Anybody ever caught a bass on a spinnerbait?

[redboat]

Here we go again, bass season in full swing. I've been dusting off all my spinner baits, rerigging the trailer hooks, getting the Unk Josh's rinds ready.

Problem is - I've never caught anything on a spinnerbait.

I once lived on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. Spinnerbaits are fun; I'd go throw them for an hour or two whenever I was down to the lake (which was in my back yard). Threw 'em from banks, from bass boats, from jon boats. Slow rolled 'em, fast burned 'em.  Used flourocarbon, braid, mono.  I'd estimate I've owned about 500 spinnerbaits over the years, tandem blade, single blade. Colorado blades. Willow blades. All colors. All combinations.

I'd say I've made probably 10,000 casts of spinnerbaits. Never got a hit, never caught a fish. I've probably seen other anglers throw 20,000 more. Never saw any of THEM catch anything either.

So my question is: Has anyone actually ever caught a fish on a spinnerbait, or are they just for catching fishermen at Bass Pro? Should I pitch all my spinnerbaits in the lake and feed the Unk Josh's to the neighbor's dog and stick to cranks and plastics? Or is there some magic solution, like, I need to stand on my head while pointing the rod tip at the full moon and hum the theme song from "Bonanza" while slow rolling a chartreuse and pink spinner bait with three willow and two colorado blades past lilly pads?

Need less to say spinners are not a confidence bait for me!

[Hookhead]

Here we go again, bass season in full swing. I've been dusting off all my spinner baits, rerigging the trailer hooks, getting the Unk Josh's rinds ready.

Problem is - I've never caught anything on a spinnerbait.

I once lived on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. Spinnerbaits are fun; I'd go throw them for an hour or two whenever I was down to the lake (which was in my back yard). Threw 'em from banks, from bass boats, from jon boats. Slow rolled 'em, fast burned 'em. Used flourocarbon, braid, mono. I'd estimate I've owned about 500 spinnerbaits over the years, tandem blade, single blade. Colorado blades. Willow blades. All colors. All combinations.

I'd say I've made probably 10,000 casts of spinnerbaits. Never got a hit, never caught a fish. I've probably seen other anglers throw 20,000 more. Never saw any of THEM catch anything either.

So my question is: Has anyone actually ever caught a fish on a spinnerbait, or are they just for catching fishermen at Bass Pro? Should I pitch all my spinnerbaits in the lake and feed the Unk Josh's to the neighbor's dog and stick to cranks and plastics? Or is there some magic solution, like, I need to stand on my head while pointing the rod tip at the full moon and hum the theme song from "Bonanza" while slow rolling a chartreuse and pink spinner bait with three willow and two colorado blades past lilly pads?

Need less to say spinners are not a confidence bait for me!

After carefully reading you post I can tell you exactly what you are doing wrong. You are humming the theme song to "Bonanza". Everyone knows that the secret to spinnerbait fishing is to hum the theme song to "Gunsmoke". Sheesh.

While I cannot say that spinnerbaits are my "go to" baits I can say that I've caught bass on them. For me the secret to spinnerbait fishing is slow rolling them on the bottom. If you do this correctly you can feel every contour of the bottom and all the rocks, stumps, etc. along the way. That is what makes it exciting for me. I'll be slow rolling it feeling the bottom and suddenly WHAM, a fish will hit it like a freight train.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I agree with you pscarbor.  Spinnerbaits do not catch bass!!!!!!! : ;D

[Guest bigtex]

All I have to say is H&H SPINNER BAITS.

[CJ]

Are you serious? :

[BiggerWorm]

I personally don't throw spinnerbaits too often.  But I know some who swear by them, they are definitely the go to bait for many fisherman.  From your post it sounds like you know a lot about spinnerbaits, if you like fishing them stay with it,  your luck will change.

[Guest bigtex]

Are you serious? :

I am really serious.  They work better than any other spinner bait that I have ever used.  Have you tried them CJBasswacker?  If not send me your mailing address and I will send you a few.  They don't cost much and it will be on the house.

Its the white spinner and the blk/char spinner at the bottom of the pic.

[Guest bigtex]

If you can get a hold of the H&H spinner baits or anyother spinner that you like try to buzz it just underneath the water causing small ripples in the water and then hang on because what happens next will blow your mind.

[redboat]

Are you serious? :

Totally! Well, mostly...Well, more or less...I can't really hum that well...

