Everyone has their favorite lure or favorite way to catch them. 90% of people will probably say their favorite way to catch a bass is top water. I personally fall into that other 10%. My absolute favorite way to catch a bass of any species is a spinner bait. And here is why…..
It consistently catches big fish. My biggest spotted bass ever was 5 pounds and 10 ounces and it was caught on a spinner bait. My second biggest largemouth ever a ten pounder was caught on a spinner bait. Oh and not to mention my best ever fishing day (lake Lanier) was all about the spinner bait in early April. I caught over 50 bass in one day by myself. This magical lure is soo much fun and the bites are explosive!! All you have to do is cast it out and reel it back in……right???? WRONG!! There are soooo many intricacies to the spinner bait so lets dive in a little further.
The best angler of all time Kevin Van Dam loves fishing a spinner bait. He always says that you never just want to cast it out and reel it in. What he means by this is you want to make it act erratic. Speed up, slow down, kill it (stop reeling and let it sink for a split second to make the blades flutter), bump it into things, roll it over logs and twitch it. So now you kind of get the picture. Your bites a lot of times will come right after you make some kind of erratic action. This may be the most crucial aspect of working a spinner bait. Make it look as abnormal as you can. Don’t be afraid to cast over a log and drag it over. That is right when you are going to get bit. Cast it over that submerged grass or weeds and drag it over. Cast behind that stump and intentionally bump it into it to cause a reaction strike. You can’t fish a spinner bait and be afraid of getting snagged because you will miss the potential catch of a lifetime.
There are three major types (most popular) of spinner baits in regards to the blade combination. Double willow leaf, Colorado blades, and Indiana Blades. Most everyone uses these and most of the time they have two blades on the spinner baits. I almost always use two blades for more flash/vibration. Let’s talk about the best times and water conditions to use these different styles.
Double willow leaf
I love this combo the best. This one you can burn and work fast and cover water fast. I can make this look great in the water with twitches and pauses. I truly love the painted blades for clear water lakes such as Lake Lanier in Georgia or Lake St. Clair in Michigan. The painted blades can be tracked a long ways away by these aggressive spotted bass (Lanier) and smallmouth (St. Clair).
Indiana Blades
I love this combination for lakes like Okeechobee or the St. Johns River. These lakes have the brackish water that is some what still a little clear. Side Note: If you go to either one of these places you need to constantly be in search of that water as opposed to the muddy stuff. These Indiana Blades are a little more weedless but still provide a good amount of flash and some vibration. If you don’t believe me watch the Bass Master tournament that Rick Clunn won this year (2019) in February. He put a monster bag together to steal that tournament on the last day.
Single Big Colorado Blade
For all you night fisherman this is where I recommend going down to one blade. With that being sad make sure it is a Big Blade and make sure it is a dark blade and skirt combo. For night fishing you want to stay with dark colors.
Double Colorado Blades
This is the combo I would use in Muddy water. Since the fish won’t be able to see the bait as well they need to rely on vibration and feel to get to your bait. Also for muddy water I always recommend to have at least one of the baits (if not both) being gold as a general rule of thumb.
Go ahead and scroll down a little bit and look at the pics of the spinner baits. What is the one thing that you see that is consistent. My late friend and fishing mentor Greg Trudeau always used to tell me, “Only use the trailer hook if you want to catch the fish.” I will absolutely under no circumstances throw a spinner bait without one of these attached. Sometimes the bass are not super aggressive and will slap at your bait or nip at it. That extra hook has helped me catch hundreds of sit over the years. Don’t leave home without them.
Line choice for spinner baits can be debatable. I don’t have a concrete way of telling you which way is better. Monofilament tends to float a little more and Flourocarbon sinks. If I am fishing clear water I like to use Flourocarbon and if I am fishing stained or dirty water I use Mono. I am not saying I re spool every time I go to a new lake either. If I am going to a lake like Guntersville or lake Chickamauga and I know I will be around big Largemouth than I am going to re-spool and put on heavier Mono like 15lb test (cheaper also) to be able to handle those bigger bass. If I am around Lake Lanier or Lake St. Clair I like the nearly invisible characteristics that Flouro provides. For that situation I will use 10lb test. For this you have to decide based on the conditions. Which brings me to my next point.
When should you throw a spinner bait. Well it depends on where you are, time of year, and weather conditions. If you have some wind blowing up on some points or banks then a spinner bait is an excellent choice. Spring and fall I love having a spinner bait tied on all the time. Winter and summer I am usually going to be throwing something other than spinner baits.
My spinner bait set up is down below. I love a 7 foot medium action rod with a fast tip. When I fish a spinner bait I want them to be able to load up on the bait. If you rod is too stiff than you can rip the bait right out of their mouth when you set the hook. Also this rod is perfect for me to make accurate casts. I use a high speed reel and I absolutely love the quantum reels because of their reliability and performance.
Last but not least….. Which spinner bait brand should you buy??? There are tons of spinner baits on the market and I have a lot of them. But when you tie on a Mini Me from spotsticker baits and cast it you will understand why. These things will cast further and more accurately than any spinner bait on the market in my humble opinion. Plus they are sexy. These painted blades are just beautiful. I had a day last year at Lake St. Clair where I was throwing the Mini Me Chartreuse Billet Spinnerbait and I was catching fish in a rain storm on literally every other cast. These have weight on upper portion of the hooks that will help you throw that bait into spots you can’t get a regular spinner bait. They shoot in like a bullet.
I am not sponsored by these guys before you guys start to wonder why I am talking them up so much. If you prefer a bigger profile they also have a shad head that has a little bigger blade combination and will provide a little more flash. I prefer that bigger profile for largemouth areas like Guntersville and Lake Chickamauga.
Spinner bait time is right around the corner. Buy some Mini Me’s and thank me by subscribing to my YouTube channel, liking us on facebook, following me on Instagram, and signing up for our email list so you can get these blogs to your inbox. Hope you enjoyed Hook’d on Bassiacs. Tight Lines!!!
PS. Don’t forget to get your trailer hooks in the link above.
