spinnerbait blade configuration

[Boomstick]

I don't use Indiana blades nearly as much as I use willow blades, but I will use them far more often than Colorado blades. Since most water I fish is clear, Colorado blades are limited to cold water use but primarily and night fishing. Willow blades get the call most of the time, but for stained water or fishing them slower in colder water, I'll usually pull out an Indiana blade. For the most part, they put off flash and move some water so they're pretty versatile.

 

We have largemouth and smallmouth bass in most lakes I fish.

[Munkin]

Giving out the secret about indiana blades huh? Last 2 years my #1 combination has been double indiana #3 silver over #5 gold.

 

Allen

[Bluebasser86]

I like Indiana and Colorado blades, but I fish the willowleafs a lot as well. I have an affinity for copper, gold, and hammered blades too. This has driven me to start making my own baits so I can create the exact combinations that I want that are hard to find in a store bought bait. I usually refer to them as "Big ugly spinnerbaits". This one was really productive for me this spring, a 3/4oz head with a #6 and #7 hammered copper Colorado blade with a Kalin's Sizmic grub for a trailer. My wrist would get sore after fishing it for a hour or two but the fish were killing it.

[Fishes in trees]

In the shops where I go, Indiana blades aren't readily available.   I have a few of the old Terminator Turtle back baits, I have a couple of the old Rick Clunn Trickster spinnerbaits , which had the extended Indiana blade, most of the time I throw willow leaf blades, until water clarity gets less than 2 feet, then I throw Colorado blades.

The only times I threw an Indiana style blades this season were:  a couple of times I tied on the Rick Clunn trickster, I was in an area where I was occasionally getting bit - fairly shallow, grass was starting to grow good and fish were occasionally (every 6 or 7 minutes) coming up out of the grass patches to hit the spinnerbait as it passed over them.  Tied on the Clunn trickster and that action stopped.   It was a different color and slightly lighter than what I was fishing,  but the fish definitely didn't want that bait that day.   ( 2 different occasions ) 

 

The middle of the summer, for no good reason, I tied on a Mepps.   A bigger one ( size 3?) red & white blade with red plastic threaded on to the treble.   I had to stay at least 3 feet off the deep weedline, I was throwing parallel to the weedline, and I caught 7 or 8 fish in 40 or so minutes,

 

2 over 15", the rest were slot fish.   I guess a Mepps blade is more or less and Indiana blade, but I'm not a blade shape expert either.

 

That's the extent of my Indiana blade fishing this year.  Mixed results

 

 

 

 

[MassYak85]

I was gonna respond but the more I thought about it I couldn't really give myself a solid answer. I have spinnerbaits with all the blade types but most of my fishing is in clearer water with willow leaf blades. Big Colorado blades I typically save for very dirty water or night time. 

 

One of my resolutions for next season is to focus more on my confidence techniques and spinnrbaits are one of them for sure so as might have to play around more with different blades.

[garroyo130]

21 hours ago, WRB said:

Off topic, the reason for referencing the Indiana blade spinning bait sold to a member who lives on the east coast is 2,750 miles from where I fish on the west coast, not similar but the same spinnerbait! 

My belief is anglers tend to follow the herd it works why change? Indiana blades maybe working better and you will never know unless use them.

Tom

 

I have to agree with @WRB that there must be a magic formula to the vibrations a spinnerbait gives off relative to its size and speed to make it more than just a reaction bait. 

[J Francho]

18 minutes ago, garroyo130 said:

more than just a reaction bait

Any bait that gets bit is a reaction bait.  You got a reaction.

[Log Catcher]

5 hours ago, garroyo130 said:

 

I have to agree with @WRB that there must be a magic formula to the vibrations a spinnerbait gives off relative to its size and speed to make it more than just a reaction bait. 

Many years ago I got to see Rick Clunn do a fishing seminar and demo in the Hawg Trough at a boat show and got to talk to him for a few minutes. He said the blades had to be properly sized in order to put out the right vibration. If they aren't right fish usually won't hit them.

[Sphynx]

I have to say that the inclination about Indiana blades is correct at least from my personal experience, finding double willows is the standard anymore, and finding big willow small Colorado is not that tough, it's possible to find either style in a single blade if you are willing to put some effort into it, but Indiana blades you really have to dig for, or be prepared to put on yourself, I almost always use a double willow or a wil/col combination, I have one old faithful strike king (don't ask which model, don't recall) that is a single Colorado blade in blackish purple, and at night time it puts the beat down on them when they are looking for something moving, but I don't own a single Indiana blade spinnerbait, and I think I am going to have to order some to experiment, worst case scenario they turn into a niche thing and no harm done. 

