Inline Spinners

[tomustang]

Am I missing something here? I notice that these aren't that much talked about of lure to use since I don't see anything about them besides relating to trout.

I've caught several large/smalls on them so I know their effective, but what's everyone's take on them? Is there a reason they aren't so popular?

[SirSnookalot]

I have been killing the fish on inline spinners the last 3-4 weeks. Double edge sword, a lot of small fish and bluegills, but the occasional quality fish, peacocks and mayans love them. Those mayan cichlids really put up a fight for a small fish.

[Crestliner2008]

Very effective lure that I do not use often enough. Mainly because they are so prone to getting hung up. In order for their full potential to be realized, you should probably fish them slow and close to the bottom. That's just asking for trouble (hang-ups)! LOL!

However, fishing the large musky style bucktails for pike, I've nailed some dandy LM's in past seasons. No disputing their potential. I might recommend switching out the treble hook with a single weedless variety, onto which you can mount a curly tailed grub.

[grimlin]

I love them so much,I actually make my own inline spinners. Inline are simple lures and just flat out catches fish.Some people say they catch only small fish.Some people think it's cheating. Yes,they are very prone to hang ups but that's why I make my own....cheaper and I can make a few of them up in an hour.

Just an underrated lure IMO.

[smalljaw67]

Most here have told the story, bass anglers fish cover most of the time and an in-line spinner doesn't not respond well to cover. The other part is the dink magnet problem, just like the beetle spin the in-line is very good at catching a lot of fish but the small fish love them so much that unless you are using musky sized baits you can't really lower the percentage of small fish. The great part of this is that when fishing gets tough a #2 blue fox in-line will get bit by something and thus it could save the day.

[38 Super Fan]

I really like them, don't use them as much as I used to, but when I'm on the small local river I'm still thowing one quite a bit. They can catch good fish too, one of my best bass last year, a 5+ lbs Largemouth, was caught on an 1/8oz rooster tail. They'll always be one of my favorite lures.

[new2BC4bass]

As a youngster whenever we went fishing bass were always hoped for, but any fish big enough to eat was desirable. Artificials were expensive. We mostly used live bait. Not store bought, but harvested by us. 45 plus years ago when our family did start using artificals, in-line spinners and beetlespins were the mainstays because they were inexpensive, and because they flat out caught fish. Everything from sunnies to bass, pickerel and even an occasional walleye were susceptible to both. We didn't fish for trout. The beetlespin is why spinnerbaits are my favorite lure to fish. I have lots of confidence in them.

What are a couple good brands of in-line spinners? Seems like the blades on the few I have left don't spin as freely as I'd like.

I think one reason in-line spinners don't get mentioned much is because they are old hat. Everyone is always looking for the latest and greatest lure. The sure fire, can't miss bait. A fish on almost every cast lure. That and no doubt some think of them as strictly small fish lures. Truth is you do have to get the smaller lures past the panfish in order to get the bigger fish a shot at it. Even a bigger lure is no guarantee of no panfish. We fish 10 inch worms in Florida, and panfish bite the tails off them if given a chance. No idea what the little guys think they are going to do with the rest of the worm.

[Marty]

I agree with the previous post that they're old hat, not hot and sexy like many of the lures that have been developed over the years. All they do is catch fish. When's the last time you saw a fishing show with the host using one or an ad with a pro endorsing one?

Two good brands are Mepps and Blue Fox. There are other good ones too, but those are the two I'm most familiar with.

[new2BC4bass]

Thanks, Marty. I'm familar with Mepps, but not Blue Fox.

[tomustang]

Thanks, Marty. I'm familar with Mepps, but not Blue Fox.

I have a bunch of them, let me know when you want to use them, I got them up to 5/8 The vibrax are easier to throw than the mepps since they have a more centered weight.

[tomustang]

Most here have told the story, bass anglers fish cover most of the time and an in-line spinner doesn't not respond well to cover. The other part is the dink magnet problem, just like the beetle spin the in-line is very good at catching a lot of fish but the small fish love them so much that unless you are using musky sized baits you can't really lower the percentage of small fish. The great part of this is that when fishing gets tough a #2 blue fox in-line will get bit by something and thus it could save the day.

