Hello to all from most of the time sunny California.
OK, I'm not exactly a beginner at bass fishing but I am a beginner at spinnerbait fishing.
More accurately.... a virgin at spinnerbait fishing. I have tried a few times... mostly been dissapointed and never had a bite on the spinners.
I am willing to keep trying though... any advice you could give on the basics would be greatly appreiated.
Thanks for your advice, I'm mostly fishing very clear water!!
Good fishing to ya, later........ geobass
How the Heck Do You Fish a Spinnerbait?
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Socal Bassman
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:26 am
How the Heck Do You Fish a Spinnerbait?
Don't know how much help I could be, considering I've got limited experience with spinnerbaits, but here it goes. For me, the first thing to consider when choosing a spinnerbait is the blade design or type. There are three main types of blades: Willow Leaf, Colorado, and Indiana. Willow leaf blades produce a lot of flash and allow you to fish the bait at faster speeds. Colorado blades produce a lot of vibration. They also have the most drag out of the three, allowing you to fish them slower. An Indiana blade falls between the Willow leaf and Colorado in which it produces an ample amount of flash and vibration.
The next thing I look at is blade configuration. The three which have produced for me the most has been a single colorado, double willow leaf, and tandem. I prefer to use a single colorado spinnerbait at night, slow rolling it along the bottom. While the double willow leaf allows me to burn a spinnerbait above submerged weeds or through schools of shad breaking the surface. My favorite though, is a tandem configuration. Where there is a willow leaf in the rear and a smaller colorado blade up front. The larger willow leaf produces the flash to attract fish, while the smaller colorado blade adds a little drag which allows me to slow roll it close to the surface or a couple feet below. Another configuration which is fast becoming one of my confidence baits for this time of year is a quad design. This configuration has four willow leafs, which I think best resembles a school of fleeing shad.
Like all techniques, you have to vary your retrieve to find out how the fish want it. Sometimes they want it burnt across the surface, leaving a wake. While other times, they want it slow rolled along the bottom or just barely ticking the tops of weeds. A couple months ago, retrieving it just a couple feet below the surface with an occasional twitch of the rod tip has been pretty productive for me. As well as pausing, letting it flutter down, lifting it back up, then letting it flutter down again. It all depends on the fishes mood I guess. Also, when I'm fishing in open water or very little cover, I like to add a trailer hook where the trailer hook is pointed the opposite direction of the main hook. In other words, pointing down. I feel that this really makes a difference for catching those fish that tend to short strike or just swipe at the bait.
The next thing I look at is blade configuration. The three which have produced for me the most has been a single colorado, double willow leaf, and tandem. I prefer to use a single colorado spinnerbait at night, slow rolling it along the bottom. While the double willow leaf allows me to burn a spinnerbait above submerged weeds or through schools of shad breaking the surface. My favorite though, is a tandem configuration. Where there is a willow leaf in the rear and a smaller colorado blade up front. The larger willow leaf produces the flash to attract fish, while the smaller colorado blade adds a little drag which allows me to slow roll it close to the surface or a couple feet below. Another configuration which is fast becoming one of my confidence baits for this time of year is a quad design. This configuration has four willow leafs, which I think best resembles a school of fleeing shad.
Like all techniques, you have to vary your retrieve to find out how the fish want it. Sometimes they want it burnt across the surface, leaving a wake. While other times, they want it slow rolled along the bottom or just barely ticking the tops of weeds. A couple months ago, retrieving it just a couple feet below the surface with an occasional twitch of the rod tip has been pretty productive for me. As well as pausing, letting it flutter down, lifting it back up, then letting it flutter down again. It all depends on the fishes mood I guess. Also, when I'm fishing in open water or very little cover, I like to add a trailer hook where the trailer hook is pointed the opposite direction of the main hook. In other words, pointing down. I feel that this really makes a difference for catching those fish that tend to short strike or just swipe at the bait.
