With Winter coming around the corner let me introduce you to a bait that can get bites when nothing else will work. The Spy Bait or the Spin Bait is an excellent lure to get bites when fishing is tough or the water is cold. As we will find out it is not just a cold water bait.
Go Slow!!!
So the most important thing to remember when using this bait is too reel it in painfully slow. If you think you are reeling slow, then slow down some more. So first thing you need to do is find out where the fishing are hanging out in the water column. Usually this is a great bait for those suspended fish that are hard to get bites from. If you find out that they are ten feet down over a 20 foot bottom then cast your lure out and count it down ten seconds right where the fish are. It is important to remember to let it sink on slack line. DO NOT click your bail over or it will sink towards you and take some of the distance off of your cast. You also need to make sure you watch your line as it sinks because if it suddenly stops (which will happen) than you probably have a bite. It is also important to remember the bait will tend gradually rise up in the water column as you are reeling it in. What I like to do is to reel for a little bit then stop and let it sink back down on slack line and then start reeling again. A lot of times that will result in a bite once I click my bail over and start reeling again.
What Line should I use??
Well we have two options here. The first is to fish with straight fluorocarbon. You will want to fish this with 6-8lb test. Now the issue with that is you are not going to want to spool your real with that light line and trust it all the time for other types of lures. So what I like to do is have my spinning reel spooled up with 10-15 lb test braided line and use 6-8lb fluorocarbon leader and connect them together with a double uni knot. With this last set up you will get more distance on your cast, have better contact with the lure and more easily be able to watch your line when letting it sink. I always feel that I get the hooks in the fish better when I use braided line since it has no stretch. Speaking of
HOOKS…….
Most hooks now a days that come on lures just plain suck. I am constantly pulling new lures out of the pack and changing my hooks out before making my first cast. I have noticed that most of the spy bait hooks are not very durable or sharp in my opinion.
With this bait the hooks on the front and back absolutely have to be the same size because we want this bait to stay horizontal when sinking. We also do not want to mess up the action of the bait by putting hooks on that are too big for the lure. What I do with mine is I try to match the size as best as I can with the hooks that came on it originally. Whenever I change hooks on a bait it is not even a question of what I am going to replace them with.
By far the best hooks on the market are the KVD triple grip hooks by Mustad. I hook more fish and keep them on. But the main reason I love these things is that I can fish all day and catch lots of fish and they don’t bend or break.
When to set the hook???
This bait is a little tricky when setting the hook and how you need to set the hook. I know on tv we see the pro’s swinging hard on their fish and “rippin lips.’ Let’s not do this with this bait. If you do, you are going to lose a lot of fish The fish with this bait tend to peck and hit at it several times before getting it all the way in their mouth. If you set the hook or yank on the first hit you will more than likely miss the fish. You have to wait until you feel the weight on the line. Once you feel that all you want to do is lean into the fish and pull on your rod. There is no need to drop your rod froward and try and rip his head off. With small hooks that just results in missed fish or straightened hooks. Just wait until it feels heavy and lean into the fish and keep a ben in the rod the whole time. With this style if you give them just a little slack while reeling in the fish will come unbuttoned. You have to be thinking finesse the whole time with this style of fishing.
Rod and Reel Set Up!!
I like to pair my spy bait or spin bait with a 7 foot medium action spinning rod with your favorite spinning reel. I feel this way you can make a longer cast with this lure and have a little bit better feel with the bait as well. Also it is easier to let the line back out as you are reeling it by clicking the bail.
Where to fish??
A spy bait can be used all year long. I usually never start my day with a spy bait tied on. I go out and see that the fish are not on the bottom and they are suspended (that is my first clue). I throw other baits and they won’t commit to them. So when they don’t want to come up and nail a spinner bait, jerk bait or topwater than I have no choice to put on the spy bait and get it right in front of their faces. You could target things like points and drop off edges. You could also throw it over brush piles especially when the fish aren’t committing to other presentations. Humps can also be a good choice as well. But one of my favorite applications for this lure is when fish are schooling all around me and won’t commit to the other baits I am throwing.
I will throw this out there amongst schooling bass and get bites. I especially love to throw the spin bait/spy bait when the bit that is being keyed in on is very small. In the winter a spy bait is ideal as well when they want things worked very very slow. Also I find that early in the morning during the winter time (especially for spooled bass) when the fish are in the ditches the fish will be suspended over the ditch in the AM. This is a great bait to throw for those hard to come by suspended bass. It is important to remember that this bait is not a search bait that you are going to want to fish around the bank. This is a bait that you throw when you know the fish are around and you are having a tough time catching them.
So pick a couple of these up from the links above and I assure you won’t be sorry when you can’t get the fish to commit to anything else. With winter right around the corner this is a must have in your arsenal of lures.
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And until next time, Tight Lines!!
H.O.B.
