Spinnerbait Blades And Sizes

[Vinny Chase]

After reading the Bass Resource article I have below, it got me thinking about smaller blade sizes when fishing deeper water. This brings up a good talker - what is your theory and reasoning for picking for blade sizes and type.

http://www.bassresou...aitfishing.html

[smalljaw67]

What makes me pick a particular blades size is the size of the bait which relates to the size of the forage I'm attempting to mimic most of the time but there are times I'll choose a bigger or smaller blade to change the running speed of depth of the bait. Same thing with blade type, most of the time water clarity is what is going to determine blade type but just as it is when choosing a blade size, the choice of blade type can be made to have an affect on lure speed and depth as well.

[Traveler2586]

Hello Vinny,

I find working with Spinnerbaits is a balancing act where speed (or lack of it) is a big factor. You can use small blades and go fast, or use large blades and go slower. What you don't want is to roll (twist) the bait as it is retrieved, that's indicating to much speed for the combination of weight, blade mass, skirt and trailer mass.

While on the fall the same is true for the rate of decent of any given weight of lure, say for a 3/8 oz lure, a smaller blade will allow it to drop (helicopter) faster than a larger blade; and blade type comes into play as well.

Similarly, a large skirt and trailer can cause a Spinnerbait to become unbalanced and flip over on the fall.

This is something you can experiment with in a swimming pool or a clear lake, use a face mask and get in the water so you can see how the "machine" and all of it's parts operates as it swims or falls (it's a fun thing to do).

Now the question is long arm or short arm?

Good fishin'

Eric

[Scorcher214]

Go fast - small

go slow - big

Go deep - small

go shallow - big

Also, bigger blades give of more vibration but smaller blades will rotate faster and give off more flash. Tunning a spinnerbait is also something you might have to do with it right out of the package. I have a few Ko-Man-Chi spinnerbaits and those things do not roll over ever. Pricey, but very very nice.

[Hooligan]

I typically fish two types of blade anymore, and most generally only three sizes of those blades. They cover the water column for me, and relate to how I fish the baits i question. I fish a size 4.5 to 6.5 willow, more in the 5 and 5.5 than anything else, and I fish a Wide Willow in 3.5-5. Those are on baits ranging from 5/16 ounce in weight to 1.5 ounce baits. What I want to do with them is greatly determined by the gear I fish them on.

[ww2farmer]

I Like to use #4 Willows for just about every thing, they turn at slow speed for deep slow rolling, and they offer little resistance for burning. I like smooth finish gold blade most of the time, and I will use a painted blade often as well. I like double willow, tandem colorado/willow, or single colorado blade combinations, DW for deep or burning, tandem for shallow cover work, and single colorado for dirty water or night. I use basicly 3 skirt colors, chart/white and a dark color like SK's bluegill, and chart/brown. I never use a trailer, I have caught way more fish without it and thats what I am confident in soo......I do use a trailer hook almost all the time. As for weights, I use 1/4 oz for super shallow stuff, 3/8 is general all purpose size, 1/2 oz for burning (most of the time) and 1 oz for deep slow rolling.

[Choey23]

to be honest, i only use one type of spinnerbait, in a few sizes, and the thing has never let me down! its a booyah top secret spinnerbait that you can only buy at dicks because dicks and booyah have a special thing going on with it, can't buy it anywhere else, but check it out, the thing works great, and it has 2 willow blades on it, you can also change one of the blades out and put a colorado blade on there to depending on your location, species of fish, etc. I use different weights and techniques depending on the water clarity, time of day, temperature, and season, good luck

[Vinny Chase]

to be honest, i only use one type of spinnerbait, in a few sizes, and the thing has never let me down! its a booyah top secret spinnerbait that you can only buy at dicks because dicks and booyah have a special thing going on with it, can't buy it anywhere else, but check it out, the thing works great, and it has 2 willow blades on it, you can also change one of the blades out and put a colorado blade on there to depending on your location, species of fish, etc. I use different weights and techniques depending on the water clarity, time of day, temperature, and season, good luck

Personal preference, I would never touch anything made by booyah. Thanks for all the tips guys!

[Vinny Chase]

Go fast - small

go slow - big

Go deep - small

go shallow - big

Also, bigger blades give of more vibration but smaller blades will rotate faster and give off more flash. Tunning a spinnerbait is also something you might have to do with it right out of the package. I have a few Ko-Man-Chi spinnerbaits and those things do not roll over ever. Pricey, but very very nice.

This is contradicting to me..

[smalljaw67]

This is contradicting to me..

The explaination is vague but essentially correct. The smaller blades have less drag so you can reel them faster and less drag means less torque so the baits won't roll at higher speeds like a lot of store bought spinnerbaits do. Same thing in reverse, the bigger blades have more surface area so they natually have more drag and more drage means more torque so the blades spin at slower speeds. The depth works off the same priciple, the smaller blades don't give much lift to a bait so it can stay deeper at a normal pace were the bigger blades have more lift so based on the same speed the bigger bladed bait will lift higher in the water than the smaller bladed bait. I hope this explaination makes sense to you.

[Scorcher214]

This is contradicting to me..

When I was saying bigger blades give off more vibration and smaller blades flash, I meant to say coloroado and willowleaf blade.