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brendanc
- Posts: 2720
- Joined: Thu May 03, 2001 4:00 pm
How the Heck Do You Fish a Spinnerbait?
Nice post Daryl... You covered a lot of details.
Geo, I fish spinnerbaits at night all the time. I have never been a religious day-time spinnerbait fisherman, however, I want to share something with you that I think will help increase your success with a spinnerbait.
Most people that decide they are going to start fishing a spinnerbait purchase the one that is most visually appealing to them and then go out and fish it in open water when nothing else is catching fish that day. This is the wrong reason to pick up a spinnerbait.
Like a crainkbait, you want to bang and crash into every piece of cover you can find. You see a stump, hit it. A bush, hit it. Rocks/boulders, crash right into those bad boys. The more stuff you hit, the more chances you'll have to get a hit! It is critical that you make contact with whatever cover you are fishing... even grass. Making contact causes the blades to flair/flash and triggers strikes from bass.
I always used to suck wind with a spinnerbait until I started fishing it like a Kamikaze!
The spinnerbait is an extremely versatile tool, but a little thought needs to go into the selection process before choosing a bait. Make sure that you pick the right tool for the job. Daryl explained about the various blade styles and their applications. With out going too heavy into intricacies, Willows in weeds and Colorados for deep open water... the other combinations are variables which you can experiment with once you gain confidence with the spinnerbait in general.
Don't get me wrong, there are thousands of variables and many situations that may arise when you may want to do things that go against the two vague generalities I mentioned above.
My two favorite combinations are a Tandem Willow (Gold #4 Willow, Silver Colorado) in Chartruese & white.
The other is a Single Silver Colorado Blade with a shade colored skirt.
Like every other bait, you want to choose the colors that mirror the forage the bass in your area are keying in on.
There are two videos available from Bass Proshops with Kevin Van Dam discussing spinnerbaits and approaches to fishing them. If you are interested, you can find them here:
KVD Proven Spinnerbait Techniques
Kevin VanDam's ''Advanced Spinner Bait Tactics'' Video - DVD
Hope this helps...
BC
Geo, I fish spinnerbaits at night all the time. I have never been a religious day-time spinnerbait fisherman, however, I want to share something with you that I think will help increase your success with a spinnerbait.
Most people that decide they are going to start fishing a spinnerbait purchase the one that is most visually appealing to them and then go out and fish it in open water when nothing else is catching fish that day. This is the wrong reason to pick up a spinnerbait.
Like a crainkbait, you want to bang and crash into every piece of cover you can find. You see a stump, hit it. A bush, hit it. Rocks/boulders, crash right into those bad boys. The more stuff you hit, the more chances you'll have to get a hit! It is critical that you make contact with whatever cover you are fishing... even grass. Making contact causes the blades to flair/flash and triggers strikes from bass.
I always used to suck wind with a spinnerbait until I started fishing it like a Kamikaze!
The spinnerbait is an extremely versatile tool, but a little thought needs to go into the selection process before choosing a bait. Make sure that you pick the right tool for the job. Daryl explained about the various blade styles and their applications. With out going too heavy into intricacies, Willows in weeds and Colorados for deep open water... the other combinations are variables which you can experiment with once you gain confidence with the spinnerbait in general.
Don't get me wrong, there are thousands of variables and many situations that may arise when you may want to do things that go against the two vague generalities I mentioned above.
My two favorite combinations are a Tandem Willow (Gold #4 Willow, Silver Colorado) in Chartruese & white.
The other is a Single Silver Colorado Blade with a shade colored skirt.
Like every other bait, you want to choose the colors that mirror the forage the bass in your area are keying in on.
There are two videos available from Bass Proshops with Kevin Van Dam discussing spinnerbaits and approaches to fishing them. If you are interested, you can find them here:
KVD Proven Spinnerbait Techniques
Kevin VanDam's ''Advanced Spinner Bait Tactics'' Video - DVD
Hope this helps...
BC
Brendan C.
