing with no action, or a substantial loud piece of plastic.

[CroakHunter]

I always throw a trailer, never a trailer hook. 

[Big Rick]

13 hours ago, Koz said:

I never used to add a trailer, but that all changed this spring. For whatever reason I put a white Keitech Swing Impact on a white/silver KVD spinnerbait and the bass destroyed it. Literally. I caught a ton of fish on them in the first half of the year and two of the spinnerbaits came apart after so many strikes.

 

Besides the spinnerbaits blowing up the Keitechs are expensive and don't last very long so I stopped buying them. Since I stopped using them my catch rate is WAY down on spinnerbaits. I may have to ask Santa for a few packs for Christmas.

BPS Speed Shad is a lesser expensive alternative that works great as a trailer. 

[Koz]

4 hours ago, Big Rick said:

BPS Speed Shad is a lesser expensive alternative that works great as a trailer. 

 

Thanks. As luck would have it, I just got back from a 2 hour round trip to BPS before reading this.

[Big Rick]

1 minute ago, Koz said:

 

Thanks. As luck would have it, I just got back from a 2 hour round trip to BPS before reading this.

Online ordering is your friend!  Joking aside, the Speed Shad is a great bait. It's not quite as soft as the Fat Impact yet it maintains 90% of the movement and action. I good tradeoff, especially when using it as a trailer or on a jig head of some sort. 

[BrackishBassin]

Short reply - spinnerbaits get no trailer, but they do get another hook, and I always fish my chatterbaits with a trailer. It helps keep them from getting bogged down in grass, which happens to be what I fish the most. 

[Columbia Craw]

Thirty years ago I always fished a spinnerbait with a trailer but never a trailer hook.  The materials and skirt color options were so limited. I added a pork twin tail, twin tail or single tail grub in white or chartreuse. The designs today and skirt materials are fair more productive.  Hooks have also improved dramatically so trailers just don't seem to be as necessarily albeit there is always a time and place for a trailer.  The fish will let you know.  I still add a Fat Impact or single tail grub on occasion but that's about it.  I rarely add a trailer hook but have them in the boat. 

[Bluebasser86]

I'll add a swimbait or split tail trailer, either for bulk or for contrast on a spinnerbait. I fish a trailer on a bladed jig 100% of the time and a very wide variety of them. I use a trailer hook occasionally on a spinnerbait for largemouth, 100% of the time if I'm after smallmouth or spots. 

[Brad Reid]

Thanks, everyone. Tons of good info!

 

Brad

[Gundog]

On ‎11‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 12:50 PM, Brad Reid said:

 

I do "get" using trailers in circumstances where you drop it to the bottom, maybe let it sit and work it up and down . . . more like a jig. I am thinking more about active retrievals where they are moving.

 

I don't let my spinner baits sit on the bottom but I do regularly stop and start my retrieves. When you do that the trailer becomes very active and I believe this gets me more strikes. 

[RHuff]

On 11/30/2018 at 10:29 PM, Koz said:

I never used to add a trailer, but that all changed this spring. For whatever reason I put a white Keitech Swing Impact on a white/silver KVD spinnerbait and the bass destroyed it. Literally. I caught a ton of fish on them in the first half of the year and two of the spinnerbaits came apart after so many strikes.

 

Besides the spinnerbaits blowing up the Keitechs are expensive and don't last very long so I stopped buying them. Since I stopped using them my catch rate is WAY down on spinnerbaits. I may have to ask Santa for a few packs for Christmas.

 

 

 X2. My favorite spinnerbait is the terminator double willow in silver shiner with a white zoom 5 inch swimming fluke swimbait as a trailer. It’s a big bass bait and when they strike it’s violent strikes. Had a 4lber hit it so hard this summer one evening that it bent the wire frame right up above the jig head on it. 

[Brad Reid]

7 hours ago, RHuff said:

 

 

 X2. My favorite spinnerbait is the terminator double willow in silver shiner with a white zoom 5 inch swimming fluke swimbait as a trailer. It’s a big bass bait and when they strike it’s violent strikes. Had a 4lber hit it so hard this summer one evening that it bent the wire frame right up above the jig head on it. 

RHuff, this is one of my reasons for being interested in developing my spinnerbait technique, delivery. I'm in Texas and I see these videos of anglers fishing down on Falcon, other Mexican lakes with guides, catching absolutely huge bass. For whatever reason, it seems spinnerbaits are often the lure of choice.  Brad

[RHuff]

5 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

RHuff, this is one of my reasons for being interested in developing my spinnerbait technique, delivery. I'm in Texas and I see these videos of anglers fishing down on Falcon, other Mexican lakes with guides, catching absolutely huge bass. For whatever reason, it seems spinnerbaits are often the lure of choice.  Brad

 

 They are a deadly bait around laydowns, grass, and lilly pads. You can pick off the aggressive bass lerking on the outside edges of the cover before moving on in to flip in the heart to get the inactive bass. I have found my best technique to be slow rolling them (keeping them up or reeling them just fast enough to clip the cover, such as right on top of a grass bed or letting lilly stems foul the blades, or a small twig on the outside of the laydown to cause a reaction strike). Keep your colors simple. I only carry three color variations.

 

Clear Water = white, silver, glimmering blue with silver willow blades

 

Muddy Water = Chartreuse/orange/white with gold willow blades

 

Night/Low Light = Black with large colorado round blade (Midnight special). 

 

Try to bump the cover with the spinnerbait like a I said above to cause a flutter to the blades. You'll get a reaction bite by doing this by bass that aren't being overly aggressive. If there is no cover and your reeling in open water, try reeling it and pausing it a second before cranking it back up again. Think of a spinnerbait as nothing more than a swim jig with blades. Match your blade size to the size of the baitfish. After the fry have appeared a smaller willow blade my suite best. In the fall during the shad bite throw a little larger blades. My father taught me how to fish spinnerbaits. Growing up I may outnumber his catches three to one, but he would always catch the biggest bass of the day on a spinnerbait, and it drove me crazy.