Is it just me, spinning gear?

[NHBull]

I have been watching a lot more FLW this Spring and I am noticing a lot more guys pulling out their spinning rods sooner and a lot more on deck.

Is it just coincidence?  Are conditions dictating it?  

Just wondering if anyone else has picked up on it.

 

[Tennessee Boy]

I think it's the rules more than the conditions.  If you need 40 dinks to win,  you hit the bank hard with small lures in the spring.  Spinning gear is perfect for this.  

[NHBull]

Great point, thanks.  Never considered it was for the #'s.

[BassNJake]

Seemed to be quite a few guys fishing spawning beds with finesse presentation too

On all the tours

[12poundbass]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I think it's the rules more than the conditions.  If you need 40 dinks to win,  you hit the bank hard with small lures in the spring.  Spinning gear is perfect for this.  

40 dink’s to win and FLW event? 

2 hours ago, NHBull said:

I have been watching a lot more FLW this Spring and I am noticing a lot more guys pulling out their spinning rods sooner and a lot more on deck.

Is it just coincidence?  Are conditions dictating it?  

Just wondering if anyone else has picked up on it.

 

I think it’s more of a fad than anything. A handful of years ago you could ask those same guys and they’d say they have one or two spinning setups on there boat and some wouldn’t have one. It was last year or the year before I started using them again.

[Rpratt]

Totally disagree with the 40 dink thing that keeps popping up. Just a few tourneys ago they were catching a crap load of fish weighing 6 and over. You can go back to stages 3and 4 and read the comments and stats from there to get a better feel for what I am talking about. I think it just depends on what lake and conditions is what dictates what is being used.  You can take for example the last tourney was fished on a very predominantly heavy population of spotted Bass and that dictated smaller size fish. 

 

What is being used, and I am no pro, but I can say with confidence that the wacky style presentation is very much in play this spring for whatever reason. And I see the pros using it heavily and honestly, that's all I can catch the fish with on this year too for the most part. Lots of really harsh conditions this year around the country. I would guesstimate spinning rods are the favorite way by far to present this style of fishing and that may be why you see it so much. 

 

Or I could be totally wrong. Would not be the first time....

[Oregon Native]

Spinning gear has won me a good chunk on change over the years....hmmmmm.....believe will keep using.  Believe even Aaron has had some good fortune with it too over the years.

[greentrout]

in the recent past i've seen kvd with spinning rod and reel in his hands killing it with a jerkbait ... on mlf .. others, too ... with various ... tactics ...

 

good fishing ...

[Rpratt]

Just wanted to add to this topic one more time because the author is probably right in his assessment. I watched ESPN's BASS Lake Hartwell coverage from this weekend on Monday night, and I paid particular attention to what they were using. And dog gone it if they  (Brandon Cobb, etc) were all using spinning gear with wacky worms on them. 

[J Francho]

I know some that are spinning ONLY.  They primarily throw grubs on jigheads (really, just an old school Ned rig) senkos, and other small baits like Tiny Torpeedos, inline spinners, etc.  These are the ones to watch out for when conditions are tough.  In some ways, I'm the weirdo that fishes with casting gear.  Unless I'm out on the big lake, then it's like six identical rods, all with drop shot rigs.

[bowhunter63]

Wacky worm and neko rigs flat up catch bass. Some good ones too.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Also if you listen and hear the squeal while they reel a fish in most are using braid.

[TnRiver46]

It’s a lot easier to skip a dock with a spinning reel as well. I always have two spinning rods (and countless round baitcasters haha. I love those things.....)

[fishballer06]

One more thing to add - in a format where time is so important, you never have to worry about backlashes and picking them out if you're using a fairy wand. 

[TnRiver46]

44 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

One more thing to add - in a format where time is so important, you never have to worry about backlashes and picking them out if you're using a fairy wand. 

I wouldn’t call it a backlash but a fairy wand can tangle up with the best of them 

[MN Fisher]

Dunno why some people have issues with spinning gear...'fairy wand?'...really?

 

I've caught plenty of bass on spinners and it's still my go-to for lighter crank/jerkbaits, wacky rigs, light/weightless T-Rigs and all my finesse applications.

[Jason Penn]

my casting set-ups definitely outweigh spinning, but i have days where i just want to fish with a spinning rod more than casting

[bowhunter63]

Spinning rods and reels have came a long way.

[fishballer06]

13 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Spinning rods and reels have came a long way.

Drag technology has made modern spinning reels much more dependable with light lines and big fish.