Beetle spins

[Jonas Staggs]

So I hear beetle spins catchem all!

 

I have a lake I fish I can catch dinks d**n near every cast on a small tube....but I can't catch anything at the same spot with a beetle spin.....so what gives?

[JustJames]

Maybe all you have are dinks. Maybe too fast or to slow? I found that when I target bass, faster is better, but for panfish I would go as slow as possible and paddle tail as a trailer. 
I like roadrunner better, think spinnerbait VS underspin. Underspin is smaller profile and more appealing to any size fish where as beetle spin is for those when aggressive feeding or bigger fish. 

[Mobasser]

If you search here, you'll find lots of threads on beetlespins. For bass, I like the 1/4oz model. It's also a good one to experiment with. Try a grub, shad body, tube, or small fluke type plastic. As with other spinners, try different depths and speeds too.

[plawren53202]

8 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

So I hear beetle spins catchem all!

 

I have a lake I fish I can catch dinks d**n near every cast on a small tube....but I can't catch anything at the same spot with a beetle spin.....so what gives?

How pressured is this lake? I fish my subdivision pond a lot and it is similarly filled with just dinks. It is also extremely pressured, especially getting hammered constantly by people during Covid shutdowns. As a result the fish tend to like less reaction-style baits than what I would normally fish under similar circumstances. For instance I've never had hardly any luck on anything with a spinner or flash, like a chatterbait, spinnerbait, jig (like a Beetle Spin) with a spinner arm attached, etc. And probably related, most of the crowds I saw during Covid (other than bait/bobber people) were using chuck-and-wind baits, most with some kind of a spinner (vast majority threw spinnerbaits, large ones at that).

 

So if your situation were at my pond, it would make perfect sense that the spinner-less tube outfished a Beetle Spin. The things that work best in my pond are Ned rigs (various types, but the original TRD Finesse works the best), 4" Senko/Yum Dinger worms, shaky head with a small trick worm, or a drop shot. And in natural colors that tend to mimic bluegill or bass fry, the predominant forage in the pond--green pumpkin, Blue Craw in the TRD, Yum's "Bream" (green pumpkin on top and light blue on the bottom). About the only more active bait I have any luck with are very small, natural colored swimbaits like a Keitech 3" Easy Shiner in something like Arkansas Shiner, Sun Gill or Tennessee Shad.

[Jonas Staggs]

2 hours ago, plawren53202 said:

How pressured is this lake? I fish my subdivision pond a lot and it is similarly filled with just dinks. It is also extremely pressured, especially getting hammered constantly by people during Covid shutdowns. As a result the fish tend to like less reaction-style baits than what I would normally fish under similar circumstances. For instance I've never had hardly any luck on anything with a spinner or flash, like a chatterbait, spinnerbait, jig (like a Beetle Spin) with a spinner arm attached, etc. And probably related, most of the crowds I saw during Covid (other than bait/bobber people) were using chuck-and-wind baits, most with some kind of a spinner (vast majority threw spinnerbaits, large ones at that).

 

So if your situation were at my pond, it would make perfect sense that the spinner-less tube outfished a Beetle Spin. The things that work best in my pond are Ned rigs (various types, but the original TRD Finesse works the best), 4" Senko/Yum Dinger worms, shaky head with a small trick worm, or a drop shot. And in natural colors that tend to mimic bluegill or bass fry, the predominant forage in the pond--green pumpkin, Blue Craw in the TRD, Yum's "Bream" (green pumpkin on top and light blue on the bottom). About the only more active bait I have any luck with are very small, natural colored swimbaits like a Keitech 3" Easy Shiner in something like Arkansas Shiner, Sun Gill or Tennessee Shad.

The place is highly pressured. It's a community HOA lake. The majority of people there fishing don't really know what they are doing and as mentioned, people are throwing huge chuck n wind baits all the time. That or you see people taking young kids out, and just fishing bombers and worms. So many people don't know what their doing I have seen them just cut the line leaving the hook in the fish without ever attempting to remove the hook as they didn't know how.

 

The fish are very line shy, they really won't hit night crawlers or crickets. The people there look at me like I don't understand when I'm catching a lot. While the majority are skunked. I can seriously catch one like every cast with either a tube or gulp minnow but they are all small. I have caught one on the tiny trap, and I can get some decent sized bluegills with the shinee hinee, also ned rig although amazed at how small the fish was that went for it. Oh yeah and the yozuri snap pea.

 

This is the same lake I mentioned a while back where I saw both fish and ducks feeding on massive amounts of gnats at night, like whales feeding on plankton. 

 

I ended up doing ok with small craws yesterday but I was trying to target bigger fish with them as they were bigger than the Berkley power tubes for example. There's big bass in there, someone catches one once in a while, was hoping craws would do the trick. The fish are very line shy.

 

Anyways after no big bass, I tossed the beetle spins a bit and not even a dink. Perhaps they are just too pressured to go after something like that. 

[Bluegillslayer]

I have fished beatlespins alot and have never caught a fish with the "beatle" attached to the blade, but after switching the beatle with a curly tail it worked pretty good for small bass 

[garroyo130]

What size is the blade on the beetle spin? The vibration its giving off may be that of larger bait that the fish are eating. 

 

Try a smaller bladed beetle spin and you'll likely get more strikes.

[Jonas Staggs]

9 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Maybe all you have are dinks. Maybe too fast or to slow? I found that when I target bass, faster is better, but for panfish I would go as slow as possible and paddle tail as a trailer. 
I like roadrunner better, think spinnerbait VS underspin. Underspin is smaller profile and more appealing to any size fish where as beetle spin is for those when aggressive feeding or bigger fish. 

