Simple And Effective

[Mobasser]

Chuck Woods, of Ned Rig fame, is given credit for carving the Beetlespin shape from a plastic worm in the 1950s, at a small tackle shop in Kansas City called Finkes tackle.                                               The lure was picked up and sold by Virgil Ward through his Bass Buster tackle company. It was very popular here in Missouri, because of Virgil Ward and his Championship Fishing TV show. It was one of the first lures I ever bought in the mid 1960s.                                               Professional angler Gary Klein has become known for flipping and pitching jigs, and has had a very successful career in pro fishing.                       Mr. Klein has also called the Beetlespin " the best lure ever made" and " a must have bait".                                         They still work, just as they always have. My own choice is the 1/4 oz model in white, chartreuse, and black.          When fish won't strike a larger skirted spinnerbait, the smaller profile of the Beetlespin will often work.            They can be fished at any depth in the water column, from near surface, to close to the bottom.                                  It's easy to over complicate bass fishing. Sometimes, simple is the best.                                                 Are there any fans of the old Beetlespin here on BR?

[DaubsNU1]

Caught a crap-ton of crappie, bluegill and bass on the Beetlespin as a kid growing up here in Nebraska.

 

I have a few buried in my tackle box, next to Mepps & Panther Martin in-line spinners. Sounds like a good time to dig them out and get 'em wet!  : )

[Team9nine]

Yes, but I modified all mine for tournament fishing. Took the largest size body (3” or 3-1/2”, I forget now) and replaced the stock jig-head with a good modern needlepoint version, then added a Sampo ball bearing swivel and would alter blades as necessary on the standard L-arm, often using a small gold Hildebrandt - basically a “pro” model version, which surprisingly, they never came out with. Worked really well.

[Jig Man]

It’s the best bait that I ever used for lake of the the woods walleye.  We used to use it a lot on float trips.

[scaleface]

There use to be a Beetle larger than the 1/4 oz, it may have been 3/8th. I used that lure a lot.

 

 I carry a beetle spin box in my truck and a pack rod under the seat . A lot of times I'll fish a beetle without the spinner, especially on rip rap dams. By fishing it on the bottom, it almost always catches a few..

[Alex from GA]

I use a 1/32 oz beetlespin with a 1/2" green pumkin worm for bream.  I even caught a bass with it once.

[scaleface]

 I caught bass on the white, yellow, green, black and crawfish. The crawfish pattern is hard to find at the stores  but its a good one.

 

Just looked at the Pure Fishing site and its no longer listed.

[Mobasser]

10 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 I caught bass on the white, yellow, green, black and crawfish. The crawfish pattern is hard to find at the stores  but its a good one.

 

Just looked at the Pure Fishing site and its no longer listed.

Yes, I like the crawfish pattern also. I have a couple of old Beetlespins. The head shape was slightly different than what we get now. It was not perfectly round. Now they all come with a standard round head.

[scaleface]

17 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Yes, I like the crawfish pattern also. I have a couple of old Beetlespins. The head shape was slightly different than what we get now. It was not perfectly round. Now they all come with a standard round head.

The bodies were beefier at the front too.

[GreenPig]

Yes. If I had to pick one lure to pond fish with it'd be a Bettlespin. I've caught enough pond bass on Beetlespin to sink A - Jay's Lund.

[OmegaDPW]

Favorite lure of all time. I like the 1/4 oz black split tail for bass and the tiny black grub for everything else. They're just so fun and easy to fish.

[A-Jay]

Nope ~

A-Jay

[BASS302]

3 hours ago, scaleface said:

Just looked at the Pure Fishing site and its no longer listed.

 

I tried looking at the listings at the Pure Fishing site and there seems to be no selection for it.

However, when I used their search, it magically appears.  I typed "beetle" into the search function at the Pure Fishing site and seven things appeared.  They need to update their website to make beetlespin a selectable option. 

 

[scaleface]

37 minutes ago, BASS302 said:

 

I tried looking at the listings at the Pure Fishing site and there seems to be no selection for it.

However, when I used their search, it magically appears.  I typed "beetle" into the search function at the Pure Fishing site and seven things appeared.  They need to update their website to make beetlespin a selectable option. 

 

I was referring to the old crawfish color .

[rgasr63]

I can still remember the days when the beetle spin was king. The other bigger size was a 1/2 oz size. It was in the saltwater side of Bass Pro back in the day. They haven't had any for a good 4 or 5 years now. You can still get it though Strike King it is called Redfish magic they have a boot tail bait on them. And they start out at 1/8 oz up to the 1/2 oz. And it works pretty good also.

[Bird]

Wife and I were fishing last year for bluegill and Crappie and of course I rigged her up with nightcrawlers and a chartreuse beetle spin.

She got tired and decided to read so I moved to another section of lake and picked up her beetle spin.

 

Several bass later it jogged my memory.

These baits were killer growing up so ordered a few more.

 

 

[fin]

A couple weeks ago I kept feeling fish bump my jerkbaits. I took an old beetle spin with me one day to see if those fish were crappie or shad. I pulled out a LM over four pounds out of there, so I guess they were shad. lol

 

I had the same idea as @Team9nine about using the small wire frame of the beetle spin, but putting slightly larger and better components on it. I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but I think it’s got to be a winner.

[Bankbeater]

This is the one bait I have fished with on a regular basis that I have no confidence in.  The only fish I have ever caught on this bait is one skinny dink bass. 

[FishTax]

When I'm with my kids it's what I throw, and they throw if not on a bobber. Catches everything

[bloom]

One of my all time favorite lures, mostly caught walleye and crappie, but has caught musky, carp, pike, and bass, even one bullhead.

[Catt]

20 hours ago, scaleface said:

There use to be a Beetle larger than the 1/4 oz, it may have been 3/8th. I used that lure a lot.

 

Johnson make a 1/2 oz version.

 

I also throw H&H's Cajun Spin

[Bluebasser86]

I don't use the Beetlespin, but I do kind of a DIY version. I like to use a black/chart 1.5" crappie tube on a 1/32 or 1/16oz ball head clipped to a #0 or #1 jigspinner arm on an ultralite. Catches anything that swims but the standard fare really loves them (bass, bluegill, sunfish, crappie).