[scaleface]

I had a Titanium bait that was doing well . It eventually broke on me so I transferred the blades to a hand poured bait  . Ended up losing that lure because of a faulty knot. In the mean time I had  copied the blade combo with the  blades I had  on hand .I didnt have any gold or silver # 2 colorados but did have some coppers ,so assembled a couple with the gold copper combo . It worked real well , its all I used for the last few months of the season .  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catt]

Y'all got some interesting concepts ?

 

I don't hear nothing about 

Nickel vs black nickel vs brass vs gold vs copper vs painted

 

Or cupped vs deep cupped 

 

Or short arm vs long arm

 

But interesting none the less ?

[jimmyjoe]

@Catt you're like that algebra teacher in school who made me think so hard my head hurt! I'm not that smart!  Now I gotta take some aspirin!    ?  jj

[OkobojiEagle]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Y'all got some interesting concepts ?

 

I don't hear nothing about 

Nickel vs black nickel vs brass vs gold vs copper vs painted

 

Or cupped vs deep cupped 

 

Or short arm vs long arm

 

But interesting none the less ?

Nearly all spinnerbaits I throw (for smallmouth) are small framed, and I do throw the 5/8oz Zorro short arm to reach bottom in depths deeper than 10'.  Deeper than 10' will see brass/gold blades.  Shallower than 10' will have nickel large blade and if there is a smaller blade it will be nickel also, or white.  I'm not savvy enough to distinguish between cupped vs deep cupped, but generally I prefer a C.

 

Thanks for participating in the thread...

 

oe

[Sphynx]

I think that spinnerbaits are like anything else in fishing, you'll convince yourself that you don't need every size and configuration of them available until you start to catch fish on one when another doesn't work and suddenly the bait monkey has run off with a few thousand dollars so you can sleep at night knowing no matter which spinnerbait they will bite on your next outing, you have it in a box somewhere, even if you can't remember which one of your shiny new spinnerbait boxes it's in...no...I do not have any personal experience with this...nothing to see here.

[king fisher]

I have a friend that has fished a single Colorado 1/2 OZ spinnerbait since 1978.  A spinnerbait is his favorite lure, and he catches many bass on one. He starts off waking it, tries mid depth, then gives  slow roll on the bottom a try. If the bass are not biting his only spinnerbait he tries a crankbait, jig, or soft plastic.  

      Like my friend I start with a single black Colorado.  Unlike my friend the bait monkey has had my number on speed dial for many years.  Like my friend, spinnerbaits are my confidence lure.  Unlike my friend, I don't give up on them until I have tried every size blade combo and color known to man.  Only after wasting most of the day trying to find a spinnerbait the bass will bite, do I realize I should tie on some other lure.  After reading this thread I realize the error in my ways.  I need fish Indiana blades more.

[roadwarrior]

[Catt]

@king fisher I have a friend that does the same thing on Toledo Bend except he throws a 1/2 oz Stanley Original Vibrashaft double wllowleaf gold & white skirt.

 

He likes to eat fish so he keeps a limit of 8 daily for 3-4 days & goes home till he runs out.

 

He starts at Fin-n-Feather never cranking his outboard & heads west down the bank to the end of the creek, turns around, & heads back. This takes him most of the day.

 

The point is more anglers are overlooking spinnerbaits for swim jigs & chatterbaits.

 

Spinnerbaits are still deadly & are another tool in the box.

 

Oh! Yeah I prefer double willowleaf or willowleaf & Colorado in the front.

[WRB]

I used the Nichols double Indiana blade spinner bait because it suited the way I fish; slower and about 8’ deep worked for me most of the time. Nichols wasn’t my only spinnerbait, like everyone I like to try different lures. I had 4” willow blades down to 1” in a variety of colors and styles along with lots of other combinations. 

Sometimes the green fish want a 1/4 oz white willow-Colorado so that is what you should be using. You don’t know unless someone turns you onto to that or you discover it by trail and error.

Spinnerbaits are like popcorn, it’s hard to it down.

