spinnerbaits in the fall

[GoneFishingLTN]

I often find it challenging to catch fish using downsized and normal-sized double willow blade spinnerbaits in the fall when our water in Iowa is around 2-foot clear. It seems that these spinnerbaits are not as effective in this condition, and I wonder if it is due to the absence of shad in our lakes or the water clarity itself. Any suggestions on how I can improve my success with these spinnerbaits in such conditions?

[Glenn]

 

[Pat Brown]

I fish spinnerbaits in a lot of the same places I might fish a swim jig or t rig or square bill or buzzbait.  You're gonna be looking for targets and heavy cover and you're going to want to try different retrieves and multiple presentations to high percentage targets from a variety of angles in lieu of fan casting systematically like you might with a lipless or underspin. Although you can catch fish fan casting a spinnerbait systematically, it's not the most efficient bait for doing this.

 

In general, I find I get bit coming through or around a big piece of cover 90% of the time on the old spinnerbait.

 

Things I see and go 'oh yeaaaaaah ' when I have one tied on:

 

Standing timber

Brush piles

Laydown

Stumps

Grass edges

Rip rap

Flats with hard bottom

Muddy water with good sunlight

Ledges

Humps

Bluffs 

 

Remember.  You want it practically bumping the objects you're targeting.  Don't just chuck and wind.

[king fisher]

If the bass don't want a white double willow spinnerbait fished mid depth, try slow rolling a black single Colorado blade spinnerbait on the bottom, and don't be surprised if you catch your PB. 

[MIbassyaker]

Most lakes I fish have no shad, and spinnerbaits are easily my most successful early fall lure in places with 2-3 feet of visibility. But this changes later in the fall, and it's less about the lure and more about the depth:  My bass are mostly bluegill and sunfish eaters, and those species usually stick around the remaining green vegetation.  As weeds die back in the fall shallow first, both the forage -- and the bass-- begin to move deeper where green vegetation like coontail still remains.   When I fish a double-willow spinnerbait, I'm typically looking for shallow bass, but if there is no more green shallow vegetation, then they'll often be deeper than I can fish very effectively with a spinnerbait.  You could try going heavier, or fishing more vertically (a single colorado would be better for that).

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey if it ain't working, then try upsizing or using a different blade combo. I can't guess why the smaller or regular size willows are not working for you but I am not a fish. I don't really like small willows to begin with but that's another story. 

 

I see a few people mentioning single colorado's. They can be a year-round bait but I will throw the heck - and I do mean the heck - out of them once we go late fall. Late fall-prespawn is single colorado time for me and I am hardly putting it down unless conditions just aren't right.

 

For you Northerners, throw it right now

[gim]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Standing timber

Brush piles

Laydown

Stumps

Grass edges

Rip rap

Flats with hard bottom

Muddy water with good sunlight

Ledges

Humps

Bluffs 

 

I would add docks to this list too.  Although many of them have been pulled here now, I generate a lot of bites when mine bumps the post of a dock.  If a bass is willing to chase a lure, that's almost always when they hit it, right after it deflects off a post.

[MassYak85]

I have a spinnerbait tied on almost anytime the water isn't in the 30s or low 40s here in the Northeast. I fish double willow most of the time occasionally an indiana blade in murkier water or if there is a lot of bluegill but even then I find a silver/gold willow blade mixture with the right skirt color to mimick our forage (perch/bluegill/shiners) is usually the ticket. Retrieve can sometimes be key, I'm usually working it just fast enough to stay over the vegetation, with occasionall quick snaps of the rod or starting and stopping the reel handle key in triggering reaction bites. Sometimes killing it for multiple seconds they'll hit on the fall withba lift and fall retrieve. Then in colder water a slow roll on the bottom. Easily the most versatile bait I fish. 

[Bankbeater]

Try swapping out the blades and adding ones that are painted. Maybe it's a Midwest thing, but I've noticed this too.  If I'm fishing with a double willow spinner bait, then the top blade has got to be large for me to get bites. 

[greentrout]

Strike King Lil' Mr. Money 3/16 oz. 

 

 

Panther Martin Lil' Curly Weed Runner 5/16 oz.

 

Got the Lil' Curly Weed Runner on the way.

 

It's not beneath me to go to an inline spinner. Rooster Tails fit the bill.

 

Good Fishing

 

[LrgmouthShad]

@greentrout Strike king lil mr money is a good spinnerbait. I will fish those stock

[bowhunter63]

Try a faster higher retrieve and snap collapsing the blade. Some that will trigger them 

[Catt]