VERSATILITY WITH SPINNERBAITS

Casting to the stick up, an angler can see a bass suspended just next to it. Why does he ignore the lure? The answer may be that this particular spinnerbait is the wrong color or has the wrong shaped blade for this fish at this time.

There are seemingly an endless variety of spinnerbait blades and skirts in an infinite variety of colors. All of them will produce if used in the right combinations and under the proper conditions. They can be used in clear as well as stained water. They work in cold water conditions and in the heat of summer.

The most popular colors are white, chartreuse, black and a combination of these colors. Both the blades and skirts can be in these colors.

Blades come in three basic shapes: Colorado, willow leaf and Indiana. The later is a kind of tear drop shape, while the Indiana is more oval and the willow leaf is more oblong. The less streamlined Indiana and Colorado have more resistance in the water and provide more vibration. The streamlined Willow leaf provides little vibration but gives off more flash.

When choosing a color the nickel or silver work well in clear to slightly stained waters. The gold or brass is used in the rest of the water spectrum, up to muddy water. The colored blades work well in most water when flash is not being attempted.

Fishing spinnerbaits is a skill that the beginning bass angler should master before going on to more sophisticated lure and patterns. There are such patterns as slow rolling or bush bumping or perhaps buzzing and dropping. These techniques are too numerous to further explore here.

As you can tell by the above, there are a variety of uses for the spinner bait. Many bass anglers will have a number of rods rigged up with different spinnerbait combinations of skirts and blades. In this way when they encounter different water conditions or structure, they can drop one rod and pick up another. The idea is to maximize the time one has a productive lure in the water. Time spent removing one spinnerbait and tying on another, is time not spent fishing.

The Speed Bead Terminator spinnerbait is a good example of how science has made the multiple spinnerbait use simple. They have the same wire spinnerbait shaft as the other baits in their line except there are two subtle differences.

Half way up the blade portion of the shaft is a small twisted wire on which the tandem blade can be attached. The difference between this and other spinnerbaits is that this one allows the blade to be twisted onto the shaft and it still spins free. Other baits would require the cutting of the section of the shaft that contains the blade in order to change blades. By allowing the shaft to be twisted on and off, blades can be changed in seconds instead of several minutes.

At the end of the same shaft, standard baits have a wire look that holds the other blade of tandem bait. In most baits, this loop has to be bent out in order to remove a blade, the blade changed, and then the loop bent back. The end result is a weakened shaft and lost fishing time. The new bait has a small bead that can be slid back for changing of the blade. Upon the completion of the change, the bead is slid back in place and the bait is ready for action.

Changes in spinnerbait construction allow for an angler to fish different sizes, colors and configurations of blades on the same bait shaft with little or no loss of fishing time. One can make a single blade spinner bait into a tandem and vice versa with little effort and time. Coupling that with the ability to change the rubber skirts make spinnerbaits popular. Anglers can fish deep or shallow, clear or stained water, under all weather conditions.

The spinnerbait is easy to fish and one of the most versatile baits in the angler’s tackle box.