I was trying some of the paddle tails you gave me lol.

 

There's big fish in there. Just hard to catch, there's a guy who is a "real" fisherman I see fishing regularly there, biggest he said he got is lbs. 

 

You can find on fishbrain and IG people catching bigger once in a while. Like 5 lbs.

 

 

2 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

What size is the blade on the beetle spin? The vibration its giving off may be that of larger bait that the fish are eating. 

 

Try a smaller bladed beetle spin and you'll likely get more strikes.

1/16th beetle spin.

[plawren53202]

48 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

The place is highly pressured. It's a community HOA lake. The majority of people there fishing don't really know what they are doing and as mentioned, people are throwing huge chuck n wind baits all the time. That or you see people taking young kids out, and just fishing bombers and worms. So many people don't know what their doing I have seen them just cut the line leaving the hook in the fish without ever attempting to remove the hook as they didn't know how.

I think we fish the same HOA pond LOL. I've found that fishing my highly pressured HOA pond is a very different type of bass fishing than most of the other fishing I've done. 

[Jonas Staggs]

30 minutes ago, plawren53202 said:

I think we fish the same HOA pond LOL. I've found that fishing my highly pressured HOA pond is a very different type of bass fishing than most of the other fishing I've done. 

Are you from SoCal?

[Mobasser]

I might also add to replace the swivel with a ball bearing swivel. This will keep the blade spinning on a super slow retrieve, or on the drop.

[plawren53202]

44 minutes ago, Jonas Staggs said:

Are you from SoCal?

No, St. Louis LOL

[Jonas Staggs]

Fished the same lake today. Brought the M spin rod and attempted to target bigger fish as I know they are in there. Slowly started downsizing as I wasn't getting any bites. Ended up catching 2 dinks, 1 on a hair jig, and 1 on the kvd mini crankbait

 

 

[Bankbeater]

A beetle spin is the one bait I have absolutely no luck with, and it is the one bait I have no confidence in. 

[Jonas Staggs]

8 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

A beetle spin is the one bait I have absolutely no luck with, and it is the one bait I have no confidence in. 

It's a cool little bait though. Like a mini spinner bait 

 

I have a nice 1/8 oz. Spinner bait that's sick....but like you I have never caught anything with either 

[scaleface]

I use them in areas with few  snags . Culverts and ditches are favorite spots . They work well for river smallies . Right now I'm at Lake of the Ozarks and the fishing is tough . Bass are just flashing on spinnerbaits . I added a revved up Beetle spin spinner with ball bearing swivel to DOA 1/4 ounce swimbait and caught a fifteen inch keeper  .   One of only two keepers caught yesterday . I'll probably try it some more today .

[Jonas Staggs]

17 hours ago, scaleface said:

I use them in areas with few  snags . Culverts and ditches are favorite spots . They work well for river smallies . Right now I'm at Lake of the Ozarks and the fishing is tough . Bass are just flashing on spinnerbaits . I added a revved up Beetle spin spinner with ball bearing swivel to DOA 1/4 ounce swimbait and caught a fifteen inch keeper  .   One of only two keepers caught yesterday . I'll probably try it some more today .

 

I think the lake I'm fishing, they just might be too pressured to go after a bait like that, I mean Your lucky to catch one on a nightcrawler. I caught like 15-20 dinks today on a jig and various small plastics. Still not gonna give up on the beetle spin or my spinner bait though. 

[soflabasser]

Beetle spins can be a good lure in certain situations but I prefer fishing with inline spinners.

On 10/13/2020 at 12:43 PM, Jonas Staggs said:

The place is highly pressured. 

Try fishing with 4 pound test mono with a inline spinner.

[scaleface]

In my terminal tackle box are a few  large Beetle spin wires, not made by Beetle Spin maybe Renosky , with ball bearing swivels . I'll put them on a 1/4 ounce ball head jig and soft swim bait .I dont fish them in snaggy water but will fish them other places .I caught a bunch of fish with them this year along with traditional Beetle Spins .

[Jonas Staggs]

4 hours ago, soflabasser said:

Beetle spins can be a good lure in certain situations but I prefer fishing with inline spinners.

Try fishing with 4 pound test mono with a inline spinner.

That's actually what I use. My best so far is 3.4 lbs on my UL setup. Ever since I went UL it's hard to go back to my M spin rod....although I think I may have been confusing UL with finesse. I was thinking they are the same thing, but now I realize they are different. 

 

I'll give the inline a shot next time out. I actually modified mine, I removed the treble and put a 1/0 worm hook on there so I could attach a plastic but haven't gotten around to using it. 

[soflabasser]

1 hour ago, Jonas Staggs said:

That's actually what I use. My best so far is 3.4 lbs on my UL setup. Ever since I went UL it's hard to go back to my M spin rod....although I think I may have been confusing UL with finesse. I was thinking they are the same thing, but now I realize they are different. 

 

I'll give the inline a shot next time out. I actually modified mine, I removed the treble and put a 1/0 worm hook on there so I could attach a plastic but haven't gotten around to using it. 

It is very fun to use light tackle and it works well in clear bodies of pressured water. 

[Jonas Staggs]

2 hours ago, soflabasser said:

It is very fun to use light tackle and it works well in clear bodies of pressured water. 

 

My catch ratio improved a lot by doing it. 

[Sissyfishing]

I agree go 4 lb line and the inch 1/16 or 1/32 oz 

ive caught more bass on the beatlespin than anything 

 

for bigger fish try centering

 

Centering a pond:
cast to the center of the pond with a 4 in ribbon tail worm either Texas or on a 1:16 oz jig head and let sink to the bottom then swim it to the bank slowly move all around the pond!