This bait was money and even out fished War Eagles

[Cgolf]

So far this year I have caught fish on some of the spinnerbaits I have made. Last week I fished a N WI lake that saw high winds, rain, and 3 cold fronts push through, yeh me. To top it off I saw numerous fish bump lures out of the way including a PB sized largie and a fish with a tail sore which leads me to believe they were spawning on top of everything else. 
 

the bait below was made on the 1/4 Barlows frame. I was worried about their durability because they were super easy to bend to form. Also got the serrated willows from Barlows. Blade sizes were 3/4 and the beads are glass from my fly tying supplies. The skirt is a dirty jigs Purple haze. 
 

The blades appear to have a little less lift than standard willows allowing me to run it a bit lower than other spins in this weight range. Retrieve was on the slow side with pauses during the retrieve. I managed 41 fish on the bait in the picture. It held up really well. It still was running true despite the slight bend I just noticed in the picture. when fished side by side with a war eagle this bait came out ahead, despite the wire being a bit thicker. 
 

I will be making more of these including a few as gifts, and unfortunately I don’t do the Fishmas thing;)

 

Also question about current Hummdinger spins, may start topic on tackle page, the ones I got this year got bent to crap super fast. I haven’t seen this before with their baits. Could be the spawning fish were more aggressive, but I was pretty disappointed. I know with light wire spins like them and war eagles retuning them is expected, but this was way worse than the normal retuning. 

[Will Wetline]

Cgolf,  thank you for all the info and the pics.

 

Re the blades, are the ones shown size 2 and 3 or  3 and 4?

[Cgolf]

20 minutes ago, Will Wetline said:

Cgolf,  thank you for all the info and the pics.

 

Re the blades, are the ones shown size 2 and 3 or  3 and 4?

Size 3 and 4

[Deleted account]

Wife wants porcelain tile for the kitchen floor, but I'm concerned with War Eagles slipping out of my hand and shattering...

[Cgolf]

5 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Wife wants porcelain tile for the kitchen floor, but I'm concerned with War Eagles slipping out of my hand and shattering...

I haven’t had that luck. I don’t boat flip fish with them which helps, but do have to adjust them from time to time. This batch of the other brand were just really trashed, but could be bent back. It just seemed off for that brand was why I mentioned it. Now the strike kings I have left made out of like rebar, obviously not but a way thicker wire, I could probably boat flip a musky and not bend them. 

[smalljaw67]

Those serrated blades are really good. They seem to spin faster but it may just look that way. The rotation on them is really tight but not a lot of vibration. I use the #3.5 and #4 on a 3/8oz double willow spinnerbait. I also make a 1/4oz bait with a single #3.5 serrated blade that does well in really shallow water. 

[Munkin]

Once you start to figure out what works best for you custom spinnerbaits get easier.  I  started making them because everything was based on standard sizes for the south.  Got tired of buying a brand new spinnerbait then immediately having to modify it to what I needed.  Its just easier to make your own from scatch than to buy something you have to modify. If you have any questions hit me or smalljaw67 as between us we have 50 years of spinnerbait making experience. We talk often and bounce ideas off one another.

 

Allen 

[Cgolf]

18 hours ago, Munkin said:

Once you start to figure out what works best for you custom spinnerbaits get easier.  I  started making them because everything was based on standard sizes for the south.  Got tired of buying a brand new spinnerbait then immediately having to modify it to what I needed.  Its just easier to make your own from scatch than to buy something you have to modify. If you have any questions hit me or smalljaw67 as between us we have 50 years of spinnerbait making experience. We talk often and bounce ideas off one another.

 

Allen 

Thank you I will definitely reach out. The vaca lake doesn’t get huge bass pressure but most that do toss spinnerbaits. The serrated have worked well and the wide willows also have worked. The day after a cold front and a storm the bait below got 3 fish on a morning they were hard to get. Thanks to KVD for writing the tip to upsize blades after a front.