How to find success on spinnerbaits

[Bankc]

I can't get bit on a swimjig, and rarely find bites on chatterbaits.  Spinnerbaits are killer though.  

I mainly only throw spinnerbaits where they'll bump into hard structures such as trees and reeds.  And that's the main cover in most lakes I fish.  Honestly, I'd just throw what works for you.  For me, spinnerbaits will come out of wood a lot better than chatterbaits.  And the water is too stained for swimjigs to be of much good.  So the main reason I throw them is because they can go places other baits can't.  When I do fish other waters, like ones with more vegetation, I tend to leave the spinnerbaits alone and switch over to the chatterbaits or swimjigs.  A lot of times, what works and what doesn't has less to do with how you use it than where and when you use it.  

 

Also, try killing the spinnerbait.  That seems to elicit strikes sometimes when a straight retrieve won't work.  Just give the handle a couple of turns, stop for about a half second, then start back up.  I also like to use trailers with them.  Usually a grub or paddle tail.  

[Catt]

38 minutes ago, Cdn Angler said:

but it might just not be "the deal."

 

As much as I love throwing spinnerbaits some days they just don't want it.

 

Y'all covered grass but for me it's spinnerbaits & wood/brush.

 

I'll pitch a spinnerbait like y'all would a jig. May only get 3-5 turns of the handle. Sometimes it's helicopter it down on the side of wood/brush.

 

I throw Stanley but Booyah's Covert is catching on. But a Hildebrand blade to a nobrainer!

[LrgmouthShad]

29 minutes ago, Catt said:

Stanley

I expect to be purchasing mostly Stanley’s for a while since I saw that their website offers ones with a colorado front blade, which I prefer. I like the frame size of Stanley’s apart from their tapered wire.
 

I lost one of my favorite spinnerbaits bank fishing this spring because I hit a sign by accident and it shredded my line off. It was an old Stanley frame that I put a white/grey rubber skirt on and a single Nichols #4 colorado. The amount of thump that that Stanley could cause a little #4 to have was unreal. Killer spinnerbait, and I’ll have to find a way to make another.

[Boomstick]

I've had pretty good luck with spinnerbaits myself. I like them best in stained or dirty water or when there is some chop on the water. They can be particularly effective right before the sun goes downwhen there is still some sunlight to create a reflection and right before a storm rolls in. Many times I have been out fishing and the wind picks up and then rain comes in and then I start getting bites.

[king fisher]

Wind + wood = spinnerbaits.

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Cdn Angler said:

Unless you know other people are killing it on the same body of water as you at the same time

This is what happens to me regularly. Several of these people even in the same boat with me, all over the country 

[LrgmouthShad]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Booyah's Covert

Also, one more. 
 

Booyah Covert double Indiana is a nasty spinnerbait. I mean just really nasty. Worked really good in the fall for me

[Functional]

What lakes in NC do you fish?

 

Every one I've been hitting with a 3/8oz Booyah spinner with silver/silver main willow and small colorado in silver shiner with a  Zoom super fluke jr in smokin shad (cut 1/4" to 1/2" off nose) as a trailer has killed them. 

 

depends on the column I'm trying to hit but try reeling it in JUST fast enough it doesnt sink any more on the retrieve. change up pace as rod tip position to change the attitude of the spinner. Personally I've never had luck changing up retrieve speed (during a single cast) or shaking it, constant retrieve has always worked best. Clear or muddy (and my home lake can look like chocolate milk sometimes) that exact combo has worked through it all. 

[Captain Phil]

Any spinnerbait will catch bass at one time or another.  There is a big difference in productivity between a cheap spinnerbait and a quality spinnerbait.  The most significant difference is in the blades.   Quality blades give off more flash.  This is due to the plating and the material they are made of.   The highest quality blades are Hildebrandt. I want my spinnerbaits to have ball bearing swivels.  This allows the blades to turn freely at the slightest speed and movement. 

 

Next is the wire.  A great spinnerbait has light wire with an open bend.  This wire gives off more vibration than thick twisted wire.  I like the body to be plated not painted.  The plating reflects the surroundings and disguises the fact that it's not real.  Less significant is the skirt.   Colors vary, but white and chartreuse seem to be the best all around color.  I will throw all white if there are a lot of shad where I am fishing.