Tom

 

[GReb]

I prefer a short arm with nickel willow rear blade. Personally the top blade has never seemed to make much difference. Most of my fish come in 1-3 feet of water

[scaleface]

As far as blade spacing the further apart the faster it retrieves without turning over . The close the more vibration . I learned this from Smalljaw , who knows  blades .

[Team9nine]

I'm still convinced that 99% of anglers are missing the boat on what makes a particular spinnerbait, or spinnerbait blade combination, productive. As such, I believe it has very little to do with the more common things everyone is mentioning, and that the real key lies in speed and the correlation between vibration and visual appearance of the bait to the bass, at least with the larger fish 

[A-Jay]

13 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

I'm still convinced that 99% of anglers are missing the boat on what makes a particular spinnerbait, or spinnerbait blade combination, productive. As such, I believe it has very little to do with the more common things everyone is mentioning, and that the real key lies in speed and the correlation between vibration and visual appearance of the bait to the bass, at least with the larger fish 

 

On 12/16/2020 at 4:25 PM, A-Jay said:

 

Believing that the brown ones are sight feeders, I am not depending on the vibration as much. 

I like, want and need some flash & vibration but only enough to get their attention;

and not enough to sacrifice the speed. The 'flash' off the blade can be from a shiny or colored/painted blade; both work for me. 

A-Jay

 

 

@Team9nine ~

You may be on to something right there . . . 

A-Jay

[Team9nine]

21 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

 

@Team9nine ~

You may be on to something right there . . . 

A-Jay

 

Just went back and reread your original post, and we're definitely in the same ballpark. I am convinced that water clarity is largely irrelevant as to blade type/vibration "needed" or "required" as traditionally thought or written about, but instead it's the speed of the bait required given a certain water clarity or disposition of the bass, and then whatever type or combination of blades required to deliver that speed, fast or slow.

 

The other factor I mentioned, and I'm fairly certain this is where Clunn's thoughts reside when he talks about this subject and there no longer being any great spinnerbait fishermen left...that being that any older bass has been around long enough to know exactly what his prey looks like and FEELS like via lateral line. When your bait is putting out one vibration, but its appearance is showing the fish something else, something that doesn't quite correlate between what he sees and what he feels, it's enough to make the bigger(est) fish hesitant or even non-committal. Smaller fish probably haven't learned this association to the same degree.

 

I've actually tested and played with this over the years at different times, as well as having enough "anecdotal occasions" occur, though not recently. 

[A-Jay]

40 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

Just went back and reread your original post, and we're definitely in the same ballpark. I am convinced that water clarity is largely irrelevant as to blade type/vibration "needed" or "required" as traditionally thought or written about, but instead it's the speed of the bait required given a certain water clarity or disposition of the bass, and then whatever type or combination of blades required to deliver that speed, fast or slow.

 

The other factor I mentioned, and I'm fairly certain this is where Clunn's thoughts reside when he talks about this subject and there no longer being any great spinnerbait fishermen left...that being that any older bass has been around long enough to know exactly what his prey looks like and FEELS like via lateral line. When your bait is putting out one vibration, but its appearance is showing the fish something else, something that doesn't quite correlate between what he sees and what he feels, it's enough to make the bigger(est) fish hesitant or even non-committal. Smaller fish probably haven't learned this association to the same degree.

 

I've actually tested and played with this over the years at different times, as well as having enough "anecdotal occasions" occur, though not recently. 

I remember when the Zen Master was talking about the mis-match message some baits send out. 

He specifically mentioned the Indiana & a willow blade; how, why & when he prefers one.  Really made me rethink my whole deal. 

I don't use an Indiana much (probably should) but still throw a willow - a lot.

But that's mostly because I can't find a 'Long Drop Blade' anywhere ! 

This clip is Gold ~ 

A-Jay

Oh wait - I did find a few . . .

 

[Log Catcher]

4 hours ago, Team9nine said:

I'm still convinced that 99% of anglers are missing the boat on what makes a particular spinnerbait, or spinnerbait blade combination, productive. As such, I believe it has very little to do with the more common things everyone is mentioning, and that the real key lies in speed and the correlation between vibration and visual appearance of the bait to the bass, at least with the larger fish 

You are right. Rick Clunn said the amount of vibration had to be right in relation to the size of the bait. This was about 20 years ago he told me that. He also said willow leaf blades were designed for fishing in grass but most of the time you were better off with Colorado blades.