Rev1: Spinnerbait | Random Thoughts

[Jigfishn10]

I really enjoy making and, especially fishing, spinnerbaits and inline spinners and wanted to share some random thoughts on just 1 component to a lure that has brought a lot of fun to fish with over the years.

 

When selecting a lure which utilizes a spinning blade, knowing what the blade will do to the bait will be helpful in one’s selection. For the most part we generally see 3 types of blades being used: Willow, Colorado and to a lesser extent Indiana (by far my favorite). Although there are way more on the market, but we’ll keep it simple for now and focus on these.

 

Body Shape:

A spinner blade with narrow body like the Willow will rotate closer to the shaft at about a 20-25 degree angle, than a wider bodied blade like the Colorado, which will rotate at a wider angle to its shaft at about 45-50 degrees. The Indiana will be in between and will rotate at around 30-40 degrees. The narrower blades tend to fish deeper, will fish faster, have less vibration but put out the most flash than their wider cousins. Conversely, a Colorado blade in contrast to a willow will have less flash, more lift and vibration. In life there are always compromises and the Indiana is just that.

 

Body Length:

The longer the blade the more lift it will provide. A #4 willow will run deeper than a #5 willow because of the added mass to the blade.

 

No Industry Standards:

The above is all well and good, but unfortunately if you buy what you think are the same blade size and shape from 2 separate sources you may just get 2 different blades. How so? EDIT: For the most part, the sizes of blades will look the same but thickness of materials tend to differ. See below.

 

Curvature (Concave/Convex) & Weight:

• The more “cup” in the blade the faster spin, tighter rotation, less lift and vibration. A common gripe with inline spin fishermen is that start-up on some manufacture’s lures can be cumbersome at times is because blades are slender with more cup...just my own observations.

• The less “cup” in the blade has the opposite effect as above, more lift and vibration and slower spin with wider rotation. These blades tend to start spinning upon initial retrieve.

• Heavier material will provide more vibration, slower and wider rotation. Think about how slow you could go with a heavier blade and less cup? I’m no spring chicken anymore, so I might be worn out by days end.

 

More Blades Must Be Better?

Yes and no. From a vibration standpoint, 2 blades tend to cancel each other out, so what you’re really getting is more flash. 2 blades will have more lift – remember more mass. BUT – there’s always a but? Say you have a single #5 willow. But are looking for more flash, you can add to blades that add up to the single #5 mass and get the desired effect, more or less.

 

Blade Texture - Smooth blades, hammered blades, creased blades, etc.:

A blade’s job, for the most part, is to provide flash & vibration. We now know about size and shape and how it affects flash and vibration, but what if we change the texture of the surface of the blade?

• Smooth blades will provide flash from one spot on the blade and will cast that flash out like a beacon.

• Hammered blades will cast flash from multiple spots on the blade, may not be as bright as a single flash, but effective none the less.

• Crease blades will provide a flash on 2 spots on a blade’s surface.

What does all this mean? If you’re fishing a spot where there was a fry hatch, a hammered blade cascading flash in different directions may just be the ticket in catching predator fish. Conversely, If the prey you’re targeting are smaller fish and you have a #5 single smooth Colorado thumping through the water column, your targeted fish may just think that your lure is the predator and he’s the prey. So be careful, you don’t want to send mixed signals.

 

Blade Color – Nickel, Brass/Gold Plated, Painted

I find that the color is a fisherman’s preference, but there have been a lot written about optimal conditions where one excels over the other. I certainly have my favorites that I like.

• Clear water, clear skies – Nickel

• Clear water, overcast skies – painted or brass/gold

• Stained/dirty water, clear skies – brass/gold

• Stained/dirty water, overcast skies – brass/gold or painted

 

I hope this helps some of you. I know I just scratched the surface here and hope some of our more seasoned members can help fill in some blanks or provide more information. Please comment if something here doesn’t look right to you, I’ve been compiling this information for a while and have never really put it all down into one piece like this.

 

Good luck and happy spinner or

spinnerbaiting!

 

Edit: See post below regarding color.

[Tennessee Boy]

Good info!  Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[papajoe222]

Great write-up.

I've always been partial to the double willow combination and a short arm single willow.  The majority of the time I end up modifying baits to those ends as I rarely see them offered. I love an Indiana blade in the spring and late fall on days when the breeze is blowing. Come to think about it, I rarely use a spinner bait when there isn't some wind. The exception is ledge fishing, or slow rolling over deep structure. 

[Jigfishn10]

18 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Good info!  Thanks for taking the time to post it.

 

9 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Great write-up. 

Thank you. Next week, if there’s interest, I was going to do a follow up piece on colors and what they look like in different waters...red/brown, green and clear blue waters. Then try and have a discussion on spinnerbait selection/modification.

 

Again, if there was interest.

[Big Rick]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

 

Thank you. Next week, if there’s interest, I was going to do a follow up piece on colors and what they look like in different waters...red/brown, green and clear blue waters. Then try and have a discussion on spinnerbait selection/modification.

 

Again, if there was interest.

One of my favorite baits to fish. Definitely interested....

[papajoe222]

9 hours ago, Jigfishn10 said:

 

Thank you. Next week, if there’s interest, I was going to do a follow up piece

Sounds good. It may clear up some confusion many of us have on color selection. 