 

I like Zoom split tail trailers because they are thin, natural and they work.  I started using trailer hooks years ago when I felt fish hold onto my lure as I cranked it to the boat.  I didn't recognize this at first.  You will catch bass with a trailer hook that you will never know are there without one.

 

Some anglers won't use a trailer hook because they get more hangups.  Others won't buy quality baits because of the cost or because they feel like light wire distorts easily.   Why spend good money on a boat, tackle and everything else involved and pass on a $10 bait?  I want every advantage I can get and the cost of buying quality is insignificant if it puts more fish in my boat.

[Catt]

Stanley's Wedge Blades give off more flash & vibration than any blade made. The front of the blade has a thickness of .015 & increases to .030 to the back of the blade. 

 

Patented Tapered Wire, the Vibra-Shaft is unmatched in water displacement. Moving more water with less effort makes a great spinnerbait. Tapered wire transfers all the vibration to the tip of the wire, where the blades are. 

 

Stanley spinnerbaits & jigs were first to use silicone shirt & multi colored shirts. Lonnie Stanley worked with Mustad to come up with a true needle point hook.

 

[Munkin]

16 hours ago, DaubsNU1 said:

Old Bass Pro Terminator titanium shaft has been working for me this spring.

 

New skirt...couldn't find my trailers, so just used white power grub.

 

Seems to work just fine.

 

 

This is a Strike King bait. 

 

Allen 

[ironbjorn]

Fishing them SLOW and using a Zako or a trailer similar in style changed everything for me. Try it out. 

 

(I can't stress SLOW enough)

[LrgmouthShad]

2 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I can't stress SLOW enough)

What speed reel ya using?

[ironbjorn]

39 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

What speed reel ya using?

I mostly use 7s because I don't have a problem with reeling slow

[Captain Phil]

1 hour ago, ironbjorn said:

I mostly use 7s because I don't have a problem with reeling slow

 

The majority of the time, I use a 5/0 Shimano Calcutta reel for my spinnerbaits.   In the dead of winter, I use a 3.8/1 Bantam Curado.  

[Catt]

Shimano Calcutta 50A

5.0:1 

 

[DaubsNU1]

7 hours ago, Munkin said:

 

This is a Strike King bait. 

 

Allen 

 

I stand corrected!

 

Would love to find a few more...but this price : ( 

 

 

 

 

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I've been slowly replacing all my S-baits with Stanley. Catt always talking them up I bought some and I'm a believer. 

 

Stanley FTW.

[Captain Phil]

When you have success with a certain lure, you throw it more. In time, you find yourself reaching for that lure all the time.  This is where tournament anglers have an edge.  When you get your butt kicked by someone fishing something you have never tried, you try it out for yourself.  In addition, you gain local knowledge on what may be working at that time.  It may not work right away, but losing is a big motivator.   I can think of dozens of lures and methods that I would have never tried that worked for me.   Bright pink floating worms, Mojo rigs and swim baits are among them.   Don't get yourself in a rut and start thinking your old way is the only way.   

[Catt]

As much as I love Stanley I would never over look a Hildebrand bladed spinnerbait. Booyah Covert is a prime example.

 

Talk about getting stuck in a rut, how many of y'all throw a spinnerbait in 15-25' of water, slow rolling it on the bottom?

 

[scaleface]

Just get a spinnerbait that  weighs just right for your combo . I prefer a half ounce . A willow colorado blade is a good do it all design . Gold/Chrome is popular . I prefer baitfish imitating skirts most the time . Then watch the video Road Warrior posted starting at the 12:55 mark . That is the key to spinnerbait fishing . Presenting the bait accurately and silently is more important than everything else combined .

 

     Watch the other video too . Glenn again expresses how critical it is to cast it properly .  The lure should precisely enter the water like a frog or fish not like a walnut .

[Takemetothebank]

On 5/31/2022 at 9:35 AM, Bankc said:

I can't get bit on a swimjig, and rarely find bites on chatterbaits.  Spinnerbaits are killer though.  