[K_Mac]

Spinnerbaits are not one of my favorite baits. I prefer a slower presentation, but I have caught some nice fish on them. Once I learned some of the subtilties of the technique I have more confidence in it, eg., pausing the retrieve after making contact with anything. If you go to the Tips and Tactics section of this site there are some really good pointers. There are many members of this site that use spinnerbaits as there primary baits and I'm sure you will get some feedback from them. Good luck.

I have to learn to type faster. I told you there would be feedback ;D

[redboat]

Are you serious? :

I am really serious. They work better than any other spinner bait that I have ever used. Have you tried them CJBasswacker? If not send me your mailing address and I will send you a few. They don't cost much and it will be on the house.

Its the white spinner and the blk/char spinner at the bottom of the pic.

Hey, I've got a couple of those...Never caught anytihing on 'em, though.  I HAVE in fact caught crappie and stripers, even a bass or two, on "in line" (aka Rooster Tail) spinners.  I shoulda been more clear in the original post: I was referring to the big ol' "safety pin" jig spinner baits, with one or two blades.

[Raul]

Go to the home section of Bassresource and then start scrolling on, READ all the articles Glenn has painstaikingly gathered by numerous authors on spinnerbaits, then read them again, after that leave all your tackle at home and take only spinnerbaits with you and begin practicing what you just read..........and after a couple of months come back and as us again if we catch fish with spinnerbaits.

There 's absolutely no point in us giving you information on spinnerbait fishing if we 're not speaking the same language, language that you will learn by reading those articles.

[CJ]

I was asking about pscarbor making 10,000 cast and never catching a fish on a spinnerbait.

Spinners have their time and place.The time is now,and the place is at the lake,river,or pond!LOL

Don't throw away all of your spinnerbaits.There's alot of tips that could help you.

1.fish them through the brush

2.try to find the best blade combos and skirt color

3.you need some wind

[j-bass]

That's a strange thing to hear.  No matter what presentations i choose to use on any particular day, spinnerbaits are always on the starting line-up.  And I'm not even talking about expensive lures, either.  Generally, I buy the cheapies at Academey ($1.75) in chart, white, and yellow (and combos includeing orange and black).  The probelm is probably in your retrieve.  There are various techniques when it comes to retreiving a spinner, but what works most for me is a rising and falling retrieve to cover as much area as possible per cast.

I'll tell you what, I've caught as many big bass with spinners as I have with anything else.

[VekolBass]

At first I read this post in disbelief--never caught anything on a spinnerbait? They are one of my go to baits. Then I started thinking. I won't say I've never caught anything on soft plastics, but I've caught very little with them. Yet I know that most fishermen swear by them. So I guess it just goes to show what having confidence in a bait can do for you.

[basscat73]

My first thought is, where do you throw them??? 10,000 casts and not one fish?? First rule, make sure all of your spinnerbaits have hooks.

Do you catch fish with other lures in the same places you are throwing the spinnerbait? Throw them along fallen trees and make sure the spinnerbait hits the wood a bunch of times, and slow it down at those points. Throw them over grassy patches or up against a rocky bank. Don't forget docks! Run along the side of docks and bang the dock posts.

Then, post back to let us know how much you like using your spinnerbait now. I personally love them! Some lakes are not great spinnerbait lakes, but you should still be able to catch a few on any lake.

Good luck!!!

[phisher_d]

Are you sure there are bass in those lakes!? : Seriously, spinnerbaits are my favorite lures for bass, I've caught more on them than anything else.

Sounds like you've tried pretty much everything. I don't really know what to say. In clear water I like silver willow blades, in muddy water I like silver colorado blades, stained water I usually use copper colorado/willow blades. For clear water I like white skirts, or match the hatch. My best stained/muddy water producer is probably a chartreuse/blue skirt.

In murky water, I have my best results swimming the spinnerbaits slow, but in clear water I usually pick up the pace. Also in cold water I reel the baits super slow.  In Heavy cover I also uas a slower retrieval, because it gives the bass a longer time to come out of their hiding spot and smack the bait.  Always use a trailer hook wherever you can get away with it (which is almost anywhere) and keep those hooks razor sharp.

