Spinnerbait time
When the temperature starts dropping and the leaves change colors, I start casting the old spinnerbait again. This wired lure works great all year but during spring and fall, they really get a workout drawing reaction strikes. Bassmaster Elite Pro, Greg Hackney said, “For a long time, I didn’t know there was any other lure.”
A spinnerbait has two components. The top “spinner” consists of 1 to 3 blades of various shapes and colors, depending on the fishing conditions and amount of wobble or flash desired.
The lower “bait” is a weighted head and hook, fitted with a rubberbanded skirt that pulses on the retrieve. The skirts may not last through a season but the lure can be just as affective when tipped with a grub tail or soft-plastic minnow shaped lure. To prevent the lure from rolling with its new feature, just barely hook the end.
Spinnerbaits generally are worked with a steady retrieve. Experiment with the speed. Sometimes fish will react to a “burning” retrieve; other times, the pace is just fast enough to keep the blade vibrating. I’ve also read of anglers having success with slowly hopping it across the bottom. Though great for bass, sunfish, and pike, Robert Montgomery, author of the new book “Why We Fish” even caught a 17 pound flathead catfish on a spinnerbait.
Another perk of the spinner bait is that, generally with one up-facing hook, they are very forgiving with snags. Most of the time they will just bump off of rocks and logs, and can even navigate through aquatic vegetation that would reduce a crankbait to a weed harvesting tool.
If you hear me walk by this fall, I’m not wearing spurs. That’s just a couple of spinnerbaits in my cargo pockets.
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Andy Whitcomb
Andy is an outdoor writer (http://www.justkeepreeling.com/) and stressed-out Dad has contributed over 380 blogs to takemefishing.org since 2011. Born in Florida, but raised on banks of Oklahoma farm ponds, he now chases pike, smallmouth bass, and steelhead in Pennsylvania. After earning a B.S. in Zoology from OSU, he worked in fish hatcheries and as a fisheries research technician at OSU, Iowa State, and Michigan State.