I mainly only throw spinnerbaits where they'll bump into hard structures such as trees and reeds.  And that's the main cover in most lakes I fish.  Honestly, I'd just throw what works for you.  For me, spinnerbaits will come out of wood a lot better than chatterbaits.  And the water is too stained for swimjigs to be of much good.  So the main reason I throw them is because they can go places other baits can't.  When I do fish other waters, like ones with more vegetation, I tend to leave the spinnerbaits alone and switch over to the chatterbaits or swimjigs.  A lot of times, what works and what doesn't has less to do with how you use it than where and when you use it.  

 

Also, try killing the spinnerbait.  That seems to elicit strikes sometimes when a straight retrieve won't work.  Just give the handle a couple of turns, stop for about a half second, then start back up.  I also like to use trailers with them.  Usually a grub or paddle tail.  

See I find it to be the other way around I do however feel like people fish chatters and swimjigs way to fast especially chatterbaits at night or in muddy deep water structure they are deadly when you throw them out and drag them until you feel the blade engage and then stop or stroking them off the bottom the problem is most chatterbaits have to be fished too fast for the blade to engage I like the thunder crickets cross eyes or the jack hammers while they are expensive they will vibrate at much lower speeds. With swim jigs most people just cast the out and reel them back in the key is speed or depth changes they are deadly yo-yod or speeding up your retrieve every 3rd turn of the handle or stopping it randomly. I fish both of them on a 6:6:1 ratio reel on a 7 or 8 I tend to fish them to fast next time you are on deep structure try a 1/4 oz swim jig with a fluke trailer in my expirence watching shad they don’t swim with a big kicking tail like a keitech they glide side to side. Also another key is to hold the rod out so the butt is not touching your body it will make it much easier to detect strikes because most of the time fish will eat the bait and keep swimming at you and you will never feel them 

[Captain Phil]

20 hours ago, Catt said:

Talk about getting stuck in a rut, how many of y'all throw a spinnerbait in 15-25' of water, slow rolling it on the bottom?

 

Some years back, a big tournament was coming up on the Harris Chain and it seemed every pro in the world was fishing in my back yard.   To escape the crowd, I rode over to the gator hole in Lake Eustis.  When I arrived, there were three wrapped bass boats fishing the hole.  The gator hole is about 20 feet deep and 100 yards across with tree stumps and assorted junk on the bottom.   I parked my boat on the shoreline and cast a spinnerbait out as far as I could and let it fall to the bottom.  After it hit bottom I slow rolled it along the bottom back to the boat.  Halfway back I felt my spinnerbait bump into a stump.  I jerked the spinnerbait off the stump and was immediately hit by a large fish.  I was by myself and it was quite struggle.   In plain view of the other anglers, I fought the fish to the boat and lifted a 9-10 pound bass out of the water.  I held it up for a while and slowly released it overboard so it could swim back to it's home in the hole.  I fired the big motor and rode back to my house.   ?

[TnRiver46]

I had some sort of fish hooked on a spinner bait today, it was headed out to sea and came off. Could have been a bowfin, it was pulling hard 

[LrgmouthShad]

5 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

 

Some years back, a big tournament was coming up on the Harris Chain and it seemed every pro in the world was fishing in my back yard.   To escape the crowd, I rode over to the gator hole in Lake Eustis.  When I arrived, there were three wrapped bass boats fishing the hole.  The gator hole is about 20 feet deep and 100 yards across with tree stumps and assorted junk on the bottom.   I parked my boat on the shoreline and cast a spinnerbait out as far as I could and let it fall to the bottom.  After it hit bottom I slow rolled it along the bottom back to the boat.  Halfway back I felt my spinnerbait bump into a stump.  I jerked the spinnerbait off the stump and was immediately hit by a large fish.  I was by myself and it was quite struggle.   In plain view of the other anglers, I fought the fish to the boat and lifted a 9-10 pound bass out of the water.  I held it up for awhile and slowly released it overboard so it could swim back to it's home in the hole.  I fired the big motor and rode back to my house.   ?

Told this before but heard about a guy in Virginia who for years had more citations of 8+lbers than anyone in the state. His lure of choice? A 1 oz single colorado spinnerbait slow rolled deep

 

My PB was caught on a 3/8oz single colorado spinnerbait 12ft deep ticking the tops of grass in the winter. 
 

It is a huge bass technique