What size of spinnerbaits are you using? Downsizing the spinnerbait will often get you a lot more bites, especially in small ponds (I don't know what waters you are fishing). Terminator Tiny T's are great smaller profile spinnerbaits, and I also like Strike King 3/16 oz redeye spinnerbaits and Booyah pond magic's. If you add a little weight to the hook of these spinnerbaits, you can get a deep presentation while still keeping the small profile.

Keep on chuckin'!

Hope this helps

[redboat]

Go to the home section of Bassresource and then start scrolling on, READ all the articles Glenn has painstaikingly gathered by numerous authors on spinnerbaits, then read them again, after that leave all your tackle at home and take only spinnerbaits with you and begin practicing what you just read..........and after a couple of months come back and as us again if we catch fish with spinnerbaits.

There 's absolutely no point in us giving you information on spinnerbait fishing if we 're not speaking the same language, language that you will learn by reading those articles.

Well thank you for the help, not bein' able to read and all I would have never thought of looking through all the articles on this site first before making that silly post in Japanese in the first place.

[redboat]

My first thought is, where do you throw them??? 10,000 casts and not one fish?? First rule, make sure all of your spinnerbaits have hooks.

Oh, HECK - they gotta have HOOKS???

[K_Mac]

My guess is your sarcasm will limit the amount of help you will get here.

[basscat73]

My first thought is, where do you throw them??? 10,000 casts and not one fish?? First rule, make sure all of your spinnerbaits have hooks.

Oh, HECK - they gotta have HOOKS???

That's tongue in cheek.

I'm more curious about your answers to the rest of my post. You didn't really talk about your techniques or where and when you're thowing them.

[mjhutch1116]

I am not what you would call a die hard spinnerbait fisherman.  There are other baits that I am more likley to throw at any given time.  But on the same token I have and will throw spinnerbaits with the right conditions and cover.  Some of the biggest bass I have caught are the result of throwing spinnerbaits into the right places at the right time.  One of my favorite presentations is to throw it out by some down timber or stumps etc.  Then just bring it back with the blades just barely under the surface of the water and when you bump some cover stop the bait for just a split second and hang on!!  Nine times out of ten when the bait stops and starts to sink the bass will nail it.  There are a lot of other ways to fish the spinnerbait you need to read up on it and just go out there and keep throwing them..  Good-luck and please keep us informed of how you make out.

Matt

May your line never break on a big fish

[redboat]

I won't say I've never caught anything on soft plastics, but I've caught very little with them. Yet I know that most fishermen swear by them.

I swore AT 'em for a long time. Last year I went to the two day class Bass Pro put on, Woo Daves was there. I did what he said, it actually worked!

I took a friend and his son to Fork last June. The whole way there he was telling me about how he'd never caught a bass. I showed him how to texas rig a worm, how to work it like Woo said...Well after about an hour he hooked a really nice bass, measured 23 1/2 inches so we had to put it back as it was in the slot. His son caught a nice three pounder that same day. I hooked a couple.

He was using a red french fry I'd picked up on the bargain table for 99 cents a package.

Hey, thanks for the helpful comments, guys. I suspect the problem as a couple of you pointed out, is in my retrieve. I'll try the "slow bumping on the bottom" and "up and down" retrieves, see what happens. Going to Sam Rayburn this weekend, I'll let you know how I make out.

[Vyron]

Go to BPS and get KVD's DVD about spinnerbaits. Its all you need for start.

[redboat]

My first thought is, where do you throw them??? 10,000 casts and not one fish?? First rule, make sure all of your spinnerbaits have hooks.

Do you catch fish with other lures in the same places you are throwing the spinnerbait? Throw them along fallen trees and make sure the spinnerbait hits the wood a bunch of times, and slow it down at those points. Throw them over grassy patches or up against a rocky bank. Don't forget docks! Run along the side of docks and bang the dock posts.

Then, post back to let us know how much you like using your spinnerbait now. I personally love them! Some lakes are not great spinnerbait lakes, but you should still be able to catch a few on any lake.

Good luck!!!

Sorry basscat, I got caught up in the response to the guy who says I don't speak his language. Didn't mean to be rude!

I primarily fish shallows, drop offs just out from the banks, submerged timber. I've had good results with cranks and plastics, not so good with carolina rigs. I've fished a spinner on one rig, crank on one, plastic on one. The cranks and plastics produce, nothing on the spinners - although I've just about stopped using them.

Banging cranks against structure works, I'll try that with spinners next time out. Thanks for the suggestions.