[Jigfishn10]

Spinnerbait Color | Some More Random Thoughts

 

Ever wonder what your lure looks like under water? I stumbled across this article one day on Mepps.com and couldn’t help from rereading it multiple times over and have used this information on color selection and lure making for my own purposes. I was always of the belief that color doesn’t matter, as long as my lure is seen. I’ve also read how certain colors get distorted the deeper in the water column they go, but how it looks in clear, algae stained (green) and silt churned (reddish/brown/coffee) waters was eye opening.

 

Out of Water

 

Out of the water, all the colors you see have a brilliant sheen, eye popping colors. It’s no wonder why lure manufacturers are selling lure colors to fisherman and not fish. Not sure I have that cliché correct, but I’ll run with it. Look what happens when you use these lures in different colored waters.

 

Blue/Clear Water

 

In clear blue water, you can see pretty much all colors, but remember, we want our lures to be "eye popping" seen and blues, whites, black and silver really come through. You can make a case for red, but in the picture above, if it wasn’t on a silver background, it doesn’t “pop” the above mentioned colors.

 

Green Water

 

In green/algae stained water blues, whites, black and silver really come through, but what’s eye popping is chartreuse! It might be a good time to break out those firetiger patterns. The other thing I noticed was that between green and blue water, it’s no wonder why Rattle Trap sells so many chrome/blue back lipless crankbaits!

 

 Red/Brown Water

 

The reddish/brown waters were always hard for me to fish in. I always relied on something that made noise. I opted for a spinnerbait with a gold colored blade and never gave color a thought, so this was enlightening. I was right about the gold blade and you can see how black, white and chartreuse really pop through. I would even go as far as red, even though it looks like bubble gum. About those bubble gum worms we used to throw? HMMM!

Anyway, this is but a small sampling which doesn’t even cover different light conditions. I would venture that the above would be based on good light and sparse, if any, cloud cover. Water depth and surface conditions can also affect how your lure will present.

Edit: The above color “theory”, if you will, is not just for blades. This will apply to plastics - hard and soft - as well as metals. 

[Catt]

Spinnerbaits are my first love ?

[Jigfishn10]

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

Spinnerbaits are my first love ?

Caught my PB with one, so I can understand why...:)

[Mobasser]

Very good post! When you break this down as you have, it makes you wonder how many guys just throw a spinnerbait, without regard to blade style or shape?  As you've pointed out here, they all have their time and place. Good info!

[Jigfishn10]

2 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Very good post! When you break this down as you have, it makes you wonder how many guys just throw a spinnerbait, without regard to blade style or shape?  As you've pointed out here, they all have their time and place. Good info!

Thank you.

 

What's gonna get lost here is the color selection. This illustration is NOT just for blades, this illustration works for skirt material, soft plastic, hard plastic, name your favorite lure material here.

[Bluebasser86]

Hammered blades are the deal right now when the shad are schooled up. They send flashes in all directions like a disoriented school of shad that is darting around.

[r83srock]

Nice write up! Probably the most useful information I’m learned about Spinnerbaits in awhile. I’ve never paid much attention to it, but I didn’t know there was no industry standards on blade sizes. I’m following.. interested

[Boomstick]

Great post, it probably should be pinned there's a ton of great info here

[Jigfishn10]

On 10/19/2019 at 7:39 AM, r83srock said:

Nice write up! Probably the most useful information I’m learned about Spinnerbaits in awhile. I’ve never paid much attention to it, but I didn’t know there was no industry standards on blade sizes. I’m following.. interested

Thank you. It’s a matter of the the material they stamp from and the machine. Not huge differences but differences none the less.

On 10/19/2019 at 4:02 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Hammered blades are the deal right now when the shad are schooled up. They send flashes in all directions like a disoriented school of shad that is darting around.

It’s a great presentation, isn’t it!? We don’t have shad up here but when fry are in shallow it can get nuts. TY for the comment.

12 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Great post, it probably should be pinned there's a ton of great info here

Thank you. Was hoping to get into head weights and shapes then maybe put some seasonal patterns together and have a discussion on that? We’ll see, it doesn’t appear to be a lot of spinnerbait fishermen here.

[Bass Rutten]

1 hour ago, Jigfishn10 said:

Thank you. Was hoping to get into head weights and shapes then maybe put some seasonal patterns together and have a discussion on that? We’ll see, it doesn’t appear to be a lot of spinnerbait fishermen here.

I would enjoy that, count me in. Been using them more this year only because it seems everyone and their grandma is going to the chatter baits.

[Boomstick]

On 10/20/2019 at 7:54 AM, Jigfishn10 said:

Thank you. Was hoping to get into head weights and shapes then maybe put some seasonal patterns together and have a discussion on that? We’ll see, it doesn’t appear to be a lot of spinnerbait fishermen here.

I fish spinnerbaits quite a bit so I would be up for that if you do. They were about my most productive lure in years past but this year they don't seem to want to hit them (although I got a few).

[Munkin]

How did I miss this thread? Anyway, thanks for posting the information.

 

Allen

[LrgmouthShad]

I think JigFishin has fished a spinnerbait or two

[Glenn]

Spinnerbaits are my confidence lure.  This is an older video, but everything in it still holds true today:

 

 

[Jigfishn10]

Sorry for bringing this back, I linked it to another thread to illustrate the color topic of the post. 
 

Thank you