That's odd since most of the people I run into using them love throwing them in the weeds

[Bluebasser86]

That's odd since most of the people I run into using them love throwing them in the weeds

Maybe over weeds? I've never fished an inline that would come through weeds without fouling but they do work well over weeds. Maybe one of the baits that has a big single hook and a T-rigged grub I guess as long as it isn't vegetation that can get caught on the clevis and stop the blade. I still toss a #3 Mepps once in awhile. Like others have said the small fish just get to them so fast or they don't appeal to big fish much or a combination of both. I loved fishing 1/8 roostertails when I was a kid though because of their tendency to catch lots of fish. I still have a ton of them, just rarely use them.

[iceintheveins]

They are very good bass lures, but are at their best when fishing smallmouth in rivers. I use the #9 and #15 panther martins and slay the smallies up to 5 pounds. Don't overlook them for largemouth either, especially in clear, pressured water without a lot of vegetation. Go with the biggest baits possible for better casting distance, faster sink rate, and to help keep the dinks and panfish off of them.

[North Ga Hillbilly]

Never used these myself, but I know a fella that swears by them. He uses a 5" big hammer swimbait on them

http://www.cabelas.c...r:referralID=NA

NGaHB

[Rookiepilot2003]

Reading this makes me feel bad as I have never had success with inline spinners. Beetle spin yes but not inline spinners. I fish small lakes with lots of smaller bass in them and tried blue fox and aglia spinners but nothing. I just cast it out and wait a few seconds for it to sink and the slowly retrieve. Maybe that's what I am doing wrong? How do you guys fish it close to bottom and know it is there all the time? The water is dingy with visibility maybe a couple of feet and I have been using spinners with silver blades. Would gold be better in this case? I would love to start using these effective lures to their full potential. Thanks for any suggestions everyone.

[new2BC4bass]

Thanks for the offer, Tom. May take you up on it if we ever get out fishing this year! Had hoped to go once this weekend, but too cold and windy for this old fart. Plus I've got a couple chores to get done before Monday, and didn't start them yet.

Any junk at all on the blade will stop its spin. I hate trying to use them where there is a lot of junk floating in the water. It becomes an exercise in frustration.

Thanks for the link Mr. 'Young' North Ga Hillbilly. Will pick up a couple to take with me for my upcoming trip to Florida. I like the looks of the plastic they use on them. I like ribbon tails. I'm taking several different baits this year. Maybe I can show my brother-in-law that 10 inch worms and #11 Rapalas aren't the only baits bass like.

Although to be fair, someone gave him a few Senkos to try last year, and he did. Caught a fish or two with them. Very smart guy (probably in Mensa territory), but he likes to keep things simple so his equipment is minimal, 2 poles and a smal plastic box for lures.

[Raul]

I´ve fished with in-line spinners since I was 9, now I´m 48, there are a few problems with them, they hang up in an eyeblink ( changing the treble for a single weedless hook almost solves the issue, also, no matter how sophisticated the design they twist the line horribly, some more than others, problem that´s practically solved by using a snap/swivel combination, another thing is that they are mainly numbers rather than size lures, for bass larger sizes ( 4-5 ) are better, size 3 or less are dink magnets so it depends greatly on what you are after, if you don´t mind catching a big bunch of 6+ inchers they are perfect for having fun´( on a good day I´ve caught a good couple hundred fish in an outing ). Like everything else in this game, they may look stupid but there is an art behind in being a good in-line spinner fisherman, they catch fish like crazy when the time is right but you have to find the right presentation brefore they do their job. Besides, they tend to work great when other lures don´t. A few years ago my friend Pedro and I were fishing and nothing worked, we tried everything but the kitchen sink, so I pulled out a spinner,my friend Pedro said when he saw me: "my faith in other things is greater than your desperation " 30 minutes later he asked if I could lend him a spinner.

[bigbill]

One of my hottest lures are the inline spinners and spin fly's.

1. Mepps

2. Strike King

3. Panther Martin

4. Joes Flies

I try them all the time. On cloudy and rainy days its one hot puppy. On a sunny day the silver blade & black dress work awesome. (strike king) I can't say enough about the joes flies and the panther martin spinflys. Joes new 1/4oz bass size spinners are aweso9me to9o.

[Pepul]

Should I use a snap with inline spinners or tie directly to the lure?

[North Ga Hillbilly]

Should I use a snap with inline spinners or tie directly to the lure?

Tie directly for the best results

NGaHB

[SirSnookalot]

I use a duolock snap with an inline spinner, not aware of getting bit less, still produces quite well.