Coloring Spinnerbaits

[BassinBoy]

I have a Strike King spinnerbait that I wanted to put some greens and browns into so I colored it with a permanent marker.  

Is there any scent or something from the marker that would make this bait bad to use?  

I dont want to waste my time with it if it wont catch fish.

[roadwarrior]

Spinnerbaits are reaction lures. Scents don't come into play.

8-)

[BassinBoy]

Spinnerbaits are reaction lures. Scents don't come into play.

8-)

Very true  ;D

But theres no chemicals that could affect it or anything, correct?

[BassFishingMachine]

I wouldn't worry about it with a spinnerbait, a soft plastic might be another story (though I couldn't say for sure). You see this is what I believe, although Im sure other feel differently, I believe the bass has to pick up something with its mouth, in order to identify scents, and any sort of negative scent etc. This being said, with a spinnerbait the bass doesn't get the opportunity to react to a scent, because once it bites the bait it pretty much gets hooked. Theres no time for the bass to spit the lure, like there would be with a soft plastic, or a jig.

Know this, I have heard a pro frogger uses marker on his hollow frogs, to get them to seem more realistic to his standards. Now, the way I see it is with a hollow frog the fish will be holding onto the bait, because you have to let the fish hold onto the bait a few secs before you can get a good hookset. So in this case I suppose marker doesn't matter, atleast to this guy, and this pretty much throws my whole logic off. Hes a pro, so I'd say to just marker up the bait and not worry about it. Although if it were soft baits I wouldn't but thats just me..

[zbass]

I have used sharpies on everything from traps to flukes. The reaction baits I was never worried about any scent. When a trap come by at 7.2-1 speed, the fish doesn't have the time to smell it and decide whether or not to hit it. A small change in color though, may make a difference in whether you get bite or not.

The soft plastics are a little different. First of all the ink bleeds on the plastic. It will also bleed on the skirt material. If you want to change or modify the color a little you may add a few strands of the contrasting color as opposed to using a sharpie.

[Glenn]

Depends on the skirt material.  IMO, all skirts eventually clump and stick together after long use at some point.

For me, I use white lumiflex or hydrosilk skirts, and "color" them with JJ's Magic.  It's very, very effective and doesn't take long to customize the skirts that way.  Yes, there's added scent, which I don't think is required for reaction baits, but it doesn't hurt now does it?

[Fishing Rhino]

Depends on the skirt material. IMO, all skirts eventually clump and stick together after long use at some point.

For me, I use white lumiflex or hydrosilk skirts, and "color" them with JJ's Magic. It's very, very effective and doesn't take long to customize the skirts that way. Yes, there's added scent, which I don't think is required for reaction baits, but it doesn't hurt now does it?

I remember that happening to my Hula Poppers years ago when the skirts were rubber or some type of plastic.  Back in those days I used Burkes or Berks plastic worms and they'd eat up the plastic tackle boxes, melting their way into the box.

Do you think that will happen with the silicone skirts?

Silicone is pretty much inert.  Nothing seems to touch it chemically.  It's used for hot mats, engine gaskets (even for racing engines) where it is subjected to all manner of extreme temps and chemical fumes w/o being affected.  

I haven't noticed any silicone skirts clumping yet, though I have found it necessary to replace the skirts since the strands seem to disappear (break off), particularly when the pickerel are biting.

I've used these replacements with good results.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_7420____SearchResults

[GSU_Fishing]

Have you ever tried using a dipping dye to color your jigs. Ive been using JJs magic for the last couple of months to tweek and completely change jig and spinner bait skirts. They have three colors: Chart, Blue, and Methiolate. Its pretty awesome what you can do with that suff... Get a couple of Q-tips and just start experimenting with the colors. You can get them on their website for $4 a bottle...Ive made a couple that are really really close to the Sexy Shad colors...Give it a shot...you can also do the same thing to any plastics.