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dansfishntales
- Posts: 248
- Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2002 5:00 pm
How the Heck Do You Fish a Spinnerbait?
Spinnerbaits are often referred to as one of the search baits. One of the best ways to learn is to start with smaller versions, or something like a Beetle Spin. You will get a lot more hits - not the biggest (although many big fish are caught on small lures), but you will get the action a novice needs.
I fish the Stanley Baby Wedge and Mann's Mini Classic spins a good deal of the time. In fact, I always have one of these tied on to one of my rods. Another spinnerbait, usually a 3/8 ounce single Colorado blade is on another rod/reel combo.
My main color is chartreuse/white. Otherwise I use white, chartreuse and white/chartreuse/blue. There may be some others like chartreuse/brown/orange, but these are not my basics - only speciality situations.
I use 4 basic retrieves - slow roll (bump any cover), wake the surface (bring the lure at a speed just fast enough to bulge the water and not break the surface), medium (this is the normal "pull along"), and pump/swim (raise and lower the rod tip during a slow roll, which will allow the blade to flutter as it falls - strike often comes on the up swing after the fall).
As to blade patterns - I use them all, but my favorite is a tandem Colorado or Indiana blade in any stain/murky/muddy water, and tandem or single/with Colorado kicker blade, willow blade in clear water. There are always exceptions as with anything, but these have worked best for me.
If you are using a skirted spinnerbait there are times when a trailer will work well. For this I'll use a curl tail grub, or Augertail worm. The trailer will add bulk and length to a lure, and at the same time a kick. I have also used an Auger Frog, which will flare the skirt and add a double kick, but normally I save this trailer for my jig (another subject)
Now that I've started the basics of an article I suppose I better let you read, and think about if there is anything I missed telling you.
Have a good time with the spinnerbait, and I'm sure you will find it productive. Just remember, as with any other lure there is a time and place to use it. No lure is a "cure all".
Best of fishing,
Dan
I fish the Stanley Baby Wedge and Mann's Mini Classic spins a good deal of the time. In fact, I always have one of these tied on to one of my rods. Another spinnerbait, usually a 3/8 ounce single Colorado blade is on another rod/reel combo.
My main color is chartreuse/white. Otherwise I use white, chartreuse and white/chartreuse/blue. There may be some others like chartreuse/brown/orange, but these are not my basics - only speciality situations.
I use 4 basic retrieves - slow roll (bump any cover), wake the surface (bring the lure at a speed just fast enough to bulge the water and not break the surface), medium (this is the normal "pull along"), and pump/swim (raise and lower the rod tip during a slow roll, which will allow the blade to flutter as it falls - strike often comes on the up swing after the fall).
As to blade patterns - I use them all, but my favorite is a tandem Colorado or Indiana blade in any stain/murky/muddy water, and tandem or single/with Colorado kicker blade, willow blade in clear water. There are always exceptions as with anything, but these have worked best for me.
If you are using a skirted spinnerbait there are times when a trailer will work well. For this I'll use a curl tail grub, or Augertail worm. The trailer will add bulk and length to a lure, and at the same time a kick. I have also used an Auger Frog, which will flare the skirt and add a double kick, but normally I save this trailer for my jig (another subject)
Now that I've started the basics of an article I suppose I better let you read, and think about if there is anything I missed telling you.
Have a good time with the spinnerbait, and I'm sure you will find it productive. Just remember, as with any other lure there is a time and place to use it. No lure is a "cure all".
Best of fishing,
Dan
Dan Galusha : Bassin' USA Prostaff : Illinois
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MbBass
- Posts: 185
- Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:38 pm
How the Heck Do You Fish a Spinnerbait?
I am trying a spinner bait, i can catch fish but not alot.My main weapon right now seems to be a worm.Maybe when it warms up a little they will be more productive.But i will keep plugin just cause i like the lure.I know that sounds lame to fish a lure just cause you like it but when i learn it